Clinical Lead Specialist Children in Care Mental Health

Job responsibilities

The Children in Care specialist clinical lead post has been established to ensure that children who are in care receive quicker access to mental health support, by working in partnership and sharing knowledge, we aim to effectively meet the needs of children and young people in care by providing evidenced based interventions that meet their need. This role will be the point of contact for the three local Authorities areas of Bracknell, Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead and Slough. The post holder will offer a psychological and mental health perspective on the needs of children in care to ensure that the needs are understood within the context of their lived experience, providing an effective and integrated interventions that safeguards children and promotes their development and welfare.

The clinical lead specialist must be able to demonstrate both experience of working with and a genuine interest in the health and well-being of Children in Care (CiC) and be well organised and have excellent communication and leadership skills and be familiar with the demands and working environments of both a Social Care and Health settings.

The post holder will also oversee the three local authorities health staff working as part of multidisciplinary and multiagency Youth Health and Justice Services.

The post holder will exert necessary influence at operational levels and will support strategic development of services as required, working collaboratively with the other CYPF service leads, the professional leads, as well as colleagues within the Local Authorities to deliver services in line with the regulatory frameworks of CQC and Ofsted.

The post holder will contribute to clinical governance and development of the local Thrive model. They will also play a key role in maintaining a strong working relationship with specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

Education/Qualifications/Training

Essential

• Doctoral degree in :- o Systemic Family Psychotherapyor oPsychotherapy or o Psychology (or equivalent for those who trained before 1996) as accredited by the BPS
• Masters level qualification or recognised equivalent qualification : oQualified Systemic Family Therapist Masters level UKCP registered/oQualified Psychotherapist registered with professional body i.e. ACP approved Child Psychotherapist /oRegistered Mental Health Nurse (NMC)./oOccupational Therapy degree level qualification and registered with HCPC. / oRegistered Social Worker with relevant social work qualification / oOther Health professional with relevant post graduate qualification.
• Registration with HCPC where required

Continuous Professional Development

Essential

• Evidence of continuous CPD in areas related to Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Desirable

• Engagement with relevant CYP IAPT training e.g. transformational leadership, CBT supervision

Previous Experience

Essential

• Substantial supervision experience.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of children and adolescents and their families across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in-patient settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity 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 working in different cultural contexts.
• Minimum 4 years' experience working with Children, young people, families and groups in Mental Health setting.
• Ability to prioritise case referrals, assessment and discharge effectively on an individual basis or within multidisciplinary team.
• Experience of Risk Assessment and Management.
• Experience of hard to reach diverse community groups and individuals with emerging complex needs, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities and safeguarding.
• Experience of assessment of systemic family processes and an understanding of organisational systems which influence families' experience of services.
• Experience of working with children and young people using evidence based therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), systemic family therapy and other psychological therapies.
• Experience of running therapeutic groups
• ASD Pathway - Relevant training and/or experience in multi-disciplinary assessments of autism spectrum disorders in children and adolescents including training and/or a working knowledge of ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule), ADI-R or 3Di'

Desirable

• Experience of team and service leadership and improvement.
• Ability to undertake investigations into complaints, grievances and disciplinary matters as set out in Trust policies and procedures
• Experience of teaching and training.
• Experience of service improvement

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Essential

• Knowledge and skills to assess acute mental health crisis, and deliberate self harm at tier 3 levels.
• Demonstrates up to date knowledge of legislation and National strategies and requirements for CAMHS.
• Advanced knowledge and skills in using the complete range of approaches practice as required meeting the needs of different children and young people and settings.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or 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.
• Evidence of working as a qualified senior clinician within CAMHS, Looked after services or Looked after services within a Local Authority setting
• Ability to prioritise case referrals, assess and discharge effectively on an autonomous basis or within the multidisciplinary team.
• Ability to take clinical responsibility for patient care and treatment.
• Information technology and word processing skills.
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.

Desirable

• Ability to apply evidence based therapeutic interventions.
• Knowledge of the influences of Parental Mental Health on young people, Domestic Violence, Survivors of Torture

Additional Requirements

Essential

• 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.
• Ability and willingness to work in a flexible way including working outside of normal hours to facilitate out of hours clinics as required by Commissioners.
• Able to maintain professional boundaries and conduct.
• Supportive approach towards colleagues and service users.
• Enthusiastic, self-motivated team player.
• Able to negotiate, be confident and assertive.
• Emotional stamina and ability to respond constructively in highly stressful situations where individuals hold very different perspectives and there is a high level of distress, ambiguity and conflict.
• Competent IT skills and the ability to navigate around various systems and software packages (such as outlook, databases, e.g. RiO MS office and internet
• Car owner/driver and possess full UK driver's licence or evidence of ability to travel to designated base and other sites.

Desirable

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings

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).