Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Job overview

We are currently recruiting for a full time Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to work in our Richmond Getting Help Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in the London Borough of Richmond.

This is an exciting opportunity for a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist with experience of working in CAMHS to work in a supportive and friendly multi-disciplinary team to undertake assessments, and deliver interventions with children, young people, their families and the wider network.

Richmond Getting Help is a newly established established service that supports children, young people and their families with moderate mental health difficulties. Our multi-disciplinary service is made up of disciplines including psychology, family therapy, CBT therapists and psychotherapy.

We have a range of CAMHS services within the Trust including Getting More Help/Tier 3 CAMHS, Mental Health in Schools Teams, an Adolescent Outreach Team, an adolescent unit, Deaf CAMHS services, Learning Disabilities and Youth Offending CAMHS teams as well as a DBT service and a range of eating disorders services.

As well as regular individual supervision to support your development we offer a number of opportunities for support and training.

Main duties of the job

• Carry out high quality assessments;
• Provide evidence-based treatment;
• Have an agreed job plan with specified activity and throughput levels;
• Co-ordinate care for those children, young people and families on their caseload;
• Manage risk within team, Directorate and Trust structures;
• Work to relevant professional and ethical guidelines, and within the framework of Directorate and Trust policies and procedures.
• Use screening and outcome measures in clinically meaningful ways to demonstrate treatment effectiveness and seek feedback about user experience.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical

To provide specialist assessments of young children and their parents/carers referred to the service based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and where appropriate, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews in line with CYP IAPT methodology.

To formulate and implement plans for evidence-based interventions, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, to improve the parent/child relationship.

To be responsible for implementing a range of psychotherapeutic interventions employed individually and in synthesis, maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses, adjusting and refining formulations or understandings, drawing upon different explanatory models and employing methods of intervention that are based upon evidence of efficacy.

To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual and the family.

To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans

To provide specialist mental health advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to the care of the young child and their parents/carers

To contribute to and/or use evidence-based, integrated working tools and processes, to ensure young children and their parents/carers receive holistic and co-ordinated services in response to their mental health needs.

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for young children and their parents/carers.

To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of young children and their parents/carers who are under their care.

To monitor progress during the course of interventions, ensuring that all interventions are fully assessed, planned, implemented and evaluated in conjunction with CYP IAPT minimum dataset standards.

To maintain accurate and accessible health care records according to Trust policy and Information Governance requirements.

To demonstrate high level communication skills, both written and verbal, within all agencies.

Teaching, Training, and Supervision

To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior colleagues.

To gain additional experience and skills relevant to the profession and/or the service (as agreed with the responsible professional and team manager) in accordance with the CAMHS Directorate’s common expectations for P&P staff.

To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staff’s psychological work as appropriate.

If required, to provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings.

Management, Recruitment, Policy and Service Development

To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the service’s operational policies and services (as directed), through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.

To contribute to a culture that is therapeutic, productive, accessible, inclusive and flexible to meet the needs of the local population.

Research and Service Evaluation

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.

Other

To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the post holder’s professional and service manager(s).

To contribute to and commit to undertaking an annual professional development review (PADR).

To undertake personal and professional development as identified in the Personal development Plan (PDP) as required by the service and set out in the job plan.

To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice and Trust policies and procedures.

To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and mental health. For this post these specifically include:

• Current Mental Health Legislation
• The Children’s Act (1989)
• Trust, London Borough of  and pan–London child protection procedures.
• Local and national developments in SWLStG CAMHS
• Risk Assessment and Management
• Clinical Governance
• Local and national developments in line with “Every Child Matters”
• Joint working practices between voluntary and statutory sector

Training and Development

To undertake mandatory and statutory training, supervision and annual appraisal as required by Trust policy.

To contribute and commit to undertaking an annual Development Review/appraisal.

To undertake personal development as identified in the Personal Development Plan (PDP).