Senior Crisis Support Worker

Job summary
Please note we do not offer sponsorship for these roles and if you were unsuccessful for this role previously, please do not apply again.

Be part of an innovative team which is vital to our plans to transform Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Tier 4 services across South London. The service will work in collaboration with the South London Partnership (SLP) Crisis service. South London Partnership is CAMHS New Models of Care Programme and aims to transform services through partnership-working, delivering best practice consistently to support young people and their families. The SLP is a collaboration between Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust. The CAMHS Crisis Line aims to provide short-term, targeted telephone interventions to support young people in distress, as well as providing advice and support for parents and carers who have concerns about their child or young person's mental health.

Main duties of the job

• With support from the senior clinician on duty, to undertake an immediate risk assessment of the young person using your communication skills and knowledge to ensure that any advice or guidance given is appropriate and robust.
• Provide immediate crisis counselling support to children and young people in significant distress, offering a friendly and supportive voice during this time.
• Help the child or young person engage in any safety plan they have formulated with their community teams, in order to minimise any potential risk issues that may become apparent during the call.
• Communicate with parents and carers to provide child and adolescent mental health expertise and advice in relation to their child or young person, reminding them of any plans put in place by CAMHS. If unknown to services, to help them formulate a plan that helps meet the immediate risk issues in relation to the child or young person which would allow their parents or carers to feel supported in managing them at home.
• Liaise with other mental health professionals, as well as the emergency services to provide support and advice regarding children and young people they may have been called to attend out-of-hours.
• Work across the clinical systems used by the South London Partnership to access the clinical notes of children and young people to provide an individualised crisis response.

About us
We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance. There is an extensive range of excellent benefits for you and your family. We want you to feel like you are part of a close knit team at SLaM. It's important to us that you valued and appreciated and that are why we have a comprehensive benefits package on offer. Some of our benefits are highlighted here:

• Generous pay, pensions and leave, we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
• Work life balance, flexible working and support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing.
• Career development, There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes.
• Car lease, our staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars.
• Accommodation, our staff benefits from keyworker housing available which is available on selected sites.
• NHS discounts, with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website.

Other benefits include

• Counselling services
• Wellbeing events
• Long service awards
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Childcare vouchers
• Staff restaurants

Details
Date posted: 26 October 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 4
Salary: £34,186 to £37,389 a year per annum inclusive of HCAS
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 334-NUR-8203272-FR-A
Job locations: PEARS Building Maudsley Hospital, 12-14 Brighton Terrace, Denmark Hill, SE5 8AZ, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

• NVQ Level 3 in Health & Social Care or other equivalent qualification
• Experience of working as a Healthcare Assistant in Adolescent Mental Health
• Experience of working with people with mental health problems
• Experience of working with professionals from other agencies and services
• Ability to promote good working relationships with patients and with the multi-disciplinary team
• Ability to work with a challenging client group, showing initiative and flexibility to team work and to care situations
• Loyal and able to advocate for and show pride in the work area and organization and demonstrates values of trust and NHS
• Ability to work within a multi-disciplinary/multi agency setting

For further details / informal visits contact: Rebecca Licorish rebecca.licorish@slam.nhs.uk - Team Leader

Please note that sponsorship is not available for this role.

Person Specification
Training and qualifications
Essential

• NVQ Level 3 in Health & Social Care or other equivalent qualification

Desirable

• Additional training/qualification related to Mental Health

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working as a HealthCare Assistant in Adolescent Mental Health
• Experience of working with people with mental health problems
• Experience of working with children
• Experience of working with professionals from other agencies and services

Desirable

• Experience of working in a learning disabilities environment

Knowledge and skills
Essential

• An ability to work with minimal supervision and as part of a team
• Ability to work with a challenging client group, showing initiative and flexibility to team work and to care situations
• Ability to deal with a wide range of complex needs
• Flexibility to work shift patterns across 24hrs, 7days a week and across all clinical areas as required
• Empathy for service users including individuals who have experienced mental health problems.
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to prioritise workload

Desirable

• Knowledge of the Children's Act and the Equality Act.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab). From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details
Employer name: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Address: PEARS Building Maudsley Hospital, 12-14 Brighton Terrace, Denmark Hill, SE5 8AZ, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.slam.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Team Leader SLP CAMHS Crisis Line, Rebecca Licorish, rebecca.licorish@slam.nhs.uk