Are you a core qualified clinician? A Social Worker / Counsellor / Psychotherapist / experienced EMHP or WP?

If so, we could be looking to hire you for our Senior Practitioner post!

We currently have 1 senior practitioner vacancy in our MHST at Solar and would love to see if you are the person we are looking for. We are looking for a vibrant, creative member staff that is just as passionate about the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people as we are. We are looking for someone to lead and support through compassion and hope. With this post we are happy to say that we will provide a place to the successful candidate on the Low Intensity Supervision course starting Feb 2022 (all being well with timeframes), if they have not already completed the course. 

This is an exciting role that offers an opportunity for the right person to develop as a senior practitioner, deliver evidence based interventions to children and young people in the Solihull area, learn new skills such as clinical supervision and begin to step into the leadership realm within mental health. As a senior practitioner you will work in partnership with the school community and other wellbeing services to develop a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing, building on what is being done already. We work as a team to achieve this goal through offering a range of services, including:

Improving access to mental health support and services

Delivering training and workshops for schools and parents

Providing consultation to schools on mental health and wellbeing

Individual and group interventions for children and young people experiencing difficulties with managing emotions

And more!

As a worker in this team you will work in Educational and Healthcare settings, providing you with a wealth of experience and skills. Solar is a well established, nationally talked about service and we are really excited to be growing our MHST team. This will be part of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services providing evidence-based psychological therapies nationally.

Solar is a partnership project between Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) and Barnardo's. We work together to provide emotional wellbeing and mental health services for children and young people in Solihull who are aged between 0-19, based on the principle of children and young people only needing to tell their story once.  Solar utilise one clinical record and a single user led care plan, ensuring children and young people shape the service that they receive.

Rated “good” by the CQC in January 2018, the service was peer reviewed by West Midlands Quality Review Service who said they “were impressed with the level of integration across the services - the feedback from service users and their families and carers was that the pathway was seamless between the various services.”

This is an exciting opportunity to be based within a dynamic NHS service, but employed and supported by a charity with a long history of working with and for children and young people (over 150 years!). Solar is a multi-disciplinary service which provides a rich learning environment for all staff. Our work is holistic and evidence based and we actively encourage the participation of children and young people in their assessment, care plan and treatment.

What are the essentials that we need from you?

To be a fully qualified clinician e.g.; Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, Counsellor, Social Worker, Wellbeing Practitioner (2 years experience), Educational Mental Health Practitioner (2 years experience) or Psychotherapist.

We are working blended (remote and face to face) at the moment. To be able to travel in and around the Solihull area for clinical work would be a large benefit.

Experience in working with children and young people delivering therapeutic interventions

Experience of supervisory / leadership duties 

Experience in liaising with the Education sector

Experience of balancing own cases and additional workload

(Please see all additional sheets for further breakdown)

What can Barnardos offer you?

26 days holiday plus bank holidays and the option to purchase 5 days

Free DBS check (if required)

4% or 6% matched pension contribution

Staff discounts at a variety of places (retail, cinema, theme parks, holidays, hotels)

Access to ‘Bluelight' discount card

Paid carers and bereavement leave

Access to extensive professional training and support via the Barnardo's University

Access to paid training in house

A work environment which supports and celebrates their staff via events such as excellence awards

A work environment dedicated to EDI

Please see all attachments within the job advert for further information about the service, the post and the person specification. Please ensure you read the ‘additional information' sheet, as this tells you more specifically about the role.

About Barnardo's

At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Barnardo's is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and male candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo's.