Children in Care Service Specialist Mental Health Practitioner

Job summary

Are you a passionate and skilled mental health practitioner who believes every child deserves the opportunity to thrive? Do you want to be part of a dynamic, compassionate, and forward-thinking team that works at the heart of improving emotional wellbeing and mental health outcomes for children in care?Are you able to communicate effectively the principles of trauma informed care and able to translate this into everyday interactions?

We have an exciting opportunity to join our Integrated Children in Care Team, a countywide service dedicated to supporting children and young people who have experienced trauma, adversity, and disruption. We are looking for a practitioner who brings enthusiasm, curiosity, and a strong commitment to ensuring children in care receive the right mental health support, at the right time.

Main duties of the job

• Providea range of specialist assessment, formulation and treatment interventions for children and young people (0-18 years), including children in care and those with learning disabilities, who present with emotional,behaviouraland mental health difficulties. Interventions will be deliveredin accordance withprofession-specific models of clinical practice.

• Demonstrate advanced clinical reasoning, formulation and autonomous professional responsibility for assessment,interventionand case management through profession-specific care plans.

• Provide specialist profession-based therapeutic interventions,demonstratinghigh levelsof knowledge,skillsand competence across a range of evidence-based approaches, as outlined within an agreed personal/team-based job plan. This may include delivering interventions within specific care pathways or clinics according to service need.

• Provide specialist consultation, advice, signposting and support to children and young people, their families/carers, social workers and professionals within universal, targeted and specialist children's services across Gloucestershire.

• Provide clinical leadership and contribute to developing a strong multidisciplinary and multi-agency ethos, ensuring collaborative working with children, young people, their families/carersand wider professional networks, with the child's voice central to assessment,formulationand personalised care planning.

About us

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Details

Date posted

29 June 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£49,387 to £56,515 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

327-26-498

Job locations

Rikenel

Montpelier

Gloucester

GL1 1LY

United Kingdom

For further information and to apply, click on the APPLY BUTTON at the bottom of this advert to view the supporting documents or apply online