We currently have an exciting opportunity for the post of a paediatric mental health practioner (we would be open to applications from practitioner psychologists, family therapists or paediatric mental health nurses) in the Paediatric Liaison Team, based at the Royal London Children's Hospital, Whitechapel. The Paediatric Liaison Team is a multi-disciplinary team including clinical and counselling psychologists, mental health nursing and psychiatry.

The post will include conducting assessments, formulation and interventions with children and young people presenting with a range of physical health conditions and across multiple different paediatric specialities and general paediatrics. The post will work with both inpatients and outpatients. The post holder will also include offering consultation to medical teams, contributing to delivering psychologically informed care as part of an MDT, and to other agencies working with families such as education and social care.

There will be an allocation of time within the role for service development of a pathway for children and young people presenting with medically unexplained symptoms. Therefore, the role would suit an individual with an interest and experience of working with young people presenting with medically unexplained symptoms.

Main duties of the job

The Paediatric Liaison Team is a multidisciplinary team, including clinical and counselling psychologists, psychiatry and mental health nursing, which provides assessment, intervention and consultation for young people experiencing mental health difficulties or emotional distress associated with physical health conditions who are under the care of the Royal London Hospital.

The post holder will provide specialist psychological assessment and therapy to children, young people and their families, at the same time as offering advice and consultation on patients' psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other, non-professional carers.The post holder will work across both inpatient and outpatients. The post holder will also be involved in the development of a care pathway for children and young people presenting to the hospital with medically unexplained symptoms.

The post holder will be required to provide clinical supervision to other colleagues such as assistant or trainee psychologists.

About us

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.

We are dedicated to being an outstanding place to work and will work with you to get the best experience. We know flexible working is not a one size fits all and will mean something different to everyone. We are inclusive, so if you are interested in flexible working, please speak to the recruiting manager.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with children, young people and their families.
• Experience of working with children and young people with physical health conditions.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in-patient settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
• Experience of delivering group interventions for children and young people.
• Experience of working with children and families in a medical setting.

Desirable

• Experience of teaching and training.

Skills

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration. This requires the use of highly developed analytical and judgment skills.
• Skills in individual and group work and in programme planning.
• Planning and organising skills for caseload management.
• Skills in self-management, including time-management.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information, including contentious and highly distressing information, to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance, including regular supervision, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Able to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.

Knowledge

Essential

• Good understanding of other professionals' theoretical perspectives of this client group.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client groups and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group
• Ability to recognize own and individuals' work related stress and pressures.
• Ability to lead on service developments including supporting professional development needs of more junior psychological therapy colleagues.

Desirable

• High Level Knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Knowledge of the impact of physical health on children, young people and their families.

Qualifications

Essential

• Either post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, or a BPS Statement of Equivalence.
• Or an MSc/ Post-graduate Diploma in Systemic Psychotherapy/ Family Therapy or equivalent, with an additional qualification in a related profession (e.g. social work, nursing, clinical psychology).
• Or Registered Mental Health Nurse.
• Registered with the HCPC, UKCP or NMC

Desirable

• Further training in clinical supervision
• Further training in working systemically
• Further training in psychological models applied to physical health (ie. ACT, compassion focussed therapy)
• Further training in trauma work

Employer details

Employer name

Barts Health NHS Trust

Address

Royal London Hospital

London

E1 1FR

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

259-6534793RLH