Clinical or Counselling Psychologist, or CAMHS Specialist

Southwark CAMHS are seeking to recruit a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist, or CAMHS Specialist with excellent clinical skills and a strong interest in working with neurodiverse children and their families. This is a permanent full-time post, based within the Southwark CAMHS Neurodevelopmental Service. Within the Neurodevelopmental Service, you will work alongside a range of colleagues, to support the team and ensure the delivery of high quality, evidence-based assessment and treatments. You will be involved in mental health and diagnostic assessments, care planning and offering a range of interventions addressing the behavioural, emotional and mental health needs of children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental conditions. There are a number of service developments within the team relating to improving the quality of provision. The complexity of our clinical population necessitates a broad range of professional perspectives and skills, and therefore we encourage open and eclectic discussion that is evidence and theory-informed, during assessment, formulation and planning of support. Within the team we have a variety of reflective fora for case discussion and supporting team development and dynamics. We also believe passionately that working with this community requires engagement with issues of social justice and human rights, and that our clinical work should always be informed by these ideas.

Main duties of the job

• To provide a specialist clinical service within the Southwark CAMHS Neurodevelopmental Service (NDS).
• To provide assessment, formulation and evidence based treatment for children with a range of neurodevelopmental disorders and mental health conditions.
• To help provide a psychological or psychosocial framework to inform the multidisciplinary care of children looked after by CAMHS. To support multi-disciplinary colleagues in providing interventions and support to the young people and their families.
• To contribute to assuring service quality by using a specialist knowledge and breadth of understanding of child and adolescent neurodevelopment and mental health theories, evidence-based assessments and interventions to manage complex cases.
• To use and maintain skilled standards of personal professional clinical practice in the treatment modalities required by the children and young people treated by the team and be a resource to the whole service in maintaining the skills of others.
• To contribute to training, research and audit and interpret complex data to develop own and others' understanding of child and adolescent mental health conditions.
• To contribute to the leadership of the service through working closely with senior colleagues to quality assure best practice and the implementation of NICE guidelines across teams.
• To contribute to service development

About us

SLAM offers a huge array of internal training opportunities in a variety of therapeutic modalities, supervision and research. There is an extensive support structure within SLAM and KHP for clinicians interested in pursuing research and service development, as well as a culture of development within the team.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Neurodevelopmental Service is a multi-disciplinary team including psychiatry/ neuropsychiatry, clinical psychology, family therapy, nursing and occupational therapy. We provide assessments and evidence-based therapies to children and young people with neurodevelopmental disorders (moderate to profound intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD and other neurodevelopmental disorders). The service works in clinical partnership with child health, special needs schools and education, childrens social services, and adult learning disability services, and so there are extensive opportunities to build links and structures for effective co-working with these agencies. The service provides a range of interventions including: innovative group parenting interventions for parents of children with ASD and ADHD (developed and delivered in collaboration with the internationally renowned Centre for Parent and Child Support), group interventions for children and young people addressing anxiety and emotional dysregulation, Positive Behaviour Supports (with expert external supervision), adapted CBT for mood and anxiety disorders, systemic therapy (including a regular systemic therapy clinic) and pharmacological intervention. You will have the opportunity to develop skills in the delivery of these interventions through training, and group and individual supervision.

Key Responsibilities:

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

• To provide specialist assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in the Southwark Neurodevelopmental Service for working with complex mental health difficulties.
• To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
• To deliver evidence based psychological treatments, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions drawing on a range of theoretical options.
• To work as an independent and autonomous professional within the guideline of your professional accrediting body, and the policies and procedures of the service, taking full responsibility for own work.
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
• To act as care coordinator, taking responsibility for initiating, planning and reviewing care plans.

KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

• To contribute to the effective working of the Southwark Neurodevelopmental Service and to a psychologically informed framework for the service.
• To contribute to the team or services delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
• To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
• To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.

KR 3 Policy and service development

• To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.
• To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
• To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.

KR 4 Care or management of resources

• To take care of, and use carefully, the Trusts equipment and physical resources.
• To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

KR 5 Management and supervision

• To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of an assistant psychologist, if required, under supervision from a more senior psychologist.
• To provide specialist consultation and supervision to colleagues and others and to contribute to a psychologically informed framework within the service.

KR 6 Teaching and Training

• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance

• To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

KR 8 Research and development

• To undertake regular complex service evaluation, audits or research relevant to service needs.

KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

• To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior colleague according to accrediting body and Trust guidelines.
• To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the accrediting professional body
• To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
• To comply with the HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and Standards of Proficiency, or equivalent from other professional body and ensure professional development in line with these.
• If relevant, to adhere to the BPSs Professional Practice Guidelines and Trust policies and procedures.

KR10 General

• To travel to schools, home visits and other community settings as appropriate and across the Trust when required.
• To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.
• To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations such as challenging behaviour, abuse etc) and to support others involved in such situations.
• To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics within the overall Job Plan.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Entry-level qualification in Applied Psychology (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level additional training) that has been accepted by the HCPC for purposes of professional registration. For example, Clinical psychologist: Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent Counselling psychologist: Doctorate or MSc and PG Diploma in Counselling Psychology
• Registered with the HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist or First level nursing qualification/registration RMN or RSCN or HV, or first level qualification in OT, social work, or equivalent with related CAMHS experience
• First level qualification in art, play, drama or music therapy with related experience in the psychological aspects of caring for children and adolescent with mental health problems/needs, developmental/ learning disability problems.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with children and young people with mental health conditions
• Experience of delivering evidence-based psychological intervention with children and parents with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature.
• Experience of working with, and addressing issues of, diversity
• Experience of receiving clinical supervision across a range of client needs.
• Experience of working with multidisciplinary networks in managing complex cases. Experience of offering consultation to other colleagues and agencies

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

• Specialist knowledge concerning the needs of children with mental health problems and their families
• Practitioner level knowledge of at least two models of psychological therapy relevant to children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their families and knowledge of the theoretical and evidence base for them
• Awareness of racial and diversity issues through attendance of relevant training
• Skills in providing professional advice to practitioners and local organisations and in clinical and non-clinical report writing for multi-agency purposes
• Ability to work as an independent practitioner with appropriate level of clinical and managerial supervision.
• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning.

Employer details

Employer name

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Sunshine House

27 Peckham Rd

London

SE5 8UH

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

334-CHI-4834425-A