We are looking to recruit an innovative energetic senior practitioner psychologist to join our growing Under 5s pathway who is keen to develop leadership skills. Tri-Borough Under 5s Pathway is a trust wide specialist team that offers therapeutic support to families during pregnancy or with infants, toddlers, or children under the age of five years old. The service works in partnership with all the services involved with families who are pregnant or have an infant/young child under the age of 5.

The post holder will provide highly specialised assessment and formulation to parents/primary caregivers and their infants as well as deliver individualised evidence-based care packages where indicated including both group and individual therapeutic interventions.

They will engage in multi-disciplinary team (MDT) working with colleagues, supporting relational and safeguarding risk planning and care planning for families. They will also promote the growing knowledge and skills regarding infant mental health across the early years system by offering consultation, advice and delivering training across the network. This post will be based in Haringey with some travel to the Barnet and Enfield to support and supervise colleagues within the wider Tri-Borough.

We welcome applications from newly qualified Clinical, Counselling or Child and Educational Psychologists and would consider appointing at a Band 7 those who have qualified training less than 18 months ago.

Main duties of the job

• To provide highly specialised assessment and formulation to parents and their infants/young children.
• Evaluate and make decisions about treatment options considering both theoretical and therapeutic models and factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family, or group.
• Competent in use of relevant screening and assessment tools
• Formulate / offer / deliver and review psycho-social interventions (including 1:1 therapy and group programs)
• Deliver individualised evidence-based care packages where indicated.
• Assist in the continuing development of a high-quality service that is underpinned by evidence-based practice, care pathways and NICE and DH guidance.
• Responsible for the initial assessment process, as well as observation and the ongoing comprehensive and specialist assessment, providing accurate and timely feedback.
• To provide supervision where required and to support the growing knowledge and skills regarding infant mental health across the early years system.
• To take leadership and manage the referrals process across the boroughs
• Assess service users' response to activities in accordance with agreed models of practice.
• To be competent in assessing risk to infant and parent when working with relational difficulty.
• To be confident in identifying safeguarding risk to the infant and risk management of the parent/infant relationship. To communicate with the team and the wider network when risk is identified.

About us

The partnership betweenBarnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust (BEH)andCamden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust (C& I)is going from strength to strength since it was originally established in 2021 forming theNorth London Mental Health Partnership.

Why choose to join the Partnership?

• We believe that by working together, our two Trusts can achieve more for the residents of North Central London and our patients than we can by working apart.

• Deliver the best care using the most up-to-date practise in supporting those with mental health illnesses.

• Transforming and creating a positive environment for our service users, staff and visitors.

• Creating and working together to become a great place to work for all our staff.

• We offer flexible working, a wide range of health and wellbeing initiatives, NHS Pension and so much more.

• Generous Annual Leave Allowance

• NHS Discounts in a large variety of retail stores and services.

• We have excellent internal staff network support groups.

The postholder will need to be comfortable working in an environment of complex matrix management arrangements and will at all times behave and align with our Trusts' values and cultural pillars:

• We are kind

• We are respectful

• We work together

• We keep things simple

• We empower

• We are proudly diverse

Job description

Job responsibilities

CORE CLINICAL RESPONSIBILITIES
To provide advice and programs to others, nursery staff and family hub/children centre staff, regarding the management and care of children and infant with complex emotional needs

To demonstrate clinical effectiveness by use of evidence-based practice and manage clinical risk within defined caseload.

To develop the ability to monitor and reflect on auditory, visual, and kinaesthetic aspects of clients communication and to identify appropriate strategies to facilitate and enhance communicative effectiveness.

To recommend and implement alternative/augmentative communication programs and equipment necessary to meet individual needs.

To demonstrate the ability to reflect on practice with peers/clinical supervisor and seek support as necessary.

To develop the ability to target training (formal and informal) appropriately to the needs of course participants, in particular parents and schools staff, and to develop the ability to reflect on and evaluate training provided.

To maintain up to date and accurate case notes in line with trust policies.

