Senior CYPMH Mental health practitioner | Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Do you want to be part of a rapidly developing service? and are you committed to improving the lives of Children, Young People and their families?

In a period of exciting change, South Cumbria CYPMH Service are looking to recruit a full time Senior CYPMH Practitioner, within a Band 6 post, to complement the wider multi-disciplinary CYPMH Service; a busy, friendly service providing a range of treatment approaches to children and young people 0 – 18yrs including CBT, EMDR, psychiatry, psychology and DBT. We also work in close collaboration with partner agencies.

We work with children, young people and families up to the age of 18years presenting with a wide range of moderate to severe, emotional and mental health difficulties. Experience of working with children and young people with mental health difficulties is essential. The role will focus on undertaking Triage calls, comprehensive mental health assessments, formulations and risk assessments as well as carrying out evidence based therapeutic interventions to support children and families experiencing difficulties relating to complex mental health needs.

We are committed to ongoing continuous professional development of our staff and as a member of our team, you will have the opportunity to be involved in various training initiatives, including CYPIAPT.

The hours of work are 9am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday and as we have bases in Barrow and Kendal, successful candidate will be expected to travel to different locations across the South Cumbria locality.

The post holder will utilise CYMPH core skills to undertake Triage calls, comprehensive mental health assessments, formulations and risk assessments, as well as co-producing achievable goals alongside children/young people and their families. Evidence based therapeutic interventions will be utilised to support children and families experiencing difficulties relating to complex mental health. This is envisaged to sit within the ‘Getting More Help’ domain of the THRIVE Model.

They will work with the MDT to develop the formulation of the child/young person and family’s needs and support the development of a care plan based upon the child/young person and family’s negotiated goals and relevant evidence based interventions. This will be under clinical supervision from a more senior clinical psychology practitioner.

As part of an integrated CYMPH service, promote robust community partnership working arrangements alongside other key stakeholders in order to deliver integrated care.

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you’d like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Explore our full wellbeing offer here:Keeping our workforce well

Actively contribute to the implementation of the safeguarding agenda within the service, in partnership with the Trust safeguarding team.

• Undertake in-depth, holistic assessments of children and young people with complex needs, including collation, interpretation and integration of data from a variety of sources such as psychological assessments, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations as well as interviews with children, young people and their families/carers.
• Support and empower children, young people and families to make informed choices about the intervention.
• Use evidence-based practice to support the co-production and implementation of person-centred care plans with the child/young person and their family.
• Complete robust risk assessments with children/young people with complex needs and their families and coproduce safety plans.
• Provide a range of information and interventions, within the post-holders scope of practice, to children and young people with complex needs. Interventions will be evidence based such as those taught on the specific CYP IAPT training.
• Undertake in-depth, holistic assessments of children and young people with complex needs and contribute to the development of clear and comprehensive formulations for children/young people on their caseload and to support cases managed by more senior members of the team.
• Make appropriate referrals to other health professionals and agencies.
• Be aware of the needs of relatives and carers, offering advice and support and sign-posting to other services as necessary
• Provide ongoing review and evaluation of interventions to inform and adapt formulation and treatment.
• Act within scope of autonomous responsibility to case manage the assessment, treatment and discharge of children, young people and their families/carers.
• Understand and meet responsibilities in relation to the identification and safe management of safeguarding issues, adhering to local safeguarding polices and escalating concerns when necessary.
• Provide leadership within the team for the protection of children and young people, ensuring that team members understand their safeguarding responsibilities.

For more details on this vacancy please review the attached job description and person specification

This advert closes on Wednesday 27 May 2026