Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a full time band 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to work with young people and families in the borough of Wandsworth who have been historically underrepresented in mainstream services. The role forms part of the CAMHS provision provided into Wandsworth Youth Justice Service (YJS).

The postholder will be joining a passionate team in an established and valued role which will contribute to the development and delivery of services that seek to transform mental health delivery for marginalised young people involved in or at risk of offending.

The role offers a balance of direct clinical work, specialist consultation, training delivery, service development and supervision, and is embedded within Wandsworth Youth Justice Service. Candidates will also have access to relevant specialist training as per their development plan.

The service is informed by AMBIT (Adaptive Mentalization Based Integrative Treatment), trauma-informed, systemic and attachment-based principles and is working towards implementing community psychology and co-production into its practice model. The team also takes a critical approach to addressing ethnic, racial, and social disproportionality within the Youth Justice System.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be supporting children who present with a range of needs and will be responsible for providing specialist assessments and interventions, as well as consultation, training and reflective practice to school staff alongside co-ordinating multi-agency networks based on psychological formulations. The post holder will support and co-lead on the delivery and development of the Tier 2 mental health service across the PRUs

The PRU-CAMHS team have close links with Wandsworth Youth Justice Service CAMHS team and the wider Wandsworth CAMHS provision and will be supervised by a trust Professional Lead with responsibility for Wandsworth Pupil Referral Unit CAMH Services.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will support the delivery and development of the Tier 2 mental health service across the PRU sites. The appointee will offer trauma-informed assessment, intervention, consultation, and training to young people and staff across the PRU and partner agencies.

The role requires advanced skills in psychological assessment and formulation, with an understanding of how to incorporate challenging behaviour, additional learning needs, neurodivergence, and a range of social and contextual information within a trauma-informed framework, as well as the ability to share this and recommendations with other multi-agency colleagues.

The appointee will also work closely with young people’s families and their wider networks, which includes partnership agencies such as children’s social care, youth work provisions, and youth justice service. This aspect of the role is vital in ensuring appropriate linked-up working to contextually safeguard young people and their families.

This role requires the appointee to work within a multiagency context and hold skills in autonomously performing their role in a school/college setting whilst providing an offer of consultation and training across the Francis Barber provision.

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Please be aware that information provided in your application and supporting statement may be explored further during the selection process. It is important that all applications accurately represent your own knowledge, skills and experience.

Applicant requirements

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.