Clinical CAMHS Social Worker

West London NHS Trust provides a full range of mental health, community and physical healthcare services for children, adults and older people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.

We also provide some specialist services that are commissioned regionally, such as our medium secure services; and nationally, such as the Cassel Hospital for people with complex and severe personality disorder and our high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital.

Job overview

Are you a passionate Social Worker with strong experience supporting children and young people with mental health needs? This is an exciting opportunity to bring your expertise to Hounslow CAMHS as a Band 7 Clinical Social Worker within our dynamic Adolescent Team.

As a Clinical Social Worker within the Tier 3 CAMHS Adolescent Team, you will join a collaborative multi-disciplinary team where your skills, insight, and professional voice are truly valued. This role offers the chance to make a significant differencethrough direct clinical work, providing assessments and interventions, while alsocontributing to a culture of shared learning by offering supervision, consultation, andtraining to colleagues and partners across agencies.

In CAMHS, Social Workers play a vital role in shaping meaningful, person-centred support for children, adolescents, and families. You will bring a social perspective that helps bridge the gaps between mental health, physical health, social care, and community resources- ensuring that every young person receives compassionate, accessible, and holistic care.

If you are motivated, reflective, and eager to influence positive change for children and families, we would love to welcome you to our team.

Main duties of the job

In this role, you will play a central part in supporting children and young people to access timely, effective mental health care and to navigate services confidently and smoothly. You will carry out comprehensive, psychosocial, mental health assessments for young people aged 14 to 17 years and their families. You will contribute to the development, implementation, and review of risk management and safety plans to support young people with complex mental health needs.

You will work as a key member of a multi-disciplinary team, holding a varied caseload and delivering high quality therapeutic work that is culturally sensitive, family centred, and grounded in the goals of the young people you support. You will be confident in making autonomous clinical decisions, managing risk, and using supervision and reflective practice to maintain excellent standards of care.

You will offer specialist advice to colleagues and partners across health, education, and social care- helping shape a shared understanding of children’s needs. Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, are essential, as is the ability to build effective collaborative relationships.

The team offers excellent opportunities to undertake therapeutic work with adolescents and their families, to strengthen family relationships, promote resilience, and support positive outcomes for adolescents experiencing mental health difficulties.

Working for our organisation

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.

Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for is over £500m.

The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overallby the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.

The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached.

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Degree or Diploma in Social Work with additional therapeutic qualifications
• Active Professional registration with Social Work England (SWE)
• Post-registration training or equivalent experience in child and adolescent mental health
• Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) Stage 2 qualification
• Training in standardised assessment tools relevant to the role e.g. ADI-r, ADOS or a willingness to undertake this training
• Relevant post graduate qualification in Mental Health related field
• Qualifications/ training in specialist skills e.g. systemic therapies, CBT, Family Intervention. Evidence based group work e.g. DBT

Experience

• Demonstrable post qualifying experience of working within a multidisciplinary mental health setting at Band 6 or above.
• Experience of undertaking psychosocial assessments and therapeutic engagement with children and adolescents experiencing emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties
• Experience of working in a number of ways i.e. assertive outreach, clinic-based settings, home, school or other appropriate environments
• Experience of assessing and managing risk, developing and implementing safety and risk management plans
• Experience of multidisciplinary and multi-agency working, contributing a professional social work perspective
• Experience of managing child protection and safeguarding concerns, including emergencies
• Experience of providing teaching, presentations, supervision or professional consultation
• Experience of working effectively within complex multi-agency networks and family systems
• Experience of delivering a range of therapeutic interventions including family work, parenting interventions, CBT-informed or systemic approaches
• Experience of contributing to service development and audit and/or research
• Able to undertake comprehensive mental health assessments of children and young people presenting with a range of mental health needs, including complex presentations. Able to formulate clinical needs and develop, implement and review evidence-based care and treatment plans.
• Competent in assessing and managing clinical risk and developing appropriate risk management plans. Demonstrates sound knowledge of safeguarding responsibilities, policies and procedures.
• Able to engage effectively and develop therapeutic relationships with children, young people and families/carers. Demonstrates effective written and verbal communication skills, including communicating complex and sensitive information. Understands child and adolescent development and adapts communication and interventions accordingly.
• Able to deliver evidence-based, therapeutically informed interventions appropriate to the needs of children, young people and families. Experience of family and/or parenting work within CAMHS or a relevant setting. Able to provide psychoeducation and promote resilience, recovery and self-management.
• Demonstrates culturally informed and inclusive practice, considering individual identity, diversity and social circumstances within assessment and intervention.
• Able to work autonomously and effectively within a multidisciplinary team. Able to establish effective working relationships with families, professional networks and partner agencies.
• Able to manage and prioritise a clinical caseload effectively. Uses clinical and professional supervision appropriately and demonstrates commitment to continuing professional development. Able to provide appropriate support, advice and guidance to colleagues and students

As an employee of West London NHS Trust, you have a responsibility to maintain a sound understanding of, and a commitment to uphold the National Health Service values and principles set out in the NHS Constitution.

We reserve the right to close adverts prior to the closing date stated should we receive a high volume of applications.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to West London NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, you will be required to undergo a pre-employment checks which can take between 4-8 weeks . After which your information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system (ESR ).

Please ensure you include email addresses for your referees which MUST be at supervisory or managerial capacity covering the last 3 years of employment to date to avoid delay in the recruitment process.

West London NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We encourage the thoughtful use of technology as a demonstration of strong time management and a commitment to innovation. However, we encourage applicants to personalise your recruitment application to showcase your unique skills and experiences.

While AI-generated content can be a helpful tool, relying solely on generic responses instead of highlighting your own strengths and achievements may impact the success of your application. The success of an application will always be assessed against the essential and desirable criteria for the role, so it is important to ensure that your application and any supporting information clearly demonstrate how you meet these requirements.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

At West London NHS Trust, we want you to support you to build a career you can be proud of and this starts before your first day with us. Our people live our values every day as they deliver, manage and work to improve our services to patients, carers, families and other professionals.

We’re committed to making our recruitment process clear and efficient. It’s in everyone’s interest that we get the very best people on board as soon as we can.

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