Job summary
Perinatal Mental Health Teams (PMHTs) are secondary care mental health teams that specialise in supporting women in the perinatal period (pregnancy through until 12 months postnatal) who have severe and complex mental health difficulties. We assess and treat a range of difficulties including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychosis, personality disorders and eating disorders. Some of these difficulties may be longstanding or emerge in the context of pregnancy or birth. The service is designed to provide timely input to women and their families to mitigate the impact of mental health disorder on the child. We are a multi-disciplinary team including psychiatry, psychology, nursing, occupational therapy, and nursery nursing. The service works closely with maternity/obstetric services as well as other agencies (e.g., health visiting and social services). We have close links with the Mother-Baby Unit (East London MBU). The service has a growing team of perinatal psychologists who are committed to providing evidence-based interventions to women and their families that are accessible and acceptable to the diverse population that we serve in Tower Hamlets.
In order to meet the ambitions set out in the NHS Long-Term Plan for Mental Health , we seek to recruit a Parent Infant Psychotherapist with experience and skills in working with parents and infants aged 0-2.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will ensure the systematic provision of a high quality parent-infant psychotherapy service to mothers and infants in Tower Hamlets Perinatal Mental Health team. They will offer assessment, individual and group parent-infant psychotherapy. They will operate as an integrated member of the team, placing the mother and baby at the centre of service planning and delivery. They will assess suitability for parent-infant psychotherapy including the capacity of the family and network around the child to support psychotherapy and work in partnership; using appropriate psycho-therapeutic methods and techniques. This post-holder will be responsible for the delivery and development of the parent-infant pathway of clinical interventions using a psycho-dynamically informed parent infant psychotherapy model. The post holder will be involved in the delivery of psycho-educational groups and interventions for parents as needed.
About us
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Kindly refer to the job description and person specification that is attached to the vacancy profile.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Kindly refer to the job description and person specification that is attached to the vacancy profile.
Person Specification
Education/ Qualification/ Training
Essential
- Doctoral level training in Child Psychotherapy including the completion of a 2 year infant observation and personal psycho-analysis.
- Registration with the Association of Child Psychotherapists.
- Further specialist training in parent-infant mental health
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working psychologically with parents/infants with serious relationship difficulties and attachment difficulties.
- At least two year's experience of work in the NHS (pre or post qualification).
- Experience of planning and exercising clinical responsibility for patients' psychological care and treatment within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts
Desirable
- Experience of perinatal mental health services, i.e. working with infants under the age of 2
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
- Experience of developing and delivering training programmes
Knowledge and Skilla
Essential
- Knowledge of newborns, early infancy and child development including knowledge of infant mental health.
- Knowledge of policies and procedures relating to child safeguarding
- Knowledge of evidence-based approaches for working with parents/infants.
- Ability to formulate solutions and recommend the best course action/treatment
- evidence of working with a multi-disciplinary team awareness of basic research procedures and capacity to conduct audit
- ability to provide therapeutic setting for parents & infants together
- ability to work autonomously, autonomously and ability to work effectively across organizational boundaries
- ability to communicate clearly & effectively about complex ideas both verbally & in writing
- ability to monitor and assess risk and act accordingly and to keep accurate notes and records
- ability to plan & organize own workload good keyboard & IT skills
Desirable
- Experience in group work
- Ability to support carers and partners of women attending the service.
Other
Essential
- Ability to contain and work with organizational stress and able to contain the stress of others
- Ability to form and maintain good working relationship in multi-disciplinary settings
- A positive attitude to issues of diversity and an ability to relate well to range of personal and cultural backgrounds
- An opens to learning new approaches and working in a variety of settings
- An interest in contributing to the development of the service.
Person Specification
Education/ Qualification/ Training
Essential
- Doctoral level training in Child Psychotherapy including the completion of a 2 year infant observation and personal psycho-analysis.
- Registration with the Association of Child Psychotherapists.
- Further specialist training in parent-infant mental health
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working psychologically with parents/infants with serious relationship difficulties and attachment difficulties.
- At least two year's experience of work in the NHS (pre or post qualification).
- Experience of planning and exercising clinical responsibility for patients' psychological care and treatment within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts
Desirable
- Experience of perinatal mental health services, i.e. working with infants under the age of 2
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
- Experience of developing and delivering training programmes
Knowledge and Skilla
Essential
- Knowledge of newborns, early infancy and child development including knowledge of infant mental health.
- Knowledge of policies and procedures relating to child safeguarding
- Knowledge of evidence-based approaches for working with parents/infants.
- Ability to formulate solutions and recommend the best course action/treatment
- evidence of working with a multi-disciplinary team awareness of basic research procedures and capacity to conduct audit
- ability to provide therapeutic setting for parents & infants together
- ability to work autonomously, autonomously and ability to work effectively across organizational boundaries
- ability to communicate clearly & effectively about complex ideas both verbally & in writing
- ability to monitor and assess risk and act accordingly and to keep accurate notes and records
- ability to plan & organize own workload good keyboard & IT skills
Desirable
- Experience in group work
- Ability to support carers and partners of women attending the service.
Other
Essential
- Ability to contain and work with organizational stress and able to contain the stress of others
- Ability to form and maintain good working relationship in multi-disciplinary settings
- A positive attitude to issues of diversity and an ability to relate well to range of personal and cultural backgrounds
- An opens to learning new approaches and working in a variety of settings
- An interest in contributing to the development of the service.
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
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).
Employer details
Employer name
East London NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Tower Hamlets Perinatal Team
Ground Floor Burdett House, Mile End Hospital 275 Bancroft Road
London
E1 4DG
Employer's website
https://www.elft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)
