Senior Mental Health Practitioner / Clinical Psychologist

NHS; Aylesbury; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Aylesbury seeks a Senior Mental Health Practitioner / Clinical Psychologist for a 9-month fixed term contract. The role involves conducting psychological assessments, delivering evidence-based interventions, and supporting young people and their families in a collaborative environment. You will work with a dedicated multi-disciplinary team to ensure high-quality care and make a real impact on vulnerable young people's lives.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

NHS Discount

Competitive pension scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Post-doctoral training in specialized areas of psychological practice.
• Current registration with the HCPC as a Clinical Psychologist.
• Experience in trauma-informed care.

Responsibilities

• Conduct psychological assessments for young people in residential care.
• Deliver evidence-based interventions and training.
• Liaise with CAMHS and escalate to Crisis teams as needed.

Skills

Communication

Clinical assessment

Psychological interventions

Education

Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology

Job description

Senior Mental Health Practitioner / Clinical Psychologist

Are you looking for a change in your clinical work? Or looking to take a step up in your Phycology work?

We're looking for a Senior Mental Health Practitioner / Clinical Psychologist to join The Adopted and Care Experienced Team (ACE) on a full-time 9 month fixed term contract.

ACE is a small, specialist and highly valued service within Buckinghamshire CAMHS. Formerly known as the Looked After and Adopted Children's Service (LAAC), we are dedicated to supporting some of the most vulnerable young people in our community. We work with children and young people up to the age of 19 (if open to CAMHS before 18), alongside their carers, families and networks.

ACE is unique within CAMHS, offering a breadth of work from direct support for young people to carer support, training and group interventions. Our small multi-disciplinary team is collaborative and compassionate, and a recent Ofsted inspection highlighted the excellent mental health care we provide. Joining us means being part of a service with a clear identity and purpose, where your skills make a visible impact every day.

Main duties of the job

• Conduct psychological assessments of young people in residential care, identifying risks, screening for neurodevelopmental conditions and PTSD, and creating holistic, goal-oriented care plans.
• Deliver evidence-based interventions, provide consultation and training to carers and professionals, and support placement decisions to meet children's needs.
• Promote mentalization-based thinking and use the AMBIT framework to support staff in addressing emotional and attachment needs.
• Liaise with CAMHS and escalate to Crisis teams when needed; attend ACE team meetings and contribute to service development, research, audit, supervision, and training.
• Work jointly with CAMHS and Social Care, travel independently between sites, manage exposure to distressed behaviour, follow lone worker policies, and use IT systems effectively across multiple bases.

The ability to travel independently between sites within the Trust is essential for this role.

About us

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the "candidate guide to making an application" and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.

As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people's homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: "Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team"

Our values are: "Caring, safe and excellent"

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

o Excellent opportunities for career progressiono Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and developmento 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous serviceo NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailerso Competitive pension schemeo Lease car schemeo Cycle to work schemeo Employee Assistance Programmeo Mental Health First Aiderso Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)o Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Job responsibilities

We offer flexible hybrid working, with the post holder required to work on Fridays. Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust supports career development, CPD and access to training pathways, and ACE provides experience in trauma-informed and inequality-focused care. You will work in a supportive environment with reflective practice and peer support at its core. Oxford Health has a strong reputation for high quality services and a culture of inclusion and wellbeing. This role is a chance to join a unique service, make a real difference and thrive in a forward-thinking organisation.

This is an opportunity to join a specialist team working with adopted and care experienced young people in Local Authority residential care. You will provide high quality psychological assessments, interventions and care planning, while also supporting carers and staff through consultation, training and supervision. As part of the role you will contribute to the shared duty system with other clinicians, ensuring timely responses in a non-emergency service that prides itself on being accessible and responsive. You will escalate safeguarding concerns where necessary and work closely with partner agencies to ensure safe and effective care. The role also offers the chance to train other CAMHS staff, provide supervision for trainees and students, and play a key part in shaping the development of this unique service. This is a rare opportunity to make a real difference to some of the most vulnerable young people, while developing your skills in a supportive, collaborative and innovative environment.

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the supporting statement element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.

The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview, and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.

We are aware that some candidates may choose to use AI tools to support their application. We kindly remind applicants that submissions should remain an honest and accurate representation of their experience and must take care to ensure the use of AI tools does not generate an application that does not accurately reflect their knowledge, skills and values.

Person Specification

Qualifications - Academic/Skills/Professional

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and Neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology. Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice. Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology. Current registration with the HCPC as a Clinical Psychologist Formal training in supervision of other psychologists. OR: Undergraduate degree in Social Work, Occupational Therapy and/or Mental Health Nursing. Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS/HCPC.
• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Knowledge Requirements

• Knowledge of the psychological needs of Children who are Looked After Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health. Knowledge of clinical caseload management within a team setting
• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies. Knowledge of therapeutic interventions for Children who are Looked After. Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.

Further Training or Job Related Aptitude and Skills

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological/ psychosocial assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration. Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS. Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups. Time management skills Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings. Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Additional training in attachment interventions Additional training in interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder

Experience

• Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist at a highly specialist level within CAMHS.
• Post qualification experience of working with children in care
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups within CAMHS, across the life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, in-patient and residential care settings including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' therapeutic care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
• Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Experience of supervision of trainee clinical psychologists.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of supervision of qualified clinical and/or counselling psychologists
• Experience in working with children or young people who are placed in residential care
• Experience of working with staff in residential care settings of children who are looked after

Personal Qualities

• Ability to work as part of a team and independently
• Ability to communicate/listen formally and informally, verbally and in writing
• Confident and articulate
• Ability to reflect on own practice and willingness to be involved in supervision
• Flexible and resourceful in coping under pressure and with conflicting demands
• Willingness to work flexibly
• An awareness of your own strengths and limitations

Contractual Requirements

• Ability to travel independently between sites within the Trust and within the community, as required.

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.

£55,690 to £62,682 a yearper annum / pro rata