An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical Psychologist with experience of working with young people with Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) and / or Learning Disabilities and their families to work in West London CAMHS as a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist and team lead (Band 8A - 0.5 WTE).

This role sits within our Mental Health Support Team offer, providing input directly into mainstream schools. The post holder will lead the MHST+ pathway, which provides evidence-based early intervention and consultation for children diagnosed with a learning disability or ASC, or awaiting an assessment for an ASC diagnosis.

We are looking for an enthusiastic, skilled & innovative clinician who is able to maintain clinical curiosity, and be able to be an advocate for children, young people and families' needs. You will be joining a welcoming psychology team in Ealing and West London who are committed to service improvement, staff well-being, and who value diversity in our workforce.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will provide senior leadership for the clinical functioning of the MHST+ team. You will contribute to providing early intervention mental health support for children/young people with Autism and/or LD, or who are on the waiting list for an Autism diagnosis, in mainstream schools.

You will contribute to identifying gaps and generating potential ideas for developing the service. You will develop strong working relationships with key stakeholders to enable joint working to best meet the needs of children and young people with ASC/LD and the systems around them.

You will contribute to developing and implementing a range of interventions and projects within schools and may be invited to contribute to developing borough-wide strategies for young people with ASC/LD.

You will hold a small caseload, offering high quality evidence-based interventions to support children and young people, as well as provide clinical supervision for trainee and qualified staff within the team.

About us

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse providers of mental health, community and social care in the UK.

Our 3,982 staff care for people in hospital and in the community, helping them to recover and go on to lead full and productive lives. We aim to be the best organisation of our kind in the country.

We provide care and treatment for more than 800,000 people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow, delivering services in the community (at home, in GP surgeries and care homes), hospital, specialist clinics and forensic (secure) units.

We'rerated good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Together, we're committed to promoting hope and wellbeing, working with patients, service users, carers, families and partners across the communities we serve.

We are keen to ensure that our workforce reflects the community it serves, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, LGBTQ+ and experience of mental health concerns.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see our Candidate information pack for a comprehensive job description and person specification for this role. We are able to provide specialist training (such as ADOS-2, 3Di, ADI-R, Tics therapy training etc.) to successful candidates who may require such training, which would be negotiated during the offer stage of recruitment.

If you have any enquiries about the post, please do get in touch with Dr Roya Afsharzadegan, Principal Clinical Psychologist & MHST Manager via Roya.Afsharzadegan@westlondon.nhs.uk.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society, or equivalent if trained overseas
• Eligible to work as a Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical) as approved by the Health Care Professions Council.
• Training in supervision.

Desirable

• Training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of children, adolescents and their families across a range of care settings, (e.g. outpatient, community, primary care, in patient settings).
• Experience of working with children, adolescents and their families which will have involved maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience working as a specialist clinical psychologist in CAMHS.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.

Desirable

• Further specialist experience in CAMHS, including: Experience working with children, adolescents (and their families) with learning disability and/or neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g. ASD, ADHD, etc.) in a CAMH setting. Experience of working with other agencies and providing consultation. Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts. Experience of working with children/young people with special educational needs and challenging behaviour or mental health difficulties and their families.

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practised within the clinical fields of psychology
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC.

Desirable

• Knowledge and skills in specialist psychological assessment and treatment of specific groups (e.g. looked after children, learning disabilities, neurodevelopmental disorders, adolescent mental health, trauma, anxiety and mood disorders).
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of application of therapeutic models to children who have special educational needs and neurodevelopmental conditions

Other Requirements

Essential

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Commitment to provide support to children, their families/carers and linked professionals and maintain high levels of aspiration for the population referred to the service.
• Commitment to working flexibly and collaboratively with team colleagues and to support innovative ways of working.
• To approach clients with empathy and adaptability and to be open to development of new approaches to work with clients.

Desirable

• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.

Employer details

Employer name

West London NHS Trust

Address

Ealing MHST CAMHs

Ealing CAMHS

Southall

UB2 4SD

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

222-LS-CAMHS-406