Family Nurse

Please apply online via the link provided. Please note, we do not accept CVs submitted without a fully completed online application form.

Are you looking for an opportunity to join a dynamic and innovative 0-19 Public Health Nursing Service delivered within an award-winning council focused on placing local people at the heart of everything we do, listening to and doing good for our communities?

Here at Barnsley Council, we live and work by four important values: honesty, teamwork, excellent service, and taking pride in what we do. We’re proud to deliver the 0-19 Public Health Nursing Service, which is at the forefront of care provision for the children and young people of Barnsley. We recognise that our greatest asset is our employees, which is why for all successful nursing candidates we will recognise your NHS continuous service for the purposes of annual leave and sickness absence, and you can continue to access the NHS Pension Scheme if you are an existing scheme member.

To ensure continued provision of Public Health Nursing services within Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council we are seeking to recruit a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (School Nurse) who is passionate about wanting to lead and support the provision of high-quality services.

About the role

The Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) is a national evidence-based, licensed programme that forms the specialist level of the healthy child programme for young parents and their babies.

The aim of the programme is to improve antenatal health, child health and development and parental economic self-sufficiency in disadvantaged young families.

FNP is voluntary for eligible clients and offered in a strengths-based, trauma-informed way to support engagement. The programme is offered to first-time parents, and while the mother is the primary client, fathers and partners are actively encouraged to participate.

The Family Nurse role is responsible for delivering all aspects of the healthy child programme (HCP), with a focus on fostering the client’s self-efficacy, personal growth, and capacity for sensitive, responsive parenting. The programme utilises a range of evidence-based tools, methods and materials to promote positive parent-infant attachment and healthy family relationships. The role requires highly developed specialist knowledge and skills underpinned by theoretical frameworks, advanced clinical training and experience.

The successful candidate will sit within the FNP team and will be integrated within the 0-19 PHNS working alongside health visitors, school nurses and skill mix practitioners and will be required to:

· Undertake specialist training in all elements of the FNP programme and will need to achieve the family nurse competencies as defined at national level. This includes mandatory training in areas such as motivational interviewing, dyadic observation, parental emotional connectedness, adolescent brain development, child development, human ecology, and attachment theory, as well as ongoing professional learning and reflective supervision.

· Deliver the healthy child programme and support their clients to access and engage with local services and agencies such as Neighborhood Health Teams, Best Start Family Hubs, education, and primary care.

· Develop and apply high level specialist skills to work within the clinical methods of the structured programme, integrating evidence-based approaches and continually building expertise through team learning and supervision.

· Establish therapeutic relationships with clients and work intensively with families experiencing complex situations, using programme tools and materials to achieve positive outcomes.

· Use high level interpersonal and communication skills to provide and receive complex and often highly sensitive information.

· Use strengths-based, trauma-informed, solution-focused, and motivational interviewing skills to overcome barriers to engagement and to promote behaviour change, supporting client self-efficacy and growth.

· Work effectively in potentially highly distressing and emotional circumstances, such as safeguarding children or family breakdown, maintaining focus on child outcomes and psychological safety.

· Demonstrate flexibility and resilience by working independently as a lone worker and collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to team learning, supervision, and data analysis to inform service improvement.

· Manage a caseload of up to 25 clients.

About you

To succeed in this role, you should be a trained family nurse, or an experienced NMC registered nurse or midwife with significant background in child health, public health, or related areas. Direct experience supporting children and families, especially those from diverse or disadvantaged backgrounds, is essential. You must possess comprehensive knowledge of child safeguarding, as well as extensive expertise handling sensitive and complex family situations. Building supportive, respectful, and culturally sensitive relationships even under emotional or difficult circumstances is key.

Outstanding communication, facilitation, and motivational abilities are required, along with the capacity to present complex information clearly and thoughtfully. You should be adept at managing emotionally challenging scenarios while keeping the child's needs central. Strong skills in prioritising tasks, assessing risks, and problem-solving in uncertain or complex contexts are crucial. Your approach should remain focused on positive outcomes for children, utilising motivational and strengths-based techniques to empower families.