An opportunity has arisen for the successful applicant to be appointed to a new 0.4 w.t.e. 8a post in Adult Psychotherapy in Hammersmith and Fulham Psychotherapy Service.

The H&F Psychotherapy Service serves the adult population of Hammersmith and Fulham. It provides psychotherapy expertise to primary care and mental health services operating within the borough. It has a longstanding tradition of joint working with community psychiatry colleagues for the provision of outpatient psychotherapy treatment to patients with complex needs. It has an ethos of integrating psychotherapy treatment and psychoanalytic thinking with psychiatric care. It provides a range of direct clinical care through individual, group and systemic psychotherapy.

The successful applicant will offer psychotherapy assessment and psychodynamic psychotherapy to patients from primary care and general psychiatry.This is an unusual opportunity to gain experience in treating NHS patients with complex difficulties, within the containment of cohesive team support and a close working alliance with Consultant Psychiatrists and multi-disciplinary care co-ordinators.

The post holder will also have an opportunity to take active role in linking and providing consultation to the community psychiatry MINT teams and primary care about the management of complex cases.

There are opportunities for further development in reflective practice, supervision, audit and teaching according to the post holder's interests.

Main duties of the job

- To contribute to the development of a high quality, responsive and accessible service for the patients referred and treated in the department

- To provide specialist assessments for psychodynamic psychotherapy for referred patients, including risk assessment, making appropriate use of complex data from a variety of sources including referral information, liaison with other teams and agencies.

-To communicate in a timely way, the outcome of the assessment and therapy to the patient, the referrer, the multidisciplinary team and other involved agencies as appropriate.

-To provide individual psychodynamic psychotherapy treatment and management for patients with severe and complex needs using sensitivity, skill and an understanding of unconscious processes

- To provide expert clinical consultation to clinicians across the service (MINT) and primary care regarding the psychoanalytically informed care of patients.

-To engage and contribute to the team's meetings including the business and referrals meetings, supervision and reflective practice on Thursdays

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 illness.

Job description Job responsibilities

Please refer to the JD and PS for further info

The Psychotherapy service is situated in the Claybrook Centre, an outpatient community psychiatry building.

The post holder joins an experienced and supportive team comprising of two part-time Consultant Psychiatrists in Psychotherapy, a part time Principal Adult Psychotherapist, two part-time Principal Psychotherapists in Group and Systemic Psychotherapy and a part-time Highly Specialist Adult Psychotherapist.

It is essential that the post holder is able to work at the Department on Thursday as this is the day of the department team meetings.

The team has close links with community psychiatry (MINT) teams and other psychotherapy services in the trust.

Person Specification Qualifications and Training Essential

• A BPC accredited (or equivalent) qualification as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist or Psychoanalyst (or being close to obtaining this)
• Qualification in a core profession e.g. medical, psychology, social work, nursing, teaching or extensive clinical experience at post-qualification level.
• Relevant honours degree or a recognised equivalent.

Desirable

• Recognised further training in other modality or type of psychotherapy e.g. group psychotherapy.

Experience Essential

• Experience in assessment and treatment, including individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy, in an outpatient setting
• Experience in carrying own caseload in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, working independently and autonomously as a specialist practitioner.
• A personal analytical psychotherapy or psychoanalysis of at least three times per week and of sufficient intensity and duration to be able to work according to psychoanalytic principles with the most difficult and demanding cases

Desirable

• Experience of group psychoanalytic work.
• Experience in offering consultation, staff support and reflective practice to multidisciplinary staff teams and other professionals.
• Experience of clinically supervising, teaching and training junior staff and trainees.
• Experience of representing psychotherapy within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
• Experience of the application of psychodynamic thinking in different cultural contexts.

Knowledge and Skills Essential

• Well-developed ability to effectively communicate highly sensitive and/or technical information to patients, as well as to professional colleagues within and outside the NHS both orally and in writing.
• Knowledge of psychotherapy research and relevant national treatment guidelines.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation and policy and its implication for clinical practice, professional management and service development.
• Evidence of on-going commitment to relevant CPD.
• Ability to respond flexibly to service developments and patient needs.
• Knowledge of and respect for other psychological treatment models employed in the NHS together with an understanding of the role of psychodynamic psychotherapy in a modern NHS Mental Health Service.
• Adequate keyboard skills and an ability to use Word, email and internet. Some familiarity with other software such as Excel and PowerPoint.

Desirable

• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychotherapeutic approaches to the care of specific difficult to treat groups including personality disorder
• Knowledge of audit and research design and methodology, including techniques of analysing quantitative and qualitative data.
• Knowledge of psychiatric diagnoses and treatments.
• Knowledge of different pathways of care and mental health provision available in statutory and non-statutory sectors.

Personal Qualities Essential

• Able to contain anxiety without recourse to premature action.
• Personal experience of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Other Essential

• Awareness of the impact of cultural factors on psychological health and communications around this.
• Capacity to critically reflect on the practice and performance of self and others in a constructive manner in regular departmental staff meetings.
• Capacity to negotiate successfully with others.
• Capacity to assert one's professional authority.
• Understanding of confidentiality and data protection principles.

Desirable

• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

222-LS-CARMHS-247