South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist
The closing date is 19 May 2026
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist to join Lambeth Tier 3 CAMHS as a B7 Specialist Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist on a 12 month fixed term contract.
For the Band 7 Specialist post, we are looking for a child and adolescent psychotherapist with a broad range of experience, including experience of working with children and families who present with a high level of complexity and require skilled and multi‑layered assessments and intervention.
This post is suited to newly qualified Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists. The post would be suited to someone who is passionate about delivering high quality and effective services with young people and families, as well as an interest in working with multidisciplinary and multi‑agency colleagues on some of the challenges facing mental health services for children and young people.
Main duties of the job
You will offer an efficient, effective and comprehensive CAMH Service to children and young people with severe, complex and persistent mental health problems and their families/careers and liaise effectively with other CAMHS colleagues and others in the network supporting the young person.
This will include initial CAMHS assessments through to specialist child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Being an effective team member with a commitment to collaborative working, the post holder will actively support and liaise with other health and social care professionals and agencies as appropriate.
Regular clinical supervision will be provided by one of the senior child psychotherapists in the team and the post holder will be expected to attend and participate in MDT team meetings.
Furthermore, you will offer specialist supervision and consultation to staff within the Lambeth CAMHS and to staff of related agencies and will promote the discipline and practice of child psychotherapy in the Lambeth CAMHS team.
Please note: you must be registered with the Association of Child Psychotherapists to be considered for shortlisting for this vacancy.
Job responsibilities
You will provide psychotherapy assessments and specialist psychotherapy treatment including Short Term Psychotherapy (STPP) and parent work, alongside more generic clinical work.
You will provide generic assessments including ADHD assessments and have a care coordinating caseload.
The post holder will participate on the local CAMHS duty rota and undertake emergency assessments when and where required (i.e. community, hospital site, childrens homes).
The needs of young people and families will be at the centre of thinking about the service, and you will work together with service users and colleagues to ensure that the service best meets the needs of its population.
Lambeth is a culturally diverse borough and you will be involved in ensuring that the service is accessible and effective.
Child and adolescent psychotherapists currently ending their training are welcome to apply and the post would be equally suitable for somebody with experience working at Band 7 already, but who wishes to take on a new challenge.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Good relevant honors degree, or a recognised equivalent.
* Other related professional qualification or equivalent
* Postgraduate accredited training in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
* Eligibility for full membership of Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP).
* Other related academic qualification to Masters or Doctorate level.
Experience
* Pre‑qualification professional experience with children, adolescents and families (eg clinical/educational psychology, teaching, social work).
* Advanced knowledge and skills in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and its effective application to the mental health problems of children and adolescents with complex disorders and diagnosis, including pervasive and severe emotional and psychological difficulties
* Substantial experience of work with complex family situations.
* Substantial experience of clinical and service‑related supervision and consultation
* Substantial experience in working in multidisciplinary, multi‑agency, multi‑cultural context
* Substantial experience of work with therapeutic groups of children
* Substantial experience of work with families challenged with parental mental health
* Experience of supervising clinical staff.
Knowledge and skills
* Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with patients, staff, administrators and managers about highly complex and sensitive matters in situation of potential conflict or psychological/emotional pain, and where mental health problems affect relationships.
* Capacity to listen to other points of view effectively about highly complex issues through reports, publication or public presentation
* Good level of analytic skills and understanding of unconscious processes and their impact on the individual, group and institutional processes.
* Ability to remain still and maintain intense concentration in clinical settings with children, adolescents, parents/carers and families where there may be high level of distress, verbal and physical aggression or chaotic activity.
* Ability to integrate available highly complex clinical information into a coherent formulation and to apply it in treatment and clinical management.
* Knowledge of research methodology
* Skills in consultation to clinical staff and other agencies.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
£58,133 to £65,261 a yearper annum incl. of HCAs
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