Job summary
The Cassel is a long established, national specialist Tier 4 service comprising an Inpatient Service and a comprehensive Outreach Programme for adults diagnosed with personality disorders.
It is recognised as a centre of excellence for the treatment of personality disorders and is unique in offering a highly specialised combination of formal psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychosocial nursing in a therapeutic community setting, complemented by a full programme of community activities.
This is an exciting and rare opportunity for an experienced psychoanalytic psychotherapist to join the multidisciplinary team of our Inpatient Service.
Main duties of the job
The successful applicant will carry out assessments, provide twice-weekly individual psychotherapy to a caseload of patients, teach and supervise colleagues and trainees, and contribute significantly to the containment of the therapeutic community as a whole via a firm commitment to the Cassel's culture of enquiry.
Supervision will be provided as part of the post.
About us
West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse providers of mental health, community and social care in the UK.
Our 3,982 staff care for people in hospital and in the community, helping them to recover and go on to lead full and productive lives. We aim to be the best organisation of our kind in the country.
We provide care and treatment for more than 800,000 people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow, delivering services in the community (at home, in GP surgeries and care homes), hospital, specialist clinics and forensic (secure) units.
We'rerated good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Together, we're committed to promoting hope and wellbeing, working with patients, service users, carers, families and partners across the communities we serve.
We are keen to ensure that our workforce reflects the community it serves, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, LGBTQ+ and experience of mental illness.
The regulations mandating vaccination for in-scope roles in the NHS have now been removed. The Trust does however continue to encourage and support staff to be vaccinated as this remains the best line of defence against COVID19. Vaccination data will be collected by our recruitment team during your on-boarding if you are happy to provide a copy of your COVID pass.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please find a detailed job description and person specification attached as a separate, supporting document.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please find a detailed job description and person specification attached as a separate, supporting document.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Qualification in psychoanalysis/ psychoanalytic psychotherapy accredited by the BPC or equivalent.
- Qualification in a core profession e.g. medical, psychology, social work, nursing, or teaching.
- Good relevant honours degree or a recognised equivalent.
Desirable
- Academic qualification to Masters or Doctorate level.
Experience - Clinical
Essential
- Extensive experience in the role of highly specialist practitioner, carrying own caseload in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and working independently and autonomously.
- Experience in the specialist assessment and treatment of patients with personality disorders in inpatient and/or outpatient settings
- Experience of working with patients drawn from a wide range of diagnostic groups.
- Experience in clinical supervision of other psychoanalytic psychotherapists either in training or qualified.
- A personal analytical psychotherapy or psychoanalysis of at least three times per week frequency and of sufficient intensity and duration to be able to work according to psychoanalytic principles with the most difficult and demanding cases.
Desirable
- Experience of group, family and/or marital therapy.
Experience - Work setting
Essential
- Extensive experience of working in the NHS or other public or voluntary sector care and treatment services.
- Significant experience of working in a multidisciplinary team.
Desirable
- Significant experience of working with a range of other therapeutic models.
Experience - Management
Essential
- Experience in the management of aspects of a psychotherapy service.
- Taking on delegated responsibility for the operational management of a service for periods of time.
Experience - Teaching
Essential
- Experience of delivering training in the theory and practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and related topics to trainees and colleagues in related professions.
Desirable
- Writing and delivering clinical and theoretical papers
- Publications in relevant academic journals
Experience - Research, Audit & Clinical Governance
Essential
- A proven record of continuous professional development.
Desirable
- Experience in undertaking research and service audit projects.
Knowledge
Essential
- Comprehensive knowledge of psychoanalytic theory regarding development, models of the mind, unconscious processes and psychopathology.
- Comprehensive knowledge of psychoanalytic theories of technique.
- Comprehensive knowledge of adult mental health problems including a familiarity with psychiatric diagnoses
- A comprehensive understanding of organisational and team dynamics
Desirable
- Familiarity with other psychotherapeutic models of treatment.
- An awareness of mental health provision in the statutory and voluntary sectors.
