Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist & Clinical Lead

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Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist & Clinical Lead NHS AfC: Band 8b Main area CAMHS / LD / Psychology Grade NHS AfC: Band 8b Contract Permanent Hours Part time - 18.75 hours per week Job ref 333-G-CA-1525-A

Site Harrow CAMHS Ash Tree Clinic Town South Harrow Salary £67,950 - £78,028 pro rata per annum incl. HCAS Salary period Yearly Closing 19/03/:59

Job overview What we are looking for?

Hillingdon CAMHS-LD is looking for a Principal & Highly Specialist Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to lead our friendly, supportive, and experienced multi-disciplinary specialist mental health service. We are looking for an enthusiastic and skilled clinician who can lead our LD team using a creative and dynamic approach. They should maintain clinical curiosity and engage in reflective practice as well as be able to be an advocate for children, young people and families' needs. Previous experience within CAMHS-LD or adult LD settings (particularly with safeguarding, risk and Positive Behavioural Support PBS ) is an advantage.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Main duties of the job You will lead and help the service provide a variety of specialist interventions (e.g. PBS, CBT, ACT, parenting work, groups and family work) for a broad range of complex mental health and behavioural concerns within the context of Learning Disabilities experienced by children, young people and families within a socially, economically and culturally diverse London borough. In addition, you will provide specialist assessments, supervision, consultation and lead service development and delivery. You would also be working closely with Local Authority and Social Care services to ensure that children, young people and families are supported via multi-agency care and service delivery planning (e.g. Dynamic Support Registers, Partnership boards etc.).

The LD Pathway is developing with clinical innovation and pathway development is very much a part of the role, supported by the 8c Consultant Psychologist for the three boroughs, Harrow, Hillingdon and Brent. The key part of this role is to provide clinical leadership to the team and hold a caseload, which will vary, depending on the clinical need and waiting list. You work closely with Consultant Psychiatrist, the 8c Consultant Psychologist and Lead Behaviour Analyst. As part of a wider group of CAMHS sub-team leads, you will, with senior management, take a lead on the organization of aspects of the service and in developing strategy.

Working for our organisation What will we provide you?

Hillingdon CAMHS-LD has a strong multi-disciplinary approach and thrives on innovative practice to meet the local population needs. We have strong links with our neighbouring CAMHS-LD teams within CNWL as well as universities and other local partners and stakeholders. The post provides an excellent opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in clinical practice and leadership via regular clinical supervision, being part of Quality Improvement (QI) projects, CPD opportunities as well as multi-disciplinary working within an experienced wider service of Family Therapists, Behaviour Analysts (BCBAs) Psychotherapists, Nurses, Child Wellbeing Practitioners, Psychiatrists and Clinical / Counselling Psychologists.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities Clinical:

• To lead the multi-disciplinary CAMHS-LD team for children and young people, within the clinical governance structures and protocols of the service.
• To provide highly specialist psychology service to children with learning disabilities and their families across all sectors of care; providing highly specialist psychological assessments for children with learning disabilities and their carers referred to the service, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client's care, including frontline workers in health, education, social services and the voluntary sector.
• To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of emotional and behavioural disorders in children, young people and families with a co-existing LD diagnosis, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client's problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
• To work to prevent placement breakdown, and far more effective rehabilitation of children and young people back into their families where appropriate.
• To be responsible for developing and implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses and taking account of changing needs during the course of delivering the intervention. To act as case manager to coordinate care for individuals for an agreed caseload.
• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical, environmental and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
• In providing care to clients, to liaise and work with family members and others involved in the client's care, including CAMHS colleagues, frontline workers in health, education, Social Services, inpatients services and the voluntary sector.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation and interventions, communications with the referral agent and others involved in care on a regular basis.
• To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals, contributing to clients' formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group. In particular, providing support informed by Positive Behaviour Support approaches.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
• To contribute to and implement policy changes and developments within the area served by the team/service, including the 0-25 SEND code of practice (2016).
• To participate in the clinical Duty rota and initial CAMHS assessment clinics / specialist assessments as required.
• To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary care.
• To contribute knowledge, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the team. In particular, providing support informed by Positive Behaviour Support approaches.
• The post holder will undertake all work sensitive to the needs of families from a wide range of ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds and with sensitivity to issues of power, gender, educational attainment, sexuality, disability, class and age.
• To develop collaborative and effective working links with social services education, health and the third sector.

Person specification Education & Qualifications

• Post-graduate doctoral level training (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) in clinical psychology, or counselling psychology, as accredited by the BPS. Training should include specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuro-psychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
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