Specialist Mental Health Practitioner - Occupational Therapist

Location: Exeter, EX2 4NU, Dartington, TQ9 6JE, Torquay, TQ2 7BA & Barnstaple, EX31 3UD

Salary: £46148.00 to £52809.00

Date posted: 30th May 2025

Closing date: 15th June 2025

We are excited to be advertising for a Specialist Mental Health Practitioner and Occupational Therapist to join our Eating Disorder Pathway. Working alongside colleagues in a multi-disciplinary team, the clinical lead for the service, and the wider senior management team, you will be supported to bring your skills, experience and enthusiasm to this role. You will work directly with young people and their families offering assessment and interventions and work closely with other professionals to provide supervision and consultation. The work will involve substantial liaison with our colleagues in the wider mental health service and paediatric teams in our local hospitals.

We would be really interested to hear from people with a range of backgrounds and experience. We want to build a service that recognises the multi-faceted nature of the problems that drive eating disorders and celebrates the richness that different professional perspectives can bring. You will supervise and manage others, ensuring the service responds in a timely way to meet the needs of children, young people and families with complex social, emotional and mental health needs. We recognise the value of the specific skills held by our occupational therapy colleagues in contributing to functional assessments across the pathway. We would be really keen to hear from people who have an interest in sensory interventions.

Main duties of the job:

• You will be working as part of a county wide team that provides assessment, treatment and intervention to children, young people and families who present to our service with a variety of challenges related to restricted eating.
• We are a service going through a process of development and growth. You'll need a sense of humour, the ability to work with others and a capacity to offer energy, ideas and leadership.
• On the wish list is experience in mental health, eating disorders and working in a multi-disciplinary team to help people change.
• We are looking for people who have strong ethical perspectives and the ability to value different approaches.

About us:

Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD) comprises an Alliance of NHS organisations working together to improve health outcomes for children and young people in Devon. CFHD provides integrated care and treatment for children and young people across physical and mental health which are provided by Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust and Devon Partnership Trust. We are working closely with other organisations and providers to ensure we deliver locality and county-wide based integrated access to all of our services. CFHD works closely with our local universities of Plymouth, Exeter & the Peninsula Medical School where we support students in clinical training placements and in addition support our own staff to undertake post graduate training. Our integrated care and treatment has been developed and refined in partnership with children, young people and their families/carers.

We would like the people who work for Children and Family Health Devon to be understanding, patient and respectful. They should be trustworthy and make us feel safe and comfortable. It is important that they use their skills and experience to listen carefully in a non-patronising and non-judgemental way. When staff are positive and friendly, they help to create an environment that is informal and without pressure. Our vision is to be a successful, vibrant partnership that benefits the communities we serve.

Job responsibilities:

The post holder will demonstrate courageous and critical thinking and is a caring, compassionate and committed experienced person who, acting within their professional boundaries, will be responsible for the provision of care to the child/young person and their parents/carers. They will demonstrate safe, competent clinical decision-making and expert care, including assessment, formulation, treatment and evaluation of care in line with NICE guidance and commit to demonstrating critical thinking in the safe clinical decision-making process. They will communicate and work collaboratively with the team to meet the needs of children, young people and their parents/carers, supporting the delivery of policy and procedures, and providing clinical supervision and leadership as required.

The post holder will work as a member of the multi professional team by providing an enhanced clinical role to support children, young people and their parents/carers in receiving high quality specialist treatment and where safe and appropriate to do so, support children, young people and their parents/carers in their own homes, working to identify and proactively prevent further deterioration in their psychological wellbeing by delivering a range of therapeutic interventions. The post holder will work as part of a multi professional team providing a clinical service that is sensitive to the needs of the population and clinical expertise and advice that is supportive to colleagues. The team members will provide comprehensive assessment and formulation to inform appropriate person centred evidenced based treatment plans. The post holder will contribute to the development and implementation of effective models of care.

Person Specification:

Experience:

• Experience of working collaboratively with service users and their families/carers, including using goal-based care and routine outcome measures in practice.
• Experience of working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team and across agencies.
• Experience of undertaking specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions for in the area of children's mental health, with the ability to work with complex needs and undertake risk assessments.

Skills:

• Ability to travel across Devon.

Qualifications:

• Professional knowledge acquired through degree supplemented by specialist training or equivalent experience to Masters level with an Occupational Therapy qualification to degree level or equivalent.
• Training in an evidence-based therapeutic approach.
• Active registration with the HCPC as a registered Occupational Therapist.
• Training in supervision and/or leadership skills or willing to work towards.
• Evidence of Continuous Professional Development.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check:

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.