Job overview
Southwark CAMHS are seeking to recruit a Specialist Clinical Psychologist. Within the Neurodevelopmental Service, you will work in a multi-disciplinary team to contribute to the delivery of high quality, evidence-based assessment and treatments. You will be responsible for your own clinical caseload and you will be involved in assessments (including diagnostic assessments for ADHD ), care planning and offering interventions for children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental conditions.
The complexity of our clinical population necessitates a broad range of professional perspectives and skills, and therefore we encourage open and eclectic discussion that is evidence and theory-informed, during assessment, formulation and planning of support. We also believe strongly that working with this community requires engagement with issues of social justice and human rights, and that our clinical work should be informed by these ideas.
The service provides a range of interventions including: innovative group parenting interventions, group interventions for children and young people addressing anxiety and emotional dysregulation, a neurodiversity psychoeducation programme, Positive Behaviour Supports, individual therapy informed by CBT and other modalities, art therapy, systemic therapy, and pharmacological intervention. You will have the opportunity to develop skills in the delivery of these interventions through training, and group and individual supervision.
Main duties of the job
1. To provide a specialist clinical service within the Southwark CAMHS Neurodevelopmental Service (NDS).
2. To provide cognitive and neuropsychological assessment to children with neurodevelopmental conditions.
3. To provide assessment, formulation and evidence based treatment for children with a range of neurodevelopmental conditions and mental health conditions.
4. To help provide a psychological framework to inform the multidisciplinary care of children under the care of CAMHS. To support multi-disciplinary colleagues in providing interventions and support to the young people and their families.
5. To contribute to assuring service quality by using specialist knowledge and breadth of understanding of child and adolescent neurodevelopment and mental health theories, evidence-based assessments and interventions to manage complex cases.
6. To use and maintain high standards of personal professional clinical practice in the treatment modalities required by the children and young people treated by the team and be a resource to the whole service in maintaining the skills of others.
7. To contribute to training, research and audit and interpret complex data to develop own and others understanding of child and adolescent mental disorders.
8. To contribute to the leadership of the service through working closely with senior colleagues to quality assure best practice and the implementation of NICE guidelines across teams.
9. To contribute to service development.
Working for our organisation
We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance. There is an extensive range of excellent benefits for you and your family. We want you to feel like you are part of a close knit team at SLaM. It’s important to us that you valued and appreciated and that are why we have a comprehensive benefits package on offer
Some of our benefits are highlighted here:
10. Generous pay, pensions and leave, we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
11. Work life balance, flexible working and support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing.
12. Career development, There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
13. Car lease, our staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars
14. Accommodation, our staff benefits fromkeyworker housing available which is available on selected sites
15. NHS discounts, with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website.
Other benefits include:
16. Counselling services
17. Wellbeing events
18. Long service awards
19. Cycle to work scheme
20. Season ticket loan
21. Childcare vouchers
22. Staff restaurants
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Key Responsibilities:
KR 1 Clinical and Client Care
· To provide specialist assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in the Southwark Neurodevelopmental Service for working with complex mental health difficulties.
· To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
· To deliver evidence based psychological treatments, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions drawing on a range of theoretical options.
· To work as an independent and autonomous professional within the guidelines of your professional accrediting body and the policies and procedures of the service, taking full responsibility for own work.
· To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
· To act as care co-ordinator, taking responsibility for initiating, planning and reviewing care plans.
KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning
· To contribute to the effective working of the Southwark Neurodevelopmental Service and to a psychologically informed framework for the service.
· To contribute to the team or service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
· To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
· To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
KR 3 Policy and service development
· To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.
· To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
· To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.
KR 4 Care or management of resources
· To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.
· To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.
KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance
· To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
· To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.
KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development
· To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior colleague according to accrediting body and Trust guidelines.
· To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with BPS, or relevant accrediting body, and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements.
· To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
· To comply with the HCPC ‘Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics’ and ‘Standards of Proficiency’, or equivalent from other professional body and ensure professional development in line with these.
· To adhere to the BPS’s Professional Practice Guidelines and Trust policies and procedures.
KR10 General
· To travel to schools, home visits and other community settings as appropriate and across the Trust when required.
· To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.
· To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations such as challenging behaviour, abuse etc) and to support others involved in such situations.
· To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics within the overall Job Plan.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
23. Entry-level qualification in Clinical Psychology (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level additional training) that has been accepted by the HCPC for purposes of professional registration as a clinical psychologist
24. Registered with the HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist.
Desirable criteria
25. Diploma level qualification in individual psychological therapies relevant to children with neurodevelopmental conditions, e.g. CBT, PBS, a CYP IAPT diploma programme
Experience
Essential criteria
26. Experience of working with children and young people with mental health conditions
27. Experience of working clinically with children with neurodivergent children or children with neurodevelopmental disability
28. Experience of delivering evidence-based psychological intervention with children and parents with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature.
29. Experience of working with, and addressing issues of, diversity.
30. Experience of receiving clinical supervision across a range of client needs.
Knowledge & Skills
Essential criteria
31. Specialist knowledge concerning the needs of children with mental health problems and their families
32. Practitioner level knowledge of at least two models of psychological therapy relevant to children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their families and knowledge of the theoretical and evidence base for them
33. Awareness of racial and diversity issues through attendance of relevant training
34. Skills in providing professional advice to practitioners and local organisations and in clinical and non-clinical report writing for multi-agency purposes
35. Ability to acquire, interpret, synthesise and apply complex information from a variety of domains.