Mental Health Nurse - Cherry Tree CottageBand 6

Main area

Mental Health Nurse - Cherry Tree Cottage

Grade

Band 6

Contract

Permanent

Hours

Part time - 30 hours per week (shift work 16 hour shifts)

Job ref

367-CYP-101716

Site

Cherry Tree Cottage Children's Residential Home Baldock SG7 6ER

Town

Baldock

Salary

£38,682 - £46,580 per annum, pro rata

Salary period

Yearly

Closing

05/11/2026 23:59

Values Based Screener

At Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust we are looking for people to join us who share our values and those of the NHS. Before your application can be considered please take part on our online values questionnaire, which you can find below. When you have finished you will be sent a 'completion code' by email, which will be valid for 6 months and required to submit your application form.

Job overview

Cherry Tree Cottage Specialist Children's home

Social Care and Health together

We are open to receive applications from Registered Mental Health Nurses with experience working with children and young people in care.

Are you passionate about getting it right for children and young people in care?

Do you want to be part of a unique short-term service to support children in mental health crisis, prevent their admission to hospital or enable timely discharge from hospital and successfully move them on to a settled placement?

Do you want to be part of a Multidisciplinary team with integral Health, Social Care and Psychiatry expertise.

With Innovation at its heart; We are looking to recruit a team who want to be fundamental in the success of this first of its kind service In Hertfordshire.

Cherry Tree Cottage is an Ofsted registered children's home operated through an integrated health and social care staffing model (HPFT and HCC Social Services) to care for children looked after. The home provides 3 beds for children with mental health presentations who may be repeat attenders at A&E /S136 suite or at risk of /or have had admission to Tier 4 provision (psychiatric inpatient unit).

Main duties of the job

This is an exciting opportunity to join this innovative service as a Band 6 mental health nurse working alongside social care colleagues at Cherry Tree Cottage. As part of an MDT, the candidate will work collaboratively with the Registered Manager, Team Leader, HPFT Clinical Lead, Consultant Psychiatrist, and other clinicians in the team with the planning, development, provision and review of an excellent, service-user focused service providing crisis containment and therapeutic support to children and young people with social and co-morbid mental health difficulties.

The home uses the ARC theoretical framework (Attachment, Regulation and Competency) and Non-violent resistance interventions and ethos in the provision to create a warm and nurturing environment to enhance wellbeing of the CYP. Training is provided and all workers are expected to work within this framework. The post-holder will work within professional guidelines and under the clinical and professional supervision of a Team Leader alongside the Registered Manager.

Working for our organisation

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from the Care Quality Commission

Our family of over 4,000 members of staff provide health and social care for people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. Everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout:

Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

• To undertake mental health assessment, risk assessment, care plan management and reviews for CYP with complex mental health and co-morbid social care needs.
• To undertake crisis containment work including therapeutically engaging activities for CYP admitted to the home for a limited time.
• To provide advice ans consultation to other team members regarding the mental health care of CYP in the home.
• To provide good standards of reparative parenting for children and adolescents which safeguards and promotes their welfare by ensuring that the home meets the requirements of legislation, including the National Quality Standards for residential homes.
• To follow all HPFT and HCC policies and local procedures.
• Ensure that children and adolescents develop socially, educationally and emotionally having regard for through effective assessment, care planning, and liaison with other agencies.
• Understand and support the purpose of the children's homes and be willing and able to respond appropriately to children with challenging behaviour.
• Following the day-to-day activities of the home including; cooking and cleaning; taking children to school, activities and appointments; following petty cash procedures, administering medication, maintaining the home environment and acting as a good role model. You will be required to work shift patterns covering the needs of the children. This will include long shifts, weekends and bank holidays as well as taking children on holiday within and outside of the UK. Please confirm that you are willing to undertake these duties in your supporting statement.
• To provide a safe and containing environment that will help stabilise the mental health of children experiencing a mental health crisis in order to allow them to return to their original placement and thus enhance placement stability.
• Support with running therapeutic groups within the home for the young people.

Planning & Organisational Skills

• To provide accurate, clear and concise communications in all aspects of delivering the service.
• Integrate into a multi professional health and social care team within the residential unit.
• To oversee care team responsibilities.
• To work with the team leader and manager to ensure clinical governance initiatives and service framework targets are adhered to.
• To initiate and participate in service audits that may be required.
• To promote service user feedback.

Person specificationKnowledgeEssential criteria

• Experience working with Children & Young People in a health environment
• Experience working with CYP in a mental crisis environment
• Additional areas of training through...