Job summary
SWLSTG MH Trust is a lead provider within the South West London Trailblazer programme and currently runs 8 Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) across Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth. Each MHST works within a cluster of schools and offers a schools based mental health service, as well as supporting the implementation of a Whole School Approach (WSA) to mental health across the cluster. There are strong links between all the teams and a good peer support network across our MHSTs.
The Battersea MHST has an additional specialist focus on providing a trauma informed approach and increasing access to children and young people from BAME communities. As such, applicants will need to demonstrate good knowledge and a strong understanding of the social and psychological stresses experienced by members of BAME communities.
Main duties of the job
The post provides additional clinical input for more moderate mental health presentations, consultation to school staff and support within each MHST and school cluster, working closely with team members to provide a coordinated service. This may include running parent workshops and staff training sessions, either jointly with another team member or independently.
This is an exciting and varied role with good scope for creative and innovative working within a new national initiative to increase mental health input directly into schools. There is a very strong peer support network across the Education Wellbeing Service (comprising all the MHSTs and Children's Wellbeing Practitioner (CWP) teams.
This post requires:
- Qualification as a registered Clinical / Counselling / Educational Psychologist; OR registered Family Therapist; OR registered Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist; OR registered CBT Therapist
- Good experience of working therapeutically with children, young people & parents
- Some previous experience of training and teaching
- Experience of working with self-harm and / or challenging behaviour
- Strong communication skills
- The ability to work cohesively and collaboratively both within a small team and within the wider school cluster
- The ability to use feedback, reflect and adapt accordingly
- Strong organisational skills
- Commitment to using data and relevant measures to assess clinical outcomes
About us
We have a strong network across the 8 MHSTs within the Trust and across the wider SW London partnership to enable sharing resources, learning and providing support. We have strong links with Kings College University and make time for our practitioners to engage in the Kings CPD days as well as our internal training opportunities. We pride ourselves on our welcoming and supportive team culture. Cross team working and peer support opportunities are strongly encouraged.
About our locations:
The Battersea MHST is based at St John Bosco College for supervision and admin purposes but the postholder will work across the allocated Battersea school cluster.
Our Trust headquarters is located within the impressive grounds of Springfield University Hospital in Tooting and we also operate in nearly 100 other locations throughout the UK. This is easily accessible via the Northern Line (Tooting Bec Station) and via private transport. The Trust provides subsidised parking fares for all our substantive staff. Our main site is located immediately next to Tooting High Street where staff can easily access a range of shops, cafs and restaurants. While this is not a main base for the post, it is where staff access IT services and is often where we book rooms for training and other Trust events.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical
- To provide specialist assessments of children and young people referred to the service based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and where appropriate, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews in line with CYP IAPT methodology.
- To formulate and implement plans for evidence-based interventions, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, to improve the parent/child relationship.
- To be responsible for implementing a range of psychotherapeutic interventions employed individually and in synthesis, maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses, adjusting and refining formulations or understandings, drawing upon different explanatory models and employing methods of intervention that are based upon evidence of efficacy.
- To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual and the family.
- To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans
- To provide specialist mental health advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to the care of the child
- To contribute to and/or use evidence-based, integrated working tools and processes, to ensure children receive holistic and co-ordinated services in response to their mental health needs
- To undertake risk assessment and risk management
- To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of children and young people who are under their care.
- To monitor progress during the course of interventions, ensuring that all interventions are fully assessed, planned, implemented and evaluated in conjunction with CYP IAPT minimum dataset standards.
- To maintain accurate and accessible health care records according to Trust policy and Information Governance requirements.
- To demonstrate high level communication skills, both written and verbal, within all agencies.
Teaching, Training, and Supervision
- To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior psychologist / psychotherapist and, where appropriate, other senior colleagues.
- To gain additional experience and skills relevant to the profession and/or the service (as agreed with the responsible professional and team manager) in accordance with the CAMHS Directorates common expectations for P&P staff.
- To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staffs psychological work as appropriate.
