Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; London Borough of Harrow; On-site; GBP 53,000 - 61,000; Part time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider seeks a part-time Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist in Harrow. Candidates should possess a master's level training in psychotherapy. Responsibilities include providing specialist assessments and psychotherapeutic interventions for young people. The role offers opportunities for professional development and is part of a multidisciplinary team focused on mental health care. Salary ranges from £53,751 to £60,651 pro rata.

Benefits

Regular clinical supervision

Opportunities for CPD

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Qualifications

• Experience with multidisciplinary teams in mental health settings.
• Ability to assess and manage complex psychotherapeutic cases.
• Experience working with children aged 0-18.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychotherapeutic assessments of children and young people.
• Formulate and implement treatment plans for clients.
• Evaluate treatment options considering complex factors.

Skills

Specialist psychotherapeutic assessment

Strong written and oral communication

Knowledge of legislation relating to children

Education

Masters level preclinical training

Post-graduate doctoral level training

Job description

Go back Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Overview

Note: Closing date is 18 September 2025.

We are delighted to offer a Band 7 Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist post based at Harrow CAMHS.

Harrow CAMHS is looking for a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist (Part time, 3 days per week, Band 7) to join our friendly, supportive, and experienced multi-disciplinary specialist mental health service.

We are seeking an enthusiastic and skilled clinician who can maintain clinical curiosity, engage in reflective practice, and advocate for the needs of children, young people and families.

Clinicians with previous experience within CAMHS and working with young people with complex needs would be beneficial.

This post offers a great opportunity for newly qualified or early career child and adolescent psychotherapists who are passionate about working with young people and their families. Applications from candidates who will obtain the relevant qualification this summer are welcome.

What will we provide you?

The post offers opportunities to develop skills and knowledge through regular clinical supervision, participation in Quality Improvement (QI) projects, CPD opportunities, and multidisciplinary work within a team including Family Therapists, Psychotherapists, Nurses, Child Wellbeing Practitioners, Psychiatrists and Clinical/Counselling Psychologists/DBT Therapists.

To learn more about working in CAMHS please click here for one of our CAMHS videos.

Main duties of the job

What does the post entail?

You will help the service provide specialist mental health and neurodevelopmental assessments alongside specialist psychotherapeutic interventions and contribute to specialist support plans for the care of looked-after children and young people. You will undertake highly specialist assessments and interventions for a broad range of complex mental health concerns and neurodevelopmental differences in a socially, economically and culturally diverse London borough.

In this role you will provide a qualified specialist child and adolescent psychotherapy service to children and young people with mental health problems across all sectors of care, as part of a multidisciplinary CAMHS team. You will offer specialist psychotherapeutic assessment and therapy to service users and their families, and provide advice and consultation on their care to non-psychotherapist colleagues and the professional network involved in their support. You will work autonomously within professional guidelines and the service’s policies and procedures. You will utilise research skills for audits to support policy and service development and undertake research relevant to the service and to young people, their families and carers.

About us

We are committed to delivering first-class, patient-centred, safe and effective care in a community setting or in the patient’s home. Patients are central to everything we do. We recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our young people, colleagues, teams and the Trust.

We aim to support your career development and offer opportunities to progress. With a diverse culture and a broad range of opportunities across mental health, community services, neurodevelopmental disorders, and related fields, there is a place for you at CNWL.

You will work from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, serving young people experiencing mental health problems in the Harrow area. The post will be based at Ash Tree Clinic, South Harrow, and the post holder will be expected to maintain close links with the hospital.

The Ash Tree Clinic (Harrow CAMHS) is easily accessible by train from Kings Cross, Oxford Circus, Euston, and Victoria, within approximately 45 minutes.

As an NHS Trust, we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues, and your patients when working in our healthcare settings.

Job responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychotherapeutic assessments of children and young people referred to the team based on the integration of complex data from multiple sources.
• Formulate and implement plans for the formal treatment and/or management of the child/young person’s problems, using an appropriate conceptual framework and evidence-based methods across the full range of care settings.
• Implement a range of psychotherapeutic interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, grounded in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, including long- and short-term approaches as appropriate.
• Evaluate and decide on treatment options considering theoretical and therapeutic models and complex factors shaping the individual, family or group.
• Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of children and young people managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
• Contribute to a framework of understanding and care for all children and young people in the service across settings and agencies.
• Undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual children and young people.
• Act as case worker when appropriate, initiating planning and review of CAMHS care plans involving children, young people, carers and other involved parties.
• Communicate effectively about assessment, formulation and treatment plans and monitor progress during multidisciplinary care.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Masters level preclinical training at an Association of Child Psychotherapists recognised training school; post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical child psychotherapy at a training school accredited by the Association of Child Psychotherapy or equivalent.
• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in relevant health, social care or education settings.

Experience

• Experience of specialist psychotherapeutic assessment and treatment of children, adolescents and their parents as a full member of a multidisciplinary team in community, primary care, outpatient or inpatient settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of children and adolescents across the whole age range (0-18) and their parents, with diverse problems of varying severity.
• Experience of working in different CAMHS tiers.
• Experience applying child psychotherapy in different cultural contexts.

Knowledge and Skills

• Skills in complex psychotherapeutic assessment, intervention and management.
• Strong written and oral communication of complex information to clients, families, carers and colleagues.
• Knowledge of legislation relating to children and adolescents including child protection procedures and policies.
• Ability to tolerate anxiety without rushing to action and to value supervision.
• Awareness of working within a managed system and knowledge of NHS, Social Care and Education structures and policies.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professionals and non-professionals.
• Knowledge of research methodology and ability to interpret outcome research data.

OTHER

• Ability to form good working relationships in a multidisciplinary setting.
• Ability to identify and apply clinical governance mechanisms to support and maintain practice.
• Ability to teach and train others and present the work of child psychotherapists in public, professional and academic settings.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and will require a Disclosure to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

£53,751 to £60,651 a year pro rata inc HCAS