CAMHS Psychological Therapist

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust; Hartford; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare foundation in the UK seeks a qualified professional in mental health to join their team. You will provide specialist therapy to children and adolescents facing mental health challenges, working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team. The role emphasizes autonomous work, teamwork, and resilience, offering support through supervision and development sessions.

Benefits

Regular supervision and professional development

Qualifications

• Strong sense of teamwork and ability to work autonomously.
• Experience with children and adolescents in mental health settings.
• Ability to remain calm and resilient under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist evidence-based assessment and therapy.
• Consult on psychological care with colleagues from other agencies.
• Formulate and evaluate treatment plans for clients.

Skills

Teamwork

Autonomy

Resilience under pressure

Experience with children and young people

Education

Qualified professional in CBT, Systemic Therapy, Child Psychotherapy, DBT, or CAT from a UKCP, ACP, or BABCP approved course

Job description

Overview

We are looking to recruit a qualified professional in CBT, Systemic Therapy, Child Psychotherapy, DBT, or CAT for CYP from a UKCP, ACP, or BABCP approved course to join our CORE South CAMHS team. We work with children and young people with moderate to severe mental health disorders, providing comprehensive assessment and intervention as part of a multidisciplinary team. The South Core Team is located in Cambridge. We support our team with regular operational and clinical/professional supervision and continual development sessions to support you in your role, either on an individual basis or as a team.

We are seeking a candidate with a strong sense of teamwork who can work autonomously, has experience of working with children and young people, and can remain calm and resilient under pressure. We foster a respectful MDT approach and there is multiagency working and liaison as part of this role.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist evidence-based assessment and therapy to children and adolescents with mental health difficulties.
• Offer advice and consultation on young people’s psychological care to professional colleagues and staff from other agencies.
• Work autonomously within professional guidelines and the framework of the trust’s and CAMHS’ policies and procedures.
• Utilise research skills for audits, policy and service development, and research within the area served by the team/service.
• Provide specialist mental health assessments of children and adolescents referred to CAMHS, based on the interpretation and integration of complex data from diverse sources including self-report measures, rating scales, structured observations, and semi-structured interviews with young people, families, and others involved in care.
• Individually formulate, plan, implement and evaluate plans for formal psychological treatment and/or management of a young person’s mental health problems across a range of care settings.
• Be responsible for implementing interventions in own area of speciality for individual children and young people, families/carers, and via groups, across teams, refining formulations and drawing on developmental, cognitive, learning theory, and biological explanations.
• Evaluate and decide on treatment options, considering theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors shaping the individual and family context.
• Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for assessment, formulation, treatment and discharge of own clients, and manage caseload in line with service requirements.
• Provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals involved in clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans.
• Contribute to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care across all settings and agencies serving children and families.
• Communicate sensitively about assessments, formulations and treatment plans, monitor progress during uni- and multi-disciplinary care, and liaise with other agencies as appropriate.
• Communicate information that may be contentious or highly distressing to clients, families, and others as appropriate.
• Undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and advise other professionals on psychological aspects of risk in line with trust and inter-agency policies.

About CPFT and Diversity

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve health and wellbeing. Our clinical teams deliver NHS services in inpatient, primary care, and community settings, including Children, Adult & Older People’s mental health, Forensic & Specialist mental health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care & Liaison psychiatry, Substance misuse, Social care, and Research & Development.

We are an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from all sectors of the community, including disabled people and members of ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ communities.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

CPFT is committed to positive equality, diversity and inclusion. For more information, please visit https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/equalityanddiversity.

Additional Information for Applicants

CPFT is looking to build its pool of temporary workers with Temporary Staffing Services (TSS). You will be asked at interview if you would be willing to register with TSS. This is an opportunity for flexible hours around personal circumstances.

Please note: in line with the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List (2020), CPFT cannot currently accept applications from overseas candidates whose country of residence is classed as a 'Red List' country. Applicants requiring entry into the UK must provide a valid police certificate from the relevant authority for each country (except the UK) where they have been present for 12 months or more, within 10 years prior to the visa application, and aged 18 or over.

If successful at interview, you will be subject to pre-employment checks, including a DBS check (where appropriate), references and Occupational Health. Please bring all identity documents to your interview; a list of required documents will be attached to your interview invitation. All communications may be managed via TRAC Systems. By applying for this post you consent to CPFT transferring information to TRAC and, if offered employment, to the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.