- Knowledge of legislation and NHS policies and their implications for clinical practice, professional management and service development.
Skills
Essential
- Organising and managing a caseload of patients who are suffering from the most severe, complex and enduring mental health problems autonomously
- Maintaining a containing and thoughtful stance in the clinical work with patients, families and couples where there may be a high level of distress, verbal aggression or chaotic activity.
- Assessing and monitoring high levels of risk, and deciding on appropriate intervention as necessary.
- Understanding and interpreting unconscious processes in a timely and sensitive manner.
- Working in an often stressful environment with high expressed emotion in a contained and thoughtful manner, and the capacity to note and recover from failures in this area.
- Applying psychoanalytic thinking to work in the NHS and within the context of a therapeutic community
- Working collaboratively with other members of staff in a multi-disciplinary team.
- Communicating effectively with managers, colleagues, referrers and outside agencies in both written and verbal form, including the preparation of reports and treatment plans.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Qualification in psychoanalysis/ psychoanalytic psychotherapy accredited by the BPC or equivalent.
- Qualification in a core profession e.g. medical, psychology, social work, nursing, or teaching.
- Good relevant honours degree or a recognised equivalent.
Desirable
- Academic qualification to Masters or Doctorate level.
Experience - Clinical
Essential
- Extensive experience in the role of highly specialist practitioner, carrying own caseload in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and working independently and autonomously.
- Experience in the specialist assessment and treatment of patients with personality disorders in inpatient and/or outpatient settings
- Experience of working with patients drawn from a wide range of diagnostic groups.
- Experience in clinical supervision of other psychoanalytic psychotherapists either in training or qualified.
- A personal analytical psychotherapy or psychoanalysis of at least three times per week frequency and of sufficient intensity and duration to be able to work according to psychoanalytic principles with the most difficult and demanding cases.
Desirable
- Experience of group, family and/or marital therapy.
Experience - Work setting
Essential
- Extensive experience of working in the NHS or other public or voluntary sector care and treatment services.
- Significant experience of working in a multidisciplinary team.
Desirable
- Significant experience of working with a range of other therapeutic models.
Experience - Management
Essential
- Experience in the management of aspects of a psychotherapy service.
- Taking on delegated responsibility for the operational management of a service for periods of time.
Experience - Teaching
Essential
- Experience of delivering training in the theory and practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and related topics to trainees and colleagues in related professions.
Desirable
- Writing and delivering clinical and theoretical papers
- Publications in relevant academic journals
Experience - Research, Audit & Clinical Governance
Essential
- A proven record of continuous professional development.
Desirable
- Experience in undertaking research and service audit projects.
Knowledge
Essential
- Comprehensive knowledge of psychoanalytic theory regarding development, models of the mind, unconscious processes and psychopathology.
- Comprehensive knowledge of psychoanalytic theories of technique.
- Comprehensive knowledge of adult mental health problems including a familiarity with psychiatric diagnoses
- A comprehensive understanding of organisational and team dynamics
Desirable
- Familiarity with other psychotherapeutic models of treatment.
- An awareness of mental health provision in the statutory and voluntary sectors.
- Knowledge of legislation and NHS policies and their implications for clinical practice, professional management and service development.
Skills
Essential
- Organising and managing a caseload of patients who are suffering from the most severe, complex and enduring mental health problems autonomously
- Maintaining a containing and thoughtful stance in the clinical work with patients, families and couples where there may be a high level of distress, verbal aggression or chaotic activity.
- Assessing and monitoring high levels of risk, and deciding on appropriate intervention as necessary.
- Understanding and interpreting unconscious processes in a timely and sensitive manner.
- Working in an often stressful environment with high expressed emotion in a contained and thoughtful manner, and the capacity to note and recover from failures in this area.
- Applying psychoanalytic thinking to work in the NHS and within the context of a therapeutic community
- Working collaboratively with other members of staff in a multi-disciplinary team.
- Communicating effectively with managers, colleagues, referrers and outside agencies in both written and verbal form, including the preparation of reports and treatment plans.
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
