Mental Health Practitioner

North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) and University of Bristol and Weston Hospital Trust (UHBW) are working towards merging as one organisation from summer 2026.

This will not affect staff applying for positions directly with UHBW.

As an organisation we recognise the value of a healthy work-life balance. When applying, speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate flexible working, so your work life fits around your home life.

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within the Trust.

Click on this link to find out about our values https://www.uhbw.nhs.uk/p/about-us/our-trust-values

Please note the use of AI is monitored and if applicants have used it then they are required to declare this.

Job overview

We are excited to be recruiting for a thoughtful, compassionate Mental Health Practitioner to join our committed and supportive multi-disciplinary team under the NHS Children and Young People Gender Service (South West) CYPGS SW.

There are weekly clinical development meetings. We value the provision of evidence-based care delivered by highly skilled compassionate clinicians.

Our service has purpose-built accommodation with high quality clinical space for face to face and remote appointments. We offer outreach clinics in Devon and Cardiff. The opportunity for hybrid working would make this post suitable for clinicians from outside the Bristol area.

For example, we recently held and ACT training Day for all clinical staff.

• To offer clinical work consistent with the Cass Review and the 2026 Service Specification for CYP Gender Services.
• As part of a team provide psychological assessments and organised complex clinical information into a clear case formulation.
• To be able to analyse, synthesise and summarise large amounts of clinical information
• To be have therapy training (eg CBT, family therapy) to be able to support and deliver interventions for clients in the CYP Gender Service..
• To provide evidence based and culturally appropriate interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
• To assess and monitor risk and develop appropriate risk management plan in liaison with safeguarding and senior professionals.
• To take responsibility for initiating, planning, and reviewing care plans with CYP with low to medium complexity, including liaison with local services when required.
• To contribute to the effective working of the CYP Gender Service – South West and to a psychologically informed holistic care framework for the service.
• To contribute to the team or service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services.
• To liaise with referrers, health, education, and social care professionals concerned with clients to develop and review care plans.

For more details, please refer to the attached JD.

Working for our organisation

Anonymous information will be used from your application in order to ensure we’re meeting our pledge.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Our commitment to clinical excellence is reflected in our annual cycle of quality outcomes related to a wide portfolio of activity.

We work together to grow and shape the department; we have a notice board style central point of communication to keep you up to date communicating via surveys about what matters to us all. Membership of departmental Service Delivery Groups (SDGs) give the opportunity to broaden skills and experiences and be involved in wider psychology initiatives.

We have a commitment in Paediatrics to collaborate with our colleagues as much as we can. This means we regularly offer advice and guidance to patients outside of our core patient group. This rewarding work is highly appreciated by the Trust.

As a way to support individual development, growth of expertise and service priorities, staff can benefit from opportunities to work into other clinical areas through discussion and planning with their line manager and head of service. This will be an element of the working lives of much of the staff group you would lead.

For a more detailed job description, main responsibilities, and person specification, please refer to the job description document attached to this vacancy.

Person specification

Experience

• Experience of clinical mental health working with children, adolescents or adults
• Expertise in assessing risk and risk management
• Experience of biopsychosocial assessment
• Experience of presenting mental health understanding, to multi-professional teams
• Experience of work within a health, CAMHS or Education setting as a therapist
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team

• Experience of formal teaching/training to health and other professionals

Knowledge

• Knowledge of Mental Health Act and Children’s Act
• Knowledge of the Cass Review

Qualifications

• Qualification as a, Mental Health Nurse, Occupational therapist, Social Worker, Clinical Psychologist: eligible for registration by the HCPC, MNC or other relevant professional registration body
• Registration as appropriate to above professional qualification
• Post registration therapy qualification and experience of using it with children young people and parents

Skills

• Able to assess within a biopsychosocial model the needs of patients and families
• Able to work with the team to formulate cases and provide appropriate therapeutic interventions from established therapy and developmental models
• To be able to work with wider systems including education, health and social care systems
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to provide and receive complex, sensitive and often contentious information in a developmentally and culturally appropriate manner and in highly emotive situations
• Ability to communicate complex information children, families and staff in an accessible manner (written, verbal, electronic)
• Able to record and provide information and data pertaining to clinical work, activity and outcomes (written, electronic)
• Able to demonstrate successful use of strategies to prioritise and manage time when there are conflicting demands
• Able to demonstrate examples of successful commitment to team working
• Able to demonstrate a realistic awareness of the potential for work related stress and distress in this type of clinical work plus strategies to manage this
• Able to travel to regional and outreach clinics across the South West Peninsula and Wales as required (E) - therefore ability to drive is highly desirable.

• Able to teach multi-professional teams on matters of mental health

• As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application to ensure we’re meeting our pledge.
• The Trust is committed to investing in and caring for all our staff. We will support you in maintaining and improving your health and wellbeing, as well as your career development through management and training support - developing exceptional people for exceptional careers.
• UHBW is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.
• To comply with Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 all applicants must be able to speak fluent English to an appropriate standard which will be assessed at Interview.
• If you require sponsorship for a visa to work in the UK, to avoid disappointment, please check to ensure you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
• The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.
• By applying for this post, you are agreeing to University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
• Please be aware of scams – unless specified above, we will only communicate with you via @recruit.trac.jobs or nhs.net e-mails and we will never ask you for any payments.

IMPORTANT:

Please note that if you apply for a position with this Trust, you may be contacted via Trac or via email. This includes invites for job interviews. We therefore recommend that you regularly check your Trac account and email accounts. We may also contact you by texting the mobile number, if provided, on the application form.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close this vacancy before the advertised closing date. Therefore, please apply for this post as soon as you can, if you are interested and you meet the requirements of the Person Specification

Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for this job.

As a guide interviews should usually take place within 3 weeks of the closing date.

When providing employment reference details, please provide correct work-related email addresses so references can be sought promptly when we are looking to progress your application. Your referee must all be known to you in a line manager or professional lead capacity.