Job summary
Make a Real Difference to the Lives of Children in Care
- Are you a trauma-informed practitioner, passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people in care?
- Are you looking for a leadership opportunity in a growing, DDP-informed therapeutic service?
- Do you thrive in providing training, consultation and reflective practice to staff groups within Childrens Services?
- Do you have experience of providing DDP-informed therapeutic interventions with carers and children in care?
If so, we want to hear from you.
Main duties of the job
Were seeking aconfident and compassionate clinicianwho:
- Is HCPC-registered as a Practitioner Psychologist
- Has a proven track record in delivering bespoke interventions for Children in Care with a systemic and integrative focus.
- Has a strong foundation in trauma-informed and attachment-based models, including DDP and PACE
- Demonstrates a thorough understanding of the needs of children who present with issues arising from developmental trauma and disrupted early attachments, and the support needs of those who care for them in foster, special guardianship, and residential homes
- Is experienced and interested in delivering consultation, training, and reflective supervision to staff groups
- Has excellent leadership and supervisory skills, including skills in job planning and managing a range of competing priorities
- Is confident managing risk and complexity in multi-agency environments
- Experience working with neurodiverse young people and an understanding of the intersection between developmental trauma and neurodevelopmental needs would be an advantage
About us
The Psychological Hub is clinically led by two consultant clinical psychologists: one leading the Community Psychological Service and the other leading the ATTACH service (the therapeutic service for Children We Care For). For context, the Community Service provides a range of consultation and training to the wider local authority safeguarding and edge of care teams, and provides specialist psychological assessment and therapeutic interventions to children and their families where there are concerns about the child engaging in harmful sexual behaviour.
The ATTACH service, previously known as the CYPL Permanency Service, delivers psychological support into our Children We Care For, Care Leavers, Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking young people and Special Guardianship teams and includes support to our Residential and Fostering services.
The ATTACH team delivers DDP-informed support to children in care and the professionals and carers around them, helping them understand and respond to the impact of developmental trauma, disrupted attachment, and hidden emotional needs. Within West Sussex Fostering, there is a drive and vision to deliver therapeutic parenting within foster care and kinship, underpinned by DDP principles and an attitude of PACE. Please see the West Sussex Fostering Vision Statement document for further details of the PACE culture ambition.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Following the transfer of our specialist psychological services into West Sussex County Council, we are at an exciting juncture, integrating a range of specialist social care and psychology-led services under one roof in our Psychological Hub. Our vision is to deliver creative and impactful services whilst building upon established, collaborative relationships between the social care workforce and psychological services.
We are looking to recruit a dedicated and experiencedPrincipal Clinical Psychologist Clinical Leadfor our growingATTACH team.This is a multidisciplinary team including child psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, child and family workers and other mental health practitioners - all united by a shared mission to provide trauma-informed, relational care to vulnerable children, young people and their families.
As Clinical Lead you will:
- Provide clinical oversight and day-to-day leadership of the ATTACH team
- Deliver specialist psychological consultation, reflective practice groups, and training to social care teams
- Offer direct psychotherapeutic interventions to some children and their carers in fostering, kinship and residential settings
- Clinically supervise psychology colleagues and mentor more junior staff, including assistants and trainee placements
- Collate and contribute to data reporting for the wider Psychological Hub, influencing developments in strategic service innovations
Job description
Job responsibilities
Following the transfer of our specialist psychological services into West Sussex County Council, we are at an exciting juncture, integrating a range of specialist social care and psychology-led services under one roof in our Psychological Hub. Our vision is to deliver creative and impactful services whilst building upon established, collaborative relationships between the social care workforce and psychological services.
We are looking to recruit a dedicated and experiencedPrincipal Clinical Psychologist Clinical Leadfor our growingATTACH team.This is a multidisciplinary team including child psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, child and family workers and other mental health practitioners - all united by a shared mission to provide trauma-informed, relational care to vulnerable children, young people and their families.
As Clinical Lead you will:
- Provide clinical oversight and day-to-day leadership of the ATTACH team
- Deliver specialist psychological consultation, reflective practice groups, and training to social care teams
- Offer direct psychotherapeutic interventions to some children and their carers in fostering, kinship and residential settings
- Clinically supervise psychology colleagues and mentor more junior staff, including assistants and trainee placements
- Collate and contribute to data reporting for the wider Psychological Hub, influencing developments in strategic service innovations
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Qualifications and/or experience:
- Professional Doctorate level training in Clinical Psychology, including highly
- developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological
- practice, lifespan developmental psychology, clinical psychometrics, and
- neuropsychology.
- Job Description & Person Specification
-
- Post-qualification training in one or more additional specialised areas of
- psychological practice.
- Significant experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist with
- children, young people, and their families.
- Clinical expertise in delivering psychological assessment and therapy with
- children and young people presenting with a range of complex psychological
- problems and who may be mistrustful of services, alongside support to their
- families and other care providers.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group.
- Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist taking full clinical
- responsibility for your own practice, including significant post qualification
- experience working with Children and families with complex needs using
- complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation,
- and delivering psychological therapy to children and young people.
- Evidence of continuing professional development.
- Experience of identifying and addressing barriers to inclusion and of
- challenging oppressive or disrespectful practices.
Experience
Essential
- Key Skills:
- 1. Service development skills, such as leading on delivery of one aspect of a
- service or of project development within a service, based on evidence-based
- and evidence-informed practice.
- 2. Skills in supporting staff and teams through clinical supervision and job
- planning.
- 3. Ability to communicate effectively, presenting information that is accessible,
- engaging, and accurate.
- 4. Skills in providing consultation to other professional groups, and in
- supervising others to deliver effective consultations and a range of
- psychologically informed interventions.
- 5. Skills in designing and delivering accessible and engaging psychological
- training to different audiences, to inform and improve the practice across
- services.
- 6. Ability to provide appropriate support to carers and staff exposed to highly
- distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
- 7. Governance and audit skills and the interest and ability to present a wide
- range of data and information in accessible formats.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Qualifications and/or experience:
- Professional Doctorate level training in Clinical Psychology, including highly
- developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological
- practice, lifespan developmental psychology, clinical psychometrics, and
- neuropsychology.
- Job Description & Person Specification
-
- Post-qualification training in one or more additional specialised areas of
- psychological practice.
- Significant experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist with
- children, young people, and their families.
- Clinical expertise in delivering psychological assessment and therapy with
- children and young people presenting with a range of complex psychological
- problems and who may be mistrustful of services, alongside support to their
- families and other care providers.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group.
- Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist taking full clinical
- responsibility for your own practice, including significant post qualification
- experience working with Children and families with complex needs using
- complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation,
- and delivering psychological therapy to children and young people.
- Evidence of continuing professional development.
- Experience of identifying and addressing barriers to inclusion and of
- challenging oppressive or disrespectful practices.
Experience
Essential
- Key Skills:
- 1. Service development skills, such as leading on delivery of one aspect of a
- service or of project development within a service, based on evidence-based
- and evidence-informed practice.
- 2. Skills in supporting staff and teams through clinical supervision and job
- planning.
- 3. Ability to communicate effectively, presenting information that is accessible,
- engaging, and accurate.
- 4. Skills in providing consultation to other professional groups, and in
- supervising others to deliver effective consultations and a range of
- psychologically informed interventions.
- 5. Skills in designing and delivering accessible and engaging psychological
- training to different audiences, to inform and improve the practice across
- services.
- 6. Ability to provide appropriate support to carers and staff exposed to highly
- distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
- 7. Governance and audit skills and the interest and ability to present a wide
- range of data and information in accessible formats.
Additional information
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
