CAMHS Highly Specialist Practitioner (N&S MCCAED)

NHS; Greater London; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in the UK is seeking a CAMHS Highly Specialist Practitioner for their specialist Eating Disorders Service. This full-time post involves providing specialist clinical services, supervision, and contributing to service development. The ideal candidate will possess a strong background in clinical psychology and a passion for working with young people. The role offers flexible working hours to support a healthy work-life balance, based in Greater London.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Professional development opportunities

Supportive team environment

Qualifications

• Registered Clinical/Counselling Psychologist with relevant experience.
• Completed training in clinical supervision.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Responsibilities

• Provide highly specialist clinical services.
• Supervise junior colleagues and provide consultations.
• Contribute to service evaluation and policy development.

Skills

Clinical assessment

Evidence-based therapies

Supervision skills

Multi-disciplinary teamwork

Education

Registered Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Training in family therapy for eating disorders

Training in CBT for eating disorders

Job description

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

CAMHS Highly Specialist Practitioner (N&S MCCAED)

The closing date is 28 December 2025

The National and Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (N&S CAMHS) are seeking to recruit an enthusiastic and skilled band 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist/Family Therapist, to join the Maudsley Centre for Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders (MCCAED) Service. This is a full time (10 sessions) post. This post is offered as a secondment or fixed term contract to cover maternity leave. MCCAED is a Specialist Eating Disorders Service for young people aged up to 18 years and based at the Michael Rutter Centre at the Maudsley Hospital. The multi-disciplinary outpatient team within MCCAED consists of Family Therapists, Clinical Psychologists, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Psychiatrists, dietitians, and Assistant Psychologists. The service provides evidence-based outpatient treatment specifically tailored to children and young people with eating disorders. The wider MCCAED service also includes an intensive day patient service for young people with restrictive eating disorders and an outpatient service predominantly seeing young people with Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. Previous applicants need not apply.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will have a senior role within MCCAED and will be required to:

• Provide highly specialist clinical services including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes in MCCAED.
• Provide clinical/management supervision to more junior colleagues and consultation as appropriate.
• Contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.
• Undertake and support service evaluation, audit, research and policy development.
• Work as an autonomous professional within relevant professional guidelines and codes of conduct and guided by principles and policies or procedures of the service, taking responsibility for interpreting policies within defined parameters.
• Agree outcomes/results with clinical/professional leads and decide how they are best achieved.

About us

About our locations: Maudsley Hospital (headquarters) Our Trust headquarters is located at Denmark Hill less than 5 minutes from the train station (zone 2) and is within walking distance from the beautiful green spaces of Ruskin Park and the vibrant high‑street that offers great shopping opportunities and with a wide range of restaurants. The Maudsley Centre for Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders is based at the Michael Rutter Centre for Children and Young People, Maudsley Hospital. (Due to move to the Pears Maudsley Children and Young People (PMCYP) at the Maudsley Hospital in early 2026)

Flexible working: As one of the few Trusts in London we are proud to offer flexible working as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to talk flexible working at the interview stage. In this role you will be able to work Monday to Friday in the time frames from 9 to 5, giving you the very best of good work life balance. (The hours include working early mornings, later evenings or Saturdays as part of the core working hours/working pattern for this post)

Job responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

Clinical and Client Care: To provide assessments, formulations and interventions for clients referred to MCCAED and or to offer supervision to other members of the team in providing those. Support and empower children, young people and families to make informed choices about the intervention. To work in partnership with families to provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required. To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans. To act as care co‑ordinator taking responsibility for the oversight of cases within MCCAED when required. Contribute to the introduction and monitoring the performance of new clinical systems for accepting new referrals into treatment, delivering appropriate care pathways and discharging patients from treatment. Contribute to ensuring that NICE recommended evidence‑based therapeutic techniques are used within and across the teams to meet the needs of the client groups and ensure that staff are adequately trained and supervised to deliver these. Contribute to monitoring the quality of CAMHS eating disorder assessments and treatments conducted by MCCAED clinicians within the teams and the clinicians skills in diagnosing mental disorders and formulating care plans. Contribute to monitoring and performance management of the clinical standards of practice of identified junior members of staff. Contribute to measuring outcome of treatment within team and make changes when necessary to maximise clinical effectiveness. Supervise case managers and maximise their therapeutic skills across the range of treatments required to treat young people. Contribute to the recruitment of a safe and proficient workforce.

Management and supervision: To provide supervision to assistant psychologists, Band 6 and Band 7 qualified practitioners. To contribute to appraisals. To contribute to the recruitment of trainees and other CAMHS Practitioners. Access own supervision.

Contributing to team or service clinical functioning: To contribute to the effective working of the team or service and to a psychologically informed framework for the service. To contribute to the team or services 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 advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of clients. Where appropriate to liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans. To utilise theory, evidence‑based literature and research to support evidence‑based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

Policy and service development: To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes. To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects. To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

Care or management of resources: To take care of, and use carefully, the Trusts equipment and physical resources. To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

Teaching and Training: To undertake occasional teaching and training of staff in the service when required. To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within MCCAED by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in the field. Where appropriate to disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

Record‑keeping and Information Governance: To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies. The HEI 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.

Research and development: To initiate, undertake, support and supervise service evaluation and audits. To provide expertise in a specialist research area, which will contribute to MCCAED. To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.

Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development: To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior clinician according to Professional and Trust guidelines. To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with Professional and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and Standards for Continuing Professional Development. To maintain an up‑to‑date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies. To comply with Professional Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and Standards of Proficiency, and ensure professional development in line with these. To adhere to Professional Practice Guidelines and Trust policies and procedures.

General: To travel to other community locations 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 and to support others involved in such situations. To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics or Saturday working, within the overall Job Plan.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Entry‑level qualification: appropriately registered Clinical/Counselling psychologist, Systemic Family, Psychotherapist (A/I)
• Completed training course in clinical supervision. (A/I/R)
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by relevant Professional body e.g. HCPC/UKCP, BABCP (A/I)
• Training in family therapy for anorexia nervosa (FT‑AN/FBT) and/or bulimia nervosa (FT‑BN/FBT) (A/I)
• Training in CBT for eating disorders (A/I)
• Training in RO DBT
• Training in multi‑family therapy (MFT)

Experience

• Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist with children and young people with eating disorders and their families under supervision. (A/I)
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in CAMHS. (A/I)
• Experience of supervising and having completed the relevant training. (A/I)
• Experience facilitating groups for children, adolescents with eating disorders and their families (A/I)
• Experience treating common comorbidities of children and adolescents with eating disorders, such as anxiety, depression, OCD, self‑harm and ASC (A/I)

Knowledge & Skills

• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of evidence-based therapies for children and adolescents. (A/I/R)
• Advanced theoretical knowledge of psychosocial theories of mental health and the evidence base for the relevant treatment. (A/I/R)
• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles (A/I/R)
• Understanding of Access and Waiting Times standards for child and adolescent eating disorders (A/I)
• Understanding and knowledge of child protection procedures and safeguarding (A/I)

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

£64,156 to £71,148 a year per annum inclusive of HCAS