Specialist Mental Health Practitioner - Neurodiversity

To support the Neurodiversity recovery programme, Children and Family Health Devon are looking for a Specialist Mental Health Practitioner to work with the wider multidisciplinary team providing specialist autism assessments and diagnostic formulations for children and young people across Devon and Torbay. We are ideally looking for candidates with previous experience in neurodiversity assessments and who have previously worked with children and families. The numbers of children and young people waiting for Autism, Speech and Language Therapy and Community Paediatrics are now among some of the longest waits in the country. Children and young people are more greatly impacted by waits for health services as the proportion of their life spent waiting can be greater than that for adults, and has an impact on their ability to attend school, gain an education and fulfil their life potential. The ICB is committed to improving this position but understands that this can only happen by working with our system partners to move away from a diagnosis led pathway to instead have an early identification and meeting of needs approach. In 2024/25 the Neurodiversity recovery programme will initially aim to reduce the autism waiting times across Devon to meet recovery of the 52 week target by March 2025 and (in line with NHS Operating Guidance) 18-week recovery by March 2026.,

• As an SMHP within our Neurodiversity pathway, your responsibilities will include:
• Providing specialist neurodevelopmental assessments
• Offering clinical supervision to the wider team when required, fostering a collaborative and supportive working environment.
You will collaborate with children, families, and professionals to adopt a person-centred, holistic approach to care. This involves consistent monitoring of progress, adjustment of treatment plans, and participation in multidisciplinary meetings. Your expertise will contribute to complex cases, service development, and staying abreast of Neurodiversity research and advancements. In addition to your direct clinical role, you will engage in wider service duties such as duty, screening, team support through supervision and mentoring, and contributing to service improvement initiatives.

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.

Successful applicants will be employed by Devon Partnership Trust (https://jobs.dpt.nhs.uk/locations/working-here ) 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. 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.