Autism CAMHS Practitioner

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical:

1. To work as a member of the multi-disciplinary CAMH service for children and young people, within the clinical governance structures and protocols of the service.
2. To contribute to neurodevelopmental 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 neuropsychological tests (including ADOS-2, 3Di etc.), self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care, including frontline workers in health, education, Social Services and the voluntary sector.
3. In providing care to clients to liaise and work with family members and others involved in the clients care, including CAMHS colleagues, frontline workers in health, education, Social Services, inpatients services and the voluntary sector.
4. To exercise professional responsibility for the assessment and treatment of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
5. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals, contributing to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan under supervision of a qualified psychologist.
6. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.
7. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
8. To contribute to and implement policy changes and developments within the area served by the team/service, including the 0-25 SEND code of practice (2016).
9. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary care.
10. To contribute knowledge, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the team.
11. The post holder will undertake all work sensitive to the needs of families from a wide range of ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds and with sensitivity to issues of power, gender, educational attainment, sexuality, disability, class and age.

Teaching, training, and supervision:

1. To receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with Trust with a qualified member of staff within the Neurodevelopmental Team.
2. To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties.
3. To contribute, under the direct supervision of a qualified member of staff, to the training and support of other staff in psychological care.

Management, recruitment, policy and service development:

1. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the service as required through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.
2. To exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service.

Research and service evaluation:

1. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members, including the use of outcome measures.
2. To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research within the context of the needs of the service as directed by the Professional Lead/Team Manager.
3. To undertake audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service, to help develop service provision.

IT responsibilities (other than those used for research)

1. The post holder will input and maintain appropriate computer and manual clinical records and statistical data and provide this to the Service Manager/Clinical Lead when necessary.
2. The post holder will engage in relevant computer and IT training as required.

General:

1. To remain current with all mandatory / statutory training for the service.
2. To adhere to local and Trust policies and procedures including Health & Safety, Lone Working, Sickness and Absence, and Annual Leave.
3. To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, as agreed by the post holders service manager(s) and professional lead.
4. To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in CAMHS across the service, by continuing to develop the skills of a reflexive and reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in child and adolescent mental health and related disciplines.
5. To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of accrediting body and Trust policies and procedures.
6. To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and mental health.
7. All CAMHS staff are expected to actively involve service users in decisions about the service and support they receive, to be aware of and inform service users about participation initiatives, and actively support the development of such initiatives to ensure the voice of service users is at the heart of service design, development and delivery.

To be noted:

• This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities, and the post holder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with the Team Manager / Service Manager.
• This job description will be reviewed regularly in the light of changing service requirements and any such changes will be discussed with the post holder.
• The post holder is expected to comply with all relevant Trust policies, procedures and guidelines, including those relating to Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety and Confidentiality of Information, Safeguarding and SEND.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential

• Undergraduate degree in Mental Health
• Trained in use of ADOS-2 and 3-Di with experience of administrating

Desirable

• Post graduate qualification in mental health
• Training in one or more additional specialized areas of psychological practice especially relevant to complex CAMHS
• Accredited with BACP or UKCP as a Psychotherapist and/or Undergraduate Basis for registration with BPS

Previous Experience

Essential

• Experience and interest of working within a multidisciplinary Specialist CAMHS team and of proving specialist CAMHS assessment and intervention
• Experience of undertaking/assisting with neurodevelopmental assessments
• Experience of undertaking school observations

Desirable

• Experience of providing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and other therapies to young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and other neurodevelopmental differences (e.g. Learning Disabilities)
• Supervised experience of evidence based treatment in relation to children with mental health concerns

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Knowledge and skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration, in particular as applied to complex problems including cognitive behavioural methods.
• Knowledge of the theoretical evidence base for understanding, formulating and providing interventions for mental health concerns experienced by children and young people
• Ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information including diagnoses and formulations to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance and as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
• Experience of assessing mental health risk and safeguarding concerns

Desirable

• Knowledge of CAMHS legislation
• Knowledge and experience of research methodology
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Experience of planning and delivery group treatments
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
• Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). In particular, knowledge and experience of the Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) process.

Other

Essential

• Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
• Understands and able to implement and promote the Equal Opportunities Policy at a level appropriate to the post
• Understands and can apply confidentiality and information sharing policy and procedures

Desirable

• Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Brent CAMHS Monks Park Health Centre

Monks Park

Wembley

HA9 6JE

Employer's website

https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work (Opens in a new tab)