- To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, including the school cluster.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical
- To provide specialist assessments of children and young people referred to the service based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and where appropriate, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews in line with CYP IAPT methodology.
- To formulate and implement plans for evidence-based interventions, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, to improve the parent/child relationship.
- To be responsible for implementing a range of psychotherapeutic interventions employed individually and in synthesis, maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses, adjusting and refining formulations or understandings, drawing upon different explanatory models and employing methods of intervention that are based upon evidence of efficacy.
- To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual and the family.
- To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans
- To provide specialist mental health advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to the care of the child
- To contribute to and/or use evidence-based, integrated working tools and processes, to ensure children receive holistic and co-ordinated services in response to their mental health needs
- To undertake risk assessment and risk management
- To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of children and young people who are under their care.
- To monitor progress during the course of interventions, ensuring that all interventions are fully assessed, planned, implemented and evaluated in conjunction with CYP IAPT minimum dataset standards.
- To maintain accurate and accessible health care records according to Trust policy and Information Governance requirements.
- To demonstrate high level communication skills, both written and verbal, within all agencies.
Teaching, Training, and Supervision
- To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior psychologist / psychotherapist and, where appropriate, other senior colleagues.
- To gain additional experience and skills relevant to the profession and/or the service (as agreed with the responsible professional and team manager) in accordance with the CAMHS Directorates common expectations for P&P staff.
- To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staffs psychological work as appropriate.
- To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, including the school cluster.
Person Specification
Training & Qualifications
Essential
- oQualified Clinical Psychologist registered with the HCPC
- oQualified Clinical / Counselling / Educational Psychologist registered with the HCPC as an applied psychologist, or
- oQualified Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist having successfully completed a training course recognised/accredited by the Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP) or equivalent, and registered with ACP, or
- oQualified Systemic Family Psychotherapist registered with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) via the College of Family Couple and Systemic Therapy, and post-graduate qualification in relevant mental health/social welfare profession with demonstrable practice over a minimum of four years.
- oCBT Therapist accredited with the BABCP
- oWhere an applicant is in the final stages of training and has not yet obtained registration, an applicant will only be made an offer conditional upon successful registration within a time-scale that is specified.
Desirable
- oTraining as part of a CYP IAPT collaborative in a recognised evidenced based approach
- oTrauma informed training
Experience
Essential
- oDemonstrable experience of working with children and young people in a variety of clinical and community settings
- oExperience of multi-disciplinary team working
- oExperience of working with children and families from diverse cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds
- oExperience of inter-agency working
- oExperience of safeguarding and Child Protection
Desirable
- oExperience of working in schools
- oExperience of working in the NHS
- oExperience of teaching and liaising with other professional groups
- oPersonal knowledge of communities of ethnic and racial diversity
Person Specification
Training & Qualifications
Essential
- oQualified Clinical Psychologist registered with the HCPC
- oQualified Clinical / Counselling / Educational Psychologist registered with the HCPC as an applied psychologist, or
- oQualified Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist having successfully completed a training course recognised/accredited by the Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP) or equivalent, and registered with ACP, or
- oQualified Systemic Family Psychotherapist registered with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) via the College of Family Couple and Systemic Therapy, and post-graduate qualification in relevant mental health/social welfare profession with demonstrable practice over a minimum of four years.
- oCBT Therapist accredited with the BABCP
- oWhere an applicant is in the final stages of training and has not yet obtained registration, an applicant will only be made an offer conditional upon successful registration within a time-scale that is specified.
Desirable
- oTraining as part of a CYP IAPT collaborative in a recognised evidenced based approach
- oTrauma informed training
Experience
Essential
- oDemonstrable experience of working with children and young people in a variety of clinical and community settings
- oExperience of multi-disciplinary team working
- oExperience of working with children and families from diverse cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds
- oExperience of inter-agency working
- oExperience of safeguarding and Child Protection
Desirable
- oExperience of working in schools
- oExperience of working in the NHS
- oExperience of teaching and liaising with other professional groups
- oPersonal knowledge of communities of ethnic and racial diversity
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).
