Employer Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Alder Hey Town Liverpool Salary £47,810 - £54,710 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 07/08/2025 23:59
Senior Mental Health Practitioner - Clinical Psychologist
Band 7
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is a provider of specialist health care and has a presence in community outreach sites and, in collaboration with other providers, our clinicians help deliver care closer to patients’ homes by holding local clinics at locations from Cumbria to Shropshire, in Wales and the Isle of Man. The Trust also provides inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs at our Sunflower House building newly relocated, and opened on the hospital site.
We currently have more than 4,000 staff working across our community and hospital sites. We’re also a teaching and training hospital providing education and training to around 540 medical and over 500 nursing and allied health professional students each year.
As black and minority ethnic (BME) employees are currently under-represented in this area, we particularly welcome applications from members of our BME communities. All appointments will be made on merit.
You can expect a warm welcome at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, our staff are friendly and welcoming. We listen to each other and work together to embed our Trusts values and behaviours. At Alder Hey we appreciate our staff and reward them with an outstanding benefits package including:
* Great flexible working opportunities
* Lease car scheme and Home Electronics Scheme
* Generous annual leave and pension scheme
* Extensive staff health and well-being programmes
Job overview
2 x Band 7- HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist
Permanent - 37.5 Hours
The Fresh CAMHS team at Alder Hey are looking to recruit permanent Clinical Psychologists to join our growing community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Team.
This is an great opportunity to support children and young people by joining the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.
You will be a member of the specialist, multi-disciplinary service and will have case management responsibility for their case load, however, they will be supported through supervision by a senior member of the team on a regular basis.
The post holder will provide a range of appropriate, evidence based clinical interventions informed by assessed individual need. The post holder may be required to provide support, advice and consultation to families/carers and other professionals involved in the life of the child/young person.
We expect applicants to have substantial experience of working with children and young people. Further training in positive behaviour support would be an advantage.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will undertake appropriate mental health assessment of children and young people referred to CAMHS Service Group and provide a range of appropriate, evidence based clinical interventions informed by assessed individual need.
The post holder will provide support, advice and consultation to families/carers and other professionals involved in the life of the child/young person.
Working for our organisation
Alder Hey has already earned our place as one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals, thanks to innovation and pioneering medical work. We treat 250,000 young patients a year and have a broad range of hospital and community services, serving the local population of children, as well as being a tertiary referral centre for children from across Merseyside, Cheshire and parts of Lancashire, Shropshire and North Wales.
Every individual makes a valuable contribution and Alder Hey is proud of its long history of providing pioneering and innovative healthcare to children and young people. We are looking for motivated and enthusiastic candidates to join our dynamic and experienced CAMHS team
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
CLINICAL
* Provide specialist assessments of children and young people referred to the service group
* Develop, implement and review a range of evidence based treatment plans informed by clinical assessment and the specific needs of the individual within their wider social context
* Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of children/young people in the context of Care Aims and CAPA models
* Provide specialist advice, guidance and consultation to other professional groups
* Undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual children and young people and to provide advice to external agencies regarding appropriate risk
* Act as care coordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans under CPA
* Effectively communicate with families and other professionals involved in the life of the child/young person
* Actively record all clinical outcomes.
* Participate in the Service Group MDT as appropriate and at the direction of senior clinicians within the Team.
CLINICAL SUPERVISION/TRAINING/TEACHING
* Receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional guidelines
* Provide clinical supervision support to staff from own and other service groups/teams where appropriate
* Contribute to the development and delivery of CPD programmes for own profession.
* Develop skills in own area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and consultation.
* Contribute to appropriate pre- and post-qualification training.
SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
* Contribute to the development, implementation, evaluation and monitoring of the Service Group’s operational policies and procedures.
* Participate in MDT and multi-agency meetings
* Share responsibility with other team members, as appropriate, for implementing service developments.
* Contribute to the management of workloads of appropriate staff within the framework of the Service Group policies and procedures.
RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND SERVICE EVALUATION
* Utilise theory, literature and research to support evidence-based practice
* Participate in agreed research activities and carry out specific research projects within own specialist area.
