Job overview
The Perinatal Mental Health Service has a diverse and highly skilled team of perinatal psychological therapists who are committed to providing evidence-based interventions to parents and families that are accessible and acceptable to the diverse South London population. We are recruiting for fixed term cover to lead for parental mental health psychological therapies across the Trust. Our psychological workforce and the therapeutic modalities that we offer are a key part of delivering national priorities for perinatal mental health care. This post focuses primarily on delivery of perinatal psychological therapies for parental mental health problems, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). There is a focus on coproduction, quality, supervision and ongoing audit and evaluation, keeping the experience of service users at the heart.
The successful applicant will join a friendly and supportive psychological therapies service that offers excellent opportunities for service development, research and continuing professional development. Specialist perinatal psychological clinical and professional supervision will be provided from within the service.
Main duties of the job
We are seeking an experienced, motivated and passionate Clinical or Counselling Psychologist or Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist who can lead the day to day delivery and ongoing development of evidence based psychological therapies for parental mental health problems. This post will offer input to Perinatal Mental Health Teams in the four SLaM boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Croydon and will include the supervision of other psychology and psychotherapy staff. The successful applicant will work as part of a wider psychological therapies team to contribute to the ongoing strategy in the service to increase the availability of responsive evidence-based psychological therapies, ensure robust audit and evaluation and to create a culture of service delivery that holds in mind the needs of the whole family.
Working for our organisation
Perinatal Mental Health Teams (PMHTs) are secondary care mental health teams that specialise in supporting women and birthing people in the perinatal period (pregnancy through until 12 months postnatal) who have severe and complex mental health difficulties. We assess and treat a range of difficulties including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychosis, personality disorders and eating disorders. The service is designed to provide timely input to women and their families to mitigate the impact of mental health problems on the child. We are a multi-disciplinary team including psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy, nursing, occupational therapy, and nursery nursing. The service works closely with maternity/obstetric services as well as other agencies (e.g., health visiting and social services). We have close links with the Mother-Baby Unit (MBU) in-patient unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital.
This role is face to face from team bases across the Trust. The Trust offers flexible working as part of our ways of working. In this role you will be able to work Monday to Friday in the time frames from 09:00 to 17:00.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the full job description for further information.
This post is open to Clinical or Counselling Psychologists and to Cognitive Behavioural Therapists who have the relevant training and experience in perinatal mental health. Experience of supervision in is also essential. Accreditation and/or experience of evidence-based therapies for parental mental health problems is also highly desirable including CBT, EMDR, IPT and/or DBT.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. Doctorate in clinical or counselling psychology OR PG Dip or equivalent in CBT accepted for full BABCP accreditation
2. Additional training e.g. CBT, EMDR, IPT, DBT
3. Training in supervision
4. Registered with HCPC or BABCP
5. Evidence of CPD
Desirable criteria
6. Full BABCP accreditation
7. EMDR Europe accreditation
8. IPT accreditation
Experience
Essential criteria
9. Experience of working in perinatal mental health
10. Psychological assessment and treatment in perinatal mental health
11. Experience of supervising
12. Experience of working with issues of diversity in local communities
13. Post qualification research, audit or service evaluation
Desirable criteria
14. Interventions for complex presentations e.g. CBT, EMDR, DBT, IPT
15. Supervision for complex presentations
16. Work with couples or families
17. Interventions focused on the parent infant relationship
18. Record of publications
Knowledge
Essential criteria
19. Knowledge of perinatal MH and the evidence base
20. Advanced knowledge of the impact of parental mental illness on the baby/parent infant relationship
21. Knowledge of relevant legislation
22. Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability and accessibility of MH care
23. Specialist psychological assessments
Desirable criteria
24. Knowledge of parent infant interactional patterns
25. Doctoral/MSc level knowledge of psychological research methodology and statistical analysis
Skills
Essential criteria
26. Highly skilled communication
27. Administration of psychometric and neuropsychological tests
28. Well developed IT skills
29. Consultation skills
Abilities
Essential criteria
30. Ability to work in an MDT
31. Ability to identify and employ clinical governance
32. Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations