About Barnet Council

Barnet Council is seeking an experienced and passionate Senior Clinical Practitioner to join our Onwards & Upwards (O&U) service, working with care‑experienced young people and care leavers as they transition into adulthood. This is a unique opportunity to play a strategic and hands‑on clinical role, embedding trauma‑informed and mentalisation‑based practice across Children’s Social Care, Mental Health Services and Adult Social Care. The role has a primary focus on the mental health needs of young people aged 16–25, including care leavers and unaccompanied asylum‑seeking young people (UASC), particularly those who are unlikely to meet Adult Mental Health thresholds or are disengaged from CAMHS. You will be based within our Onwards and Upwards Office, working closely with Social Workers, Personal Advisors and partner agencies to promote emotional wellbeing, stability and improved long‑term outcomes.

About the role

This is an 12‑month fixed-term contract. The salary will include an additional 10% Recruitment and Retention bonus.

As Senior Clinical Practitioner, you will:

Embed Barnet’s mentalisation approach and the Anna Freud “Building Bridges” framework within the Onwards & Upwards service, strengthening multi‑agency relationships and promoting reflective, psychologically‑informed practice.
Provide specialist clinical oversight to staff involved in transition planning for children in care and care‑experienced adults.
Offer mental health consultations to Social Workers and Personal Advisors, supporting early identification of emerging mental health needs.
Facilitate reflective team supervision, clinical consultations and risk formulation, building staff confidence and resilience when working with complexity.
Coordinate and support appropriate referrals to mental health and community services.
Provide specialist clinical input into Barnet’s Joint Transitions Tracking Panel.
In discussion with the Assistant Head of Service, hold a small clinical caseload, ensuring direct clinical insight informs wider service practice.

Please click here to download the Job description for this role. (Right-click and select “Open in new tab” so you can keep the job description open while completing your application)

About you

You will be a qualified and experienced mental health practitioner with:

A strong grounding in trauma‑informed, mentalisation‑based and systemic practice.
Experience working with care‑experienced adolescents, care leavers or young adults with complex mental health needs.
Confidence providing clinical consultation, supervision and advice within multi‑disciplinary environments.
A collaborative approach and ability to work effectively across Children’s Services, Mental Health and Adult Social Care.
A commitment to improving outcomes for vulnerable young people as they transition into adulthood.

What we offer

31 days annual leave, plus public and bank holidays
Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme, which provides a valuable guaranteed income in your retirement together with security for your dependents
Work-life balance options may include hybrid working, flexitime, job share, home working, part-time
A vast range of lifestyle discounts from major retailers, supermarkets, energy suppliers and more
Broad range of payroll benefits including cycle to work, eye care vouchers, travel and gym membership
Excellent training and development opportunities
Employee well- being training programs including confidential employee assistance

How to apply

Read the job description and person specification before clicking ‘Apply’ to commence the online application form. If you would like any further information about the role before applying, please contact Charlotte.Virag@Barnet.gov.uk

System notice: Some dates shown on our online application system (such as “Apply Before”) appear in US date format (MM/DD/YYYY) due to Oracle system settings.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a useful tool to support your application as a reasonable adjustment, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn, escalated to counter Fraud for further investigation and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Barnet Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Barnet operates stringent safer recruitment procedures, this may include AI Detection Screening, Biometric ID/Right to Work Checks, Qualification and Registration Checks, Up to 6 years of Employment Data and Insights to Accelerate Screening (Konfir), Up to 5 years of Employment History References, DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) Checks, Credit Checks and Social Media, Sanctions and Occupational Health Screening.

To deliver Barnet Council’s commitment to equality of opportunity in the provision of services, all staff are expected to promote equality in the workplace and in the services the Council delivers. As such we value diversity and welcome applications from all backgrounds.

Barnet Council embraces all forms of flexible working (including part-time, compressed hours, and hybrid working) and is committed to offering employees a healthy work-life balance. Candidates are encouraged to talk about relevant requirements and preferences at interview. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.

Barnet Council is a Disability Confident Committed Employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

All posts with the council are subject to a probationary period of six months, during which time you will be required to demonstrate to the council satisfaction your suitability for the position in which you will be employed.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close vacancies before the stated closing date if sufficient number of applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.

Please ensure you regularly check the email account (including JUNK MAIL folders) that you use to submit your application, as any further communication regarding your application will be sent electronically. Should you not hear from us within four working weeks of the closing date for this post, then regretfully in this instance, you have not been shortlisted.