South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Clinical Lead
The closing date is 30 June 2026
The post holder will lead and manage the Croydon Adult Secondary Care Neurodevelopmental Team, delivering specialist assessment, intervention and consultation for adults with neurodevelopmental conditions, ensuring integrated, effective and outcome-focused service delivery using a stepped-care approach. The service sits within Croydon Community Mental Health Services and provides specialist neurodevelopmental assessment, intervention and consultation. The post holder will lead the team's day-to-day clinical and operational functioning and provide clinical, professional and managerial supervision to the Adult Neurodevelopmental Practitioner (Band 7), supporting students/trainees as appropriate.
Main duties of the job
As Clinical Lead, you will provide clinical and operational leadership for the Croydon Adult Secondary Care Neurodevelopmental Team, delivering specialist assessment, formulation, intervention and consultation for adults with neurodevelopmental conditions. You will lead a stepped-care approach, support integrated working across Croydon Community Mental Health Services and the wider neurodevelopmental pathway, and drive quality improvement so that care is safe, effective and outcome focused.
What we’re looking for.
- Registered clinician – Occupational Therapist, Mental Health Nurse, Speech and Language Therapist, or Psychological Therapist with relevant professional registration.
- Significant post‑registration experience of working autonomously with adults with neurodevelopmental conditions and complex mental health needs, including risk assessment and management.
- Advanced knowledge and experience of specialist assessment and intervention for Autism/ADHD/Learning Disabilities, including managing co‑morbid presentations.
- Proven experience of clinical leadership, supervision and supporting workforce development.
- Experience of multidisciplinary and partnership working across health, social care and VCSE providers.
- Evidence of service development, quality improvement, audit and/or research, translating learning into improved practice.
- Commitment to culturally competent, inclusive practice and improving access and outcomes for diverse communities.
Job responsibilities
To manage the Croydon Adult Neurodevelopmental Team, working in integration with the core Community Mental Health Services in Croydon, and close collaboration with the wider neurodevelopmental specialist services.
Lead the day‑to‑day operational and clinical functioning of the Croydon Adult Neurodevelopmental Team in close integration with Community Mental Health Services.
Establish and maintain robust systems for clinical, professional and managerial supervision.
To offer specialist clinical input to wider services where appropriate.
To agree outcomes/results with clinical/professional lead and to decide how they are best achieved.
To provide specialist interventions according to discipline including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.
To offer expert consultation to community mental health team members in Neurodevelopmental disorders including Autism, ADHD and Learning Disabilities.
To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.
Provide clinical, professional and managerial supervision, including appraisal, recruitment and workforce development responsibilities. To promote service evaluation, QI, audit and research and policy embedment.
To scope clinical gaps for people with Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
To work as an autonomous professional within registration body guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by the policies and procedures of the service, taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions with support of clinical supervisor.
Deliver specialist training and consultation to mainstream services to strengthen neurodevelopmental capability across the system.
Person Specification
Abilities
- Ability to work effectively within a multi‑disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles.
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate.
- Ability to develop and use complex multi‑media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings.
- Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions, and to deal with unexpected interruptions or changes during these.
- Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self‑harming or aggressive behaviour.
Qualifications
- Occupational Therapist, Mental Health Nurse, Speech and Language Therapy or Psychological Therapist professional Background.
- Registered with professional body as appropriate to discipline.
- Degree Level Qualification or above.
- Relevant training in completing ASD and ADHD Assessments.
- Training in ADOS‑2 administration.
Experience
- Substantial post‑registration experience of working autonomously with adults with neurodevelopmental conditions and complex needs in a community mental health, including making clinical judgements and managing risk.
- Experience of providing specialist assessment and intervention where presentations are complex and co‑morbid, drawing on advanced specialist knowledge of neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., Autism, ADHD, Learning Disabilities).
- Experience of coordinating pathways, influencing MDT working, and contributing to service development/quality improvement.
- Experience of providing supervision (clinical and/or professional), including supporting peer development through training, coaching and capability building.
- Experience of delivering specialist training/consultation to non‑specialist teams to upskill understanding and interventions for neurodevelopmental conditions.
Skills
- To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information.
- To plan and schedule assessment and interventions for individual clients and groups and carers (and for meetings such as CPA and case reviews where appropriate).
- To plan allocation of tasks to assistants/trainees as appropriate.
- Well‑developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data.
- Skills in providing teaching and training to other professional groups.
Knowledge
- Theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for approaches to neurodevelopmental conditions.
- Working knowledge of the Learning Disability and or Autism Programme including Transforming Care.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities.
- Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability and accessibility of mental health care.
- Knowledge of local services and the wider asset map of resources.
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.
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
£63,665 to £70,887 a year per annum inclusive of HCAs pro rata
