Psychotherapist - Therapies and Wellbeing Lead

Job responsibilities

The Therapies and Wellbeing Lead will oversee the development and delivery of therapeutic services for adults, young people, and children at Haven House. This includes providing psychotherapeutic assessments, therapeutic interventions, and emotional support at all levels of care. The role involves working within a multidisciplinary team to provide holistic, long-term care to children and families, including making referrals to appropriate services when necessary. The Therapies and Wellbeing Team will ensure that families receive comprehensive care, while closely collaborating with the Nursing Team for integrated support.

This leadership role offers a unique opportunity for an experienced psychotherapist to lead a team providing essential therapeutic care to children, young people, and families facing complex emotional and psychological challenges. The position combines direct clinical work with strategic management, offering professional growth and the chance to make a meaningful impact on holistic care within a hospice setting.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

Leadership, Development and Supervision:

Provide leadership and direction for the Therapies and Wellbeing Team, fostering a supportive and cohesive team environment that aligns with Haven Houses goals.

Work closely with the Nursing Team to ensure seamless integration of psychotherapeutic services into the broader care plans of children and families.

Support the professional development of team members through education, supervision, and CPD opportunities, working with the Education Team and Governance and Quality Team to ensure ongoing learning aligns with Haven Houses strategic goals.

Lead the recruitment process for the Therapies and Wellbeing Team, from job description development to interviews, in partnership with the Human Resources department.

Lead the development of new therapeutic services and build strong relationships with external partners, including securing and managing commissioned funding opportunities to enhance service delivery and sustainability

Actively support multi-disciplinary referral panel meetings, evaluating admissions and annual reviews for appropriateness and ensuring alignment with referral policy standards.

Manage the teams budget, working closely with the Director of Clinical Services and Director of Finance on annual budget planning and financial stewardship.

Provide line management to staff, conducting annual appraisals and guiding team members through their professional growth.

Service Delivery:

Oversee the effective delivery of psychotherapeutic services and ensure adherence to high standards of care across the service.

Develop and deliver therapeutic programs to identify and support mental health needs within the context of childrens palliative care.

Maintain and build relationships with professionals, children, young people, and their families to ensure effective service provision and coordination of care.

Conduct in-depth psychotherapeutic assessments and provide individual and family-focused therapeutic interventions, ensuring personalized care plans are implemented in partnership with multi-disciplinary teams.

Analyse complex clinical information to create effective therapeutic treatment plans based on evidence-based psychotherapeutic approaches.

Make clinical decisions to support positive therapeutic outcomes for patients, while minimizing potential risks to individuals and families.

Develop psychotherapeutic interventions as part of the BCYP and familys overall care plan, ensuring adherence to policy and procedure to minimise risks.

Record Keeping, Information Collection, and Communication:

Manage sensitive discussions with patients, families, and colleagues regarding mental health conditions and palliative care, often in emotionally challenging circumstances.

Ensure the accurate maintenance of clinical records and the timely communication of care plans within the scope of psychotherapy.

Maintain robust systems for record keeping, ensuring that data is secure, accurate, and compliant with legal and regulatory standards.

Ensure smooth and accurate information transfer between teams and external services as required by hospice policies.

Promote effective communication within the team, ensuring staff engagement and collaboration.

Professional and Hospice Policies:

Ensure full compliance with national, professional, and hospice-specific policies, especially those relating to psychotherapeutic services.

Contribute to the development and refinement of policies and procedures within the psychotherapy service, ensuring continuous service improvement.

Management Responsibilities:

Oversee the effective delivery and development of services within the Therapies and Wellbeing Team.

Ensure that the psychotherapy services provided meet clinical and quality standards, actively seeking feedback from children, families, and staff to drive improvements.

General:

Promote and demonstrate Haven Houses values of Compassionate, Professional, Respectful, and Safe in all aspects of your role.

Work collaboratively with colleagues across the hospice as part of the Haven House One Team approach to delivering care.

Act as a positive representative of Haven House, both within and outside the organization.

Foster a culture of continuous improvement, contributing to the hospices goal of achieving an Outstanding rating.

Be flexible in taking on new duties and responsibilities as needed to support Haven Houses vision, mission, and values.

Qualifications

Essential

• Registration with a recognised approved body, i.e. UK Council for Psychotherapy

Desirable

• Additional post-qualification training equivalent to a minimum of 50 hours, supervision within a specific modality directly related to clinical practice including case presentations, group supervision, attendance of teaching programmes, courses etc.
• A supervisory qualification in the relevant professional discipline or substantial supervision experience.
• Professional qualification in CBT i.e. diploma or equivalent Accreditation with BABCP or ability to work towards the requirements

Experience

Essential

• Excellent knowledge and understanding of the health and social care systems and operating frameworks, clinical observations and the Mental Health Act and other legal frameworks
• Experience of working effectively in a multi-disciplinary team and multi-agency environment
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to analyse situations and be able to make the right decisions
• Demonstrates a knowledge of the issues surrounding child development and the impact it can have on meeting the five Every Child Matters outcomes The Childrens Act 1989 and 2004 and The Mental Health Act 1983 and 2007
• Able to empathise, be supportive and sensitive to the needs of others as well as being able to cope with distressing circumstances
• Experience of working in a paediatric psychology and/or community child learning disability setting
• Experience of working with children and with children who have learning disabilities.
• Experience of working in childrens palliative care and/or bereavement
• Experience of facilitating consultation / reflective practice groups for health care workers
• Highly developed skills and expertise in containing and working with organisational and interpersonal stress
• Highly developed supervision skills
• Highly 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
• Experience of managing complex caseloads and applying a range of interventions
• Ability to work to timescales and comfortably cope in pressurised situations, applying practical problem solving skills in everyday and complex situations
• Competent IT skills and the ability to navigate around various systems and software packages (such as outlook, databases e.g. MS office and the internet). Good keyboard skills.
• Able to work flexibly change to flexible hours pattern as required and the ability to travel independently between locations to fulfil the requirements of the position.
• Ability to work autonomously and effectively in a team, reprioritising work and that of others work to reflect changing needs

Desirable

• Experience of developing commissioner funding relationships
• Ability to manage clinical risk and understanding of child safeguarding procedures.
• Demonstrates knowledge and experience of NHS referral pathways

Additional Requirements

Essential

• Manage difficult situations with child or young person and their families that have complex mental health conditions and challenging behaviours.
• Ability to identify and employ strategies of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and behaviour which professionals can find challenging.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships across teams and agencies.
• Ability to work across a number of teams and integrate into the reporting structure of those teams.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure.
• Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality.
• Ability to be self-reflective and use supervision effectively.
• The ability and skills to act as an advocate for a service, to engage and foster good professional relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of this service with the wider health care system.
• Ability to work effectively in a team, demonstrates accountability of own work/decisions and working on own initiative.
• Car owner/driver and possess full UK drivers licence or evidence of ability to travel to designated base and other sites.

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).