Senior CBT specialist and or Clinical Psychologist

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust; London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job description

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South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to providing high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good'.

We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone's potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I'm going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you'll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

This is a permanent post for a clinician (Clinical or Counselling Psychologist or other profession with recognised CBT training) with specialist CBT skills who is keen to support the continuing development of CBT practice within our service.

The successful candidate will have evidenced, specialist skills in CBT with children and young people, expertise in supervision and an interest in service development. The role includes offering individual supervision and facilitating a CBT peer supervision group, supporting or leading clinical discussion forums within generic CAMHS and maintaining a caseload. The post holder will contribute to the overview of CBT within the service.

The post holder will also have responsibilities as a senior clinician within the generic team and the service as a whole. The candidate will have experience of working in CAMHS as a clinician and a supervisor.

Main duties of the job

• To provide leadership; ensuring the delivery of high-quality evidence-based CBT Assessment, Formulation and Treatment to children and young people within the Lewisham CAMHS Service.
• To provide clinical supervision of CBT and specialist consultation to other members of professional staff within the service.
• To contribute to the training and development strategy for CBT across the service in line with Evidence Based Pathways for treatment within SLAM.
• To support the oversight and management of the waiting lists and provision of CBT to children and young people in the Horizon (generic) Team.
• To provide direct clinical care to the children and young people seen by the Horizon Team (Core tier 3 CAMHS Team) in Lewisham CAMHS.
• To manage a caseload as a Care Coordinator, monitoring experiences and evidence-based treatment of children and young people using outcome measures and service user feedback to inform care planning, to monitor and support journey of young people through the Lewisham CAMHS Service.
• To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.
• To lead and participate in service improvement and quality improvement projects as necessary.
• To work as an autonomous professional within your professional body's and codes of conduct guidelines (eg HCPC).

Working for our organisation

Lewisham Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) provides a diagnostic, assessment, treatment, advisory and consultative service for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural disorders, including those at high risk or those with more severe and persistent problems. The service's Specialist Multidisciplinary Teams include: Horizon (generic); Neuro Developmental Team; Symbol (Looked After and Adopted CYP); LYPS (severe and enduring mental health problems); ARTS (at risk forensic); Paediatric Liaison Service; MHST (Mental Health in Schools); CWP (Child Wellbeing Practitioners); Intake; and Crisis. Lewisham CAMHS focuses on providing high quality mental health support to young people locally. We continually identify and address any potentially barriers or inequalities in regards to access to, and input from, our service, as well as continually improving areas of staff wellbeing and equality within the staff group.

This post is clinically based within the generic team (Horizon) and the leadership component extends to the rest of Lewisham CAMHS. Horizon is a dynamic multi-disciplinary team based in the Kaleidoscope Centre in Catford, an award-winning purpose-built building that brings together specialist community services for health, disability, mental health, education and social care.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical and Client Care

• To provide highly specialist CBT assessments, formulations and interventions for children and young people in CAMHS.
• To provide culturally appropriate professional interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
• To select and deliver evidence based specialist therapeutic interventions, drawing from a broad spectrum of models, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions as necessary, based on the highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
• To act as care co-ordinator taking responsibility for initiating planning and reviewing care plans and meetings.
• To provide psychological support to clients who are emotionally distressed. Either due to the serious consequences of their illness or due to other traumatic events in their lives.
• To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues taking account communication needs.
• To ensure that all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities which make up CAMHS and at all times to work in ways that are sensitive to and appropriate for the needs of families from a wide range of racial, cultural and religious backgrounds, and to be aware and sensitive to the different contexts that different families may be acting out of.
• To provide psychological support to clients and their families who are emotionally distressed, either due to the serious consequences of their illness or due to other traumatic events in their lives.

Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

• To contribute to the effective working of the team or service and to a CBT informed framework for the service area.
• To provide consultations to other clinical staff on the use of CBT techniques and, where appropriate, to jointly work with other team members in the provision of therapeutic interventions.
• To provide consultation and facilitation to multi-disciplinary staff in case discussions, planning and decision making.
• To contribute to the team or service's 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 contribute towards the provision of advice and consultancy to local teams/services for clients. In this respect, to advise on the development and integration within the team of CBT based assessment and intervention techniques that might at a systems level be incorporated within the team's operational policy, and be applied on a routine basis by other team members.
• To advise other members of the service on specialist CBT care of clients.
• 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 and/or currently understood best practice-based evidence, in individual work and work with other team members.
• To participate in helping develop services to family and carers of service users.

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 participate in clinical governance initiatives as agreed by the Directorate clinical governance committee.
• To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Suitable degree level and postgraduate academic training or equivalent (e.g. Doctorate in Clinical Psychology).
• HCPC / BABCP registered practitioner.
• Postgraduate Diploma in CBT.

Desirable criteria

• Course in CBT supervision.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision for a substantial number of years.
• Experience of working within NHS CAMHS services.
• Delivering high level CBT. Extensive experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature, including OCD, PTSD, major depression and other anxiety disorders.
• Experience of providing teaching and training to professional groups.
• Experience of providing specialist supervision individually.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of carrying out research, audit or service evaluation projects.
• Experience of having shown leadership in service improvements & service development.
• Experience with involvement with recruitment.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies for anxiety, mood and personality disorders from a CBT treatment framework.
• Knowledge of psychological research methodology and complex statistical analysis. Theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the relevant treatment.
• Advanced knowledge of CBT Psychotherapeutic models in clinical assessment and treatment including knowledge of specific CBT theories and evidence issues and child protection.

Desirable criteria

• Evidence of continuing training in a specialised area of psychological practice through formal training (diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses, OR an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice, assessed by an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a postgraduate diploma.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues and child protection.

Ability and skills

Essential criteria

• Skills in the use of methods of psychological assessments and intervention for anxiety, mood and personality disorders, including OCD, PTSD and other anxiety disorders.
• Skills in providing teaching and training to other professional groups.
• Consultation skills to work with the multi-professional team or other professional groups within own service.
• Ability to work as an autonomous practitioner with appropriate level of clinical and managerial supervision.
• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles.

Desirable criteria

• Ability to supervise cognitive behaviour therapy trainees (e.g. IAPT, DClinPsych) having completed the relevant training.
• Good IT Skills.

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice.
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment.
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity.

Please note:

• That all applications for this post will need to be made online.
• That you read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria.
• That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible.
• That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs.
• That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not been successful.
• That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees.
• That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process.
• That we are a smoke-free Trust.

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion. Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• CBT lead (PDF, 512.6KB)
• SLaM Staff Benefits (PDF, 1.1MB)
• Happy to Talk Flexible Working (PDF, 680.1KB)