* Undertake specific project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, as requested
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
* Maintain comprehensive clinical notes and consultation records in accordance with trust policies and procedures
* Utilise patient electronic record data for the implementation of audit and service delivery purposes to inform service developments.
* Provide appropriate statistical returns as required.
PROFESSIONAL
* Maintain professional registration and adhere to professional code of conduct and ethics
* Undertake continued clinical professional development and maintain clinical standards through ongoing training as identified through CPD and PDR processes
GENERAL
* Work as part of an MDT and support continual service improvement
* Contribute to the delivery of national and local priorities as set out in the Trust’s corporate objectives.
* Perform other duties ,appropriate to banding, as required by the Operational Manager
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is committed to supporting all staff to balance work and other life needs. This is the responsibility of all employees and will be achieved by consultation, open communication and involvement of all team members. The Trust operates a Flexible Working Policy that is available to all staff.
Person specification
Education and Training
* HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist
* Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of child and adolescent mental health.
* Post- graduate (masters and above) level study
Experience and Knowledge
* Experience of specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions with children and young people with mental health problems and their families.
* Working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team
* Working collaboratively with other agencies in a variety of venues
* Experience of working with a wide variety of child mental health problems, across the whole age range, reflecting all levels of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and verbal and physical abuse.
* Must be experienced in providing risk assessment of self-harming behaviour. Must be experienced in analysing presenting problems and able to demonstrate ability to work autonomously utilising a range of therapeutic perspectives and modalities, depending on the needs of the client.
* Must be experienced in and able to demonstrate ability to provide case management supervision for lower banded CAMHS Workers, students and other service group/team professionals as required.
* Must demonstrate ability to be self-reflective and to organise own supervision appropriately. Must be able to demonstrate ability to develop and evaluate consultation and training to other professionals and to staff groups.
* Some knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
* Must demonstrate knowledge of the evidence base in their practice.
* Must demonstrate understanding of child development and psychosocial influences.
* Must demonstrate a working understanding of systemic psychodynamic, and cognitive theories along with recognition of when each approach is appropriate.
* Must demonstrate knowledge of audit and evaluation methodology.
* Must demonstrate knowledge of research methodology
* Must demonstrate an understanding of current government initiatives underpinning service developments. Must demonstrate strong organisational skills.
* Must be able to demonstrate the ability to manage aspects of service development in line with government initiatives.
* Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
* Experience of the application of specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions of in different cultural contexts.
* Experience of working with children and young people in a range of clinical settings.
* Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
* High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised therapies/interventions
* Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of child and adolescent mental health.
Skills
* Skills in the use of complex methods of mental health assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
* Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
* Skills in providing consultation to other professional and nonprofessional groups.
* Must demonstrate ability to autonomously managed own workload balance
Personal Attributes
* Must demonstrate a commitment to the overall vision of the development of the professional group of CAMHS Worker.
* Must show enthusiasm and appreciation for multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working.
* Must demonstrate a professional manner.
* Must demonstrate a high level of communication skills commensurate with the nature of clinical and professional contacts required of the post.
* Accountable for own professional actions
* Works within professional ethics and Trust policies
* Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
We reserve the right to close vacancies without notice when we have received a sufficient number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.
Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply regularly as we will contact you using this regarding your application. All candidates will be notified via email whether or not they have been shortlisted.
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are committed to creating a well-managed, flexible working environment that supports staff and promotes their welfare and development. We actively promote equality and diversity and operate a Zero Tolerance policy to aggression, violence, bullying and harassment.
Should you require any assistance during the application stages please contact recruiting manager of vacancy or the recruitment team at recruitment@alderhey.nhs.uk or call 0151 282 4599
Please declare within the supporting information if artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in your application.
Please note, the selection processes at Alder Hey Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are in place to ensure we recruit candidates with the right skills and values, please be advised that the use of AI in applications are monitored. We remain vigilant against candidates who misuse these tools to generate an application that doesn’t accurately reflect their skills.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
#J-18808-Ljbffr