Job overview
An exciting new part time permanent position has arisen within the Royal London Hospital NICU for an experienced psychotherapist.
The Unit consists of a multidisciplinary team of neonatologists, surgeons, junior doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, health care support workers and other members of the wider hospital team. The psychotherapist plays an integral role in providing psychological support to all NICU & NTS staff, parents and occasionally other members of the families who use our service.
The Royal London neonatal service comprises a Neonatal Intensive Care L3 Tertiary Unit with 45 beds, caring for over 700 babies every year. We receive admissions of sick and premature babies from our maternity Delivery Suite, as well as other hospitals within our network for specialist medical and surgical intensive care. We care for some of the sickest babies with significant morbidity and mortality and the psychotherapist plays an important role in supporting the parents and families of these infants.
The Hospital hosts the Neonatal Transfer Service which has close ties with the NICU and rotation of staff occurs.
The Royal London Hospital serves a diverse community and equally consists of a large multi-disciplinary team with different backgrounds. It is therefore important that the post holder can demonstrate an ability to work with people from all backgrounds. Language and cultural barriers may need to be overcome with creative and empathic communication.
Main duties of the job
1.To provide a high quality specialist psychotherapy service to the parents / carers of babies on the NICU and the NICU staff team
2.To provide specialist consultation, assessment and treatment for parents / carers of babies on the NICU
3.To provide specialist consultation, supervision, debriefing and psychological support to the NICU staff team
4.To develop and support the psychotherapeutic skills of the NICU staff via teaching, supervision and reflective spaces, support and consultation.
5.To provide a psychotherapeutic perspective / expertise for NICU activities, including clinical care, team or service dynamics, systems, as part of case discussions, team meetings and in other relevant settings
Working for our organisation
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.
Detailed job description and main 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.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. Postgraduate diploma or degree in counselling / psychotherapy which is accredited by UKCP / BACP / ACP
2. Current registration with UKCP / BACP / ACP
3. A psychoanalytic or psychodynamic qualification
Desirable criteria
4. Parent - infant psychotherapy qualification or experience
5. Perinatal mental health qualification or experience
6. Supervision qualification
Experience
Essential criteria
7. Significant post-qualifying experience in an NHS setting, including medium, short term and long term work
8. Experience of working with couples and / or groups
9. Significant experience with neonatal bereavement / loss
10. Significant experience with trauma
11. Experience of working with parents / carers and their babies psychoanalytically
12. Experience in offering brief and longer term models of care for this client group
13. Knowledge and experience of working with safeguarding issues and mental health problems
14. Experience of consultation to colleagues from other disciplines
15. Experience providing clinical supervision to individuals / groups
16. Experience and understanding of working with families from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and families with a high level of deprivation
17. Experience of working with patients where English is not their first language
18. Proven ability to work within a multi-disciplinary team
Desirable criteria
19. Experience with mental health issues and substance abuse
Knowledge
Essential criteria
20. Knowledge of the specialist psychological issues linked to intensive care / child loss / end of life
21. Knowledge of psychoanalytic theory and an understanding of implication for clinical activity
22. Understanding of the complex and sensitive needs of bereaved parents or those parents
23. Understanding of working with a wide range of cultural and religious individuals and couples
24. Understanding of professional issues relating to psychotherapy and its application, including NICE guidelines
25. Familiar with relevant BAPM frameworks
Skills
Essential criteria
26. Excellent communication skills
27. Excellent organisation skills
28. Ability to work autonomously and as part of a team
29. Ability to prioritise workload
30. Computer and literacy skills
Other
Essential criteria
31. Compassionate and empathic
32. Friendly and approachable
33. Resourceful, creative and flexible
34. Uses own initiative
35. Commitment to continued professional development
36. Aware of limitations and accountability
37. Highly motivated