Frequently asked questions about jobs in CAMHS
Dorset CAMHS offers roles for people from a wide range of professional backgrounds – both clinical and non-clinical. Our CAMHS teams include admin staff, support workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health nurses, social workers, therapists and more – and every one of them plays a vital role in helping us to help young people.
Find out more by in our information on roles in CAMHS
Dorset CAMHS offers outstanding learning and development opportunities including apprenticeships, training roles, professional mentoring and support for academic study, as well as specialist qualifications and leadership training.
Take a look at our information on learning and development opportunities for more detail.
If you haven’t worked with children or young people before, don’t let that put you off a career at Dorset CAMHS. If you have a background in care and support, and you’re compassionate, friendly and motivated, we would love to hear from you. In many cases, we can offer training to support you in developing the skills needed to work with children and young people – and whilst some roles in CAMHS require specialist qualifications and experience, there are many others where skills gained in other roles are just as important.
CAMHS Dorset employs staff from all walks of life and backgrounds, from a wide variety of previous jobs who have successfully transferred to a role in CAMHS. Find out more about in our information on routes into CAMHS.
The qualifications required for a role with CAMHS depend entirely on the job.
Some roles in CAMHS require academic and professional qualifications, such as clinical psychologists and consultant psychiatrists; for others, we’ll be looking for relevant experience, together with evidence that you have the skills we need to help us deliver the best possible service.
Find out more about the qualifications needed for different roles with CAMHS.
Dorset CAMHS offers a range of development opportunities for experienced practitioners, including defined career pathways, access to professional training and leadership qualifications.
Read more in our information on learning and development opportunities.
Dorset CAMHS has a dedicated workforce work stream, which focuses on ensuring staff are trained and skilled in a variety of interventions in order to meet the needs of the service. We’re also part of a variety of collaborative training schemes that give staff access to professional qualifications.
Add to that the fact you’ll be working one of only a few NHS mental health trusts delivering community services to be rated outstanding by the CQC and there’s every reason to explore further.
No, not necessarily but you do need training and professional body registration that is recognised as a core profession.
Dorset CAMHS offers a variety of training opportunities to unqualified staff looking to train up. For example – there are nurse associate roles and guaranteed job schemes available. Find out more in our sections on routes into CAMHS.
People come to CAMHS from a wide variety of professional backgrounds, and through many different routes. Some roles with CAMHS require academic and professional qualifications, together with relevant professional experience – for others, the most important requirement is that you are motivated to make a difference to young people’s lives.
You can find out more about different careers with CAMHS, and the qualifications and experience required, in our information on roles in CAMHS. You can also read more about routes into CAMHS if you’re looking to transfer your skills, train to become a CAMHS practitioner or are recently qualified.
Working with children and young people is incredibly rewarding, but it can also be emotionally demanding, so we make sure our staff receive the support they need.
Dorset CAMHS staff are supported by Dorset HealthCare’s health and wellbeing service, and also have access to the Care First employee assistance programme, which provides confidential, impartial advice and support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Care First includes telephone and face-to-face counselling from qualified counsellors accredited to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Staff will also have regular managerial and clinical supervision where they can discuss any issues and concerns they may have, and are encouraged to raise these issues with their manager to explore how to provide additional support.
Find out more about staff support on Dorset HealthCare’s website.
Dorset CAMHS is currently looking at developing rotational roles that will cover community, inpatient, psychiatric liaison as well as the new initiatives such as new care models.
As part of induction we would also encourage staff to spend time in each of the other key services and teams to gain a greater understanding of how all the services and team link and work together. There are a few roles that cover several teams but these are quite unique.
Bank staff provide extra support when its needed to make sure Dorset CAMHS can continue to provide the best possible service. Find out more about how to register with Dorset HealthCare’s Trust Bank and Trust Temps here.