Publish date: 24 March 2023
To mark Social Work Week, we spoke to Emily Skipsey, Head of CAMHS Social Care, about her role and advice for others interested in a career in social work.
What does a Children’s adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) social worker role entail?
Working as a social worker in CAMHS is quite different to working as a social worker in the local authority or even adult mental health. In CAMHS, social workers often work in CAMHS Practitioner roles. Like CAMHS Practitioners from other professional backgrounds they hold a caseload of children and young people who they might support by; engaging them and their support network in safety planning, giving risk or parenting advice to their carer/s, and liaising with their professional network.
They are responsible for undertaking a number of new assessments each month with a primary focus on young people’s mental health and also take part in the CAMHS duty system. Responding to queries from parents, professionals, and reassuring young people in crisis.
Many social workers also have therapeutic training and offer individuals or group therapy to children, young people and their families. Whilst CAMHS Practitioners can come from a range of professional backgrounds, a social worker brings particular skills to this role which are very valued in CAMHS. Skills such as, risk management, community in-reach, network liaison skills, safeguarding knowledge, whole-system knowledge and a psychosocial perspective.
What motivated you to pursue a career in CAMHS social work?
I got into social work because I wanted to work in reducing social inequalities, discrimination, and help people who didn’t get the opportunities that I did. I always wanted to work in CAMHS, but I heard it was impossible to get a job in CAMHS as a social worker, so I didn’t even try for a few years. I worked in different roles within the local authority, which was a great (although a very challenging) experience. Eventually I felt quite disillusioned because I wasn’t doing the direct work with families that I had hoped for when I first started out in social work. So I decided to give social work in CAMHS a shot and I’ve never looked back!
What development opportunities are available in the NHS?
Historically for social workers in CAMHS, there hasn’t been such a clear career path, but we are working to change that at the trust. Usually social workers start in a band 5 or 6 CAMHS Practitioner position depending on the amount of experience they have in working with children with mental health difficulties. As they gain experience of working in CAMHS and complete additional therapeutic training they might progress to band 7 and eventually move into team management.
In West London we have created a training and development pathway to enable more social workers who already have some non-CAMHS experience of working with children with mental health difficulties to develop skills for working in CAMHS, as we recognise that can sometimes be a barrier. Recently we had our first ASYE placement in CAMHS which is very exciting. Last year we saw the creation of a Head of Social for CAMHS (my role), so in the future we hope to support social workers in CAMHS to develop into more senior positions to provide supervision and leadership to social workers within CAMHS.
What advice would you give someone who may be considering a career in CAMHS social work?
For those interested in a career in CAMHS social work, they will require a degree or diploma in social work in the first instance. Anyone who is looking to complete this training might be interested to know there is a fantastic NHS bursary that can support this.
There is also the new social work apprenticeship that provides an alternative, paid, work-based opportunity to gaining this qualification. My advice for social workers that wish to work in CAMHS, would be to get as much experience of working directly with children and young people with mental health difficulties as possible.
I found experience of working in statutory Children’s Services to be very valuable as we work closely with Children’s Services in CAMHS, and other CAMHS professionals value social worker’s insights into local authority processes. It also gives you a good grounding in dealing with risk and decision-making under pressure, which will come in handy for your CAMHS career. There are lots of other routes to gain experience of working with children and young people in different settings, like through schools and charities. They all offer different opportunities for skills development and now offer opportunities for NQSWs to gain experience through the CAMHS ASYE.
Finally, my advice would be that anyone considering a career in CAMHS should get in touch. I am always keen to hear from those who are interested in CAMHS social work and happy to try and offer advice, or share more about the roles that we have available at the trust.
You can find more information about Social Work Week here.
Take a look at our latest social work job opportunity in CAMHS here.