To gather client related activity data accurately and regularly, ensuring the provision of such information.
1. TRAINING AND SUPERVISION
To receive regular clinical supervision from the lead Psychologist or Psychotherapist.

To gain specialist experience and skills relevant to infant mental health within the AIMH competency framework

To remain up to date with current evidence-based Infant Mental Health developments and practice and the interface with other relevant services.

To participate in the delivery of infant mental health specific training packages to promote awareness and understanding of infant mental health.

To further develop skills in teaching, training and supervision.

Provide supervision of psychological work to other MDT members of the Under 5s team, as appropriate.

To contribute to the clinical supervision of parent infant practitioners, trainee clinical psychologists and assistant psychologists.

To provide specialist consultation to ensure that other staff, multi-disciplinary teams, and managers (across a range of agencies and settings) have access to information and a specialist psychological based framework for the understanding of infant mental health within their service area, through the provision of specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation and the sharing of psychological research and theory.

To be knowledgeable about and advise on best practice for treatment of pregnant and postpartum women and their babies, regarding relevant NICE guidelines and MBRRACE-UK reports.

To be knowledgeable about and advise on best practice for Safeguarding Children.

To take an active role in seeking user, carer, and stakeholders feedback to help shape and influence the further development of the service.

Person Specification

Qualifications/ Registrations

Essential

• oDoctoral level training in Clinical, Child and Educational or Counselling Psychology as accredited by the HCPC and BPS
• completed a training course in specialised parent infant interventions (i.e. VIG, VIPP, CoS etc.)

Desirable

• oPost qualification training in Infant Mental Health e.g. Parent Infant Psychotherapy, Video Interaction Approaches and Parent-Infant Group Approaches

Skills/ Abilities

Essential

• oUnderstanding of evidence-based clinical practice and the ability to demonstrate how this influences good clinical practice.
• oAble to construct clear care plans differentiating appropriate intervention types from a range of options, based on analysis of information from assessment
• oDemonstrates the importance of gaining families' view of their strengths and needs and supporting them to be active in the goal setting process.
• oAbility to write reports using accessible language and demonstrating clinical reasoning.
• oExperience of drawing upon attachment models and parent-infant relational models.

Desirable

• oSpecialist training in supervision
• oConfident and experienced in delivering training or providing consultation to other professionals.
• oAbility to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.

Experience/ Knowledge

Essential

• oExperience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of parent infant dyads with severe and complex relational difficulties.
• oEvidence of clinical experience of working with client population. A clear track record of managing complexity and risk whilst maintaining high standards of service delivery.
• oExperience of working with nursery, school and parents and engaging them in interventions.
• oExperience of formulating the difficulties within the parent infant relationship based on a variety of assessments including observation of the dyad, where formulations integrate information from range of sources.
• oIn depth knowledge of child development and factors influencing the developing parent infant relationship oKnowledge of NICE guidelines related to infant mental health and evidence of working in line with NICE recommendations.

Desirable

• oExperience supervising junior psychologists, trainees, or assistant psychologists
• oAt least 18 months post qualified for the 8a role
• Experience of working with children/ young people with social communication differences such as autism and ADHD
• oTrauma informed aware and trained

Personal Qualities

Essential

• oAbility to work and communicate highly sensitive, contentious information effectively in a highly emotive or hostile atmosphere, and to overcome barriers to acceptance/psychological resistance to potentially threatening information.
• oProactive, positive, and enthusiastic attitude.
• oDemonstrates empathy with clients, carers, and families often where barriers to understanding exist ensuring that effective communication is achieved to persuade and motivate participation in therapeutic activities

Other Requirements

Essential

• oAbility to work flexibly at different bases within the borough and occasionally outside of the borough
• oAble to make own effective travel arrangements and willingness to travel within and across boroughs
• oFlexible approach and openness to innovation

Desirable

• Car owner (Ability to travel across all sites)

Employer details

Employer name

Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust

Address

St Ann's Hospital

St. Ann's Hospital Road

Haringey

N15 3TH

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

306-BEH-2272