CAMHS Psychotherapist Trainee B6

Job responsibilities

To assist the Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist in providing specialist mental health service for children, adolescents and families. who experience psychiatric or mental health disorder, including extreme emotional and behavioural difficulties.

The post holder will be located within the Infant Mental Health Pathway which is part of the Early Help Pathway of the CAMHS service in Plymouth.

The Child Psychotherapist/ Service Supervisor is based within the Infant Mental Health who are based within a Childrens Centre. The post holder will therefore be based within the same building but will have experience of working across CAMHS with children and young people from 0-18 and their families.

There are good working relationships with our partners in Health, Education and Social Care.

This post is open only to trainees who require their Doctoral 4 years Clinical Training and have secured a training place accredited by Association of Child Psychotherapists.

Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists in Training is a four-year clinical placement within a multidisciplinary specialist CAMHS team. Applications are invited from candidates who have been accepted onto a clinical training accredited by the Association of Child Psychotherapists beginning September 2023 and have completed a minimum of two years recognised pre-clinical training. They are expected to have begun personal analysis before commencing their clinical placement.

The postholder will be expected to work, under supervision, with children, adolescents, their carers and families who have a high level of co-morbidity and often exhibit their disturbance and distress via severe behaviour and emotional disorders and difficulties. These children and young people often have a history of severe abuse (physical, emotional, social), severe neglect and deprivation, severe trauma, complex bereavement, physical illness and / or are living within the context of break up or dysfunction of the family, domestic violence, parental mental illness and other adverse life events.

Inthe event of their Training School recommending that they cease their training, then the placement within Livewell will end immediately. Their clinical work will be supervised by the Training School and by their Service Supervisor. In the event that a supervisor has serious doubts about the quality of clinical work this will cease until the issue has been resolved.

The principal purpose of the job is to improve the health & wellbeing of children, young people and their families with a range of mental health difficulties. This will be achieved by: The post holder will be a member of the CAMHS Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy pathway and will provide a high standard of service to children, adolescents and their families and to professionals from other organisations. The post-holder under supervision will be responsible for assessing and treating children, young people and their families in relation to a range of highly complex emotional, psychological and behavioural problems. The post holder will work autonomously and jointly within professional guidelines.. The post holder will take an important role in the provision of Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy within Plymouth CAMHS and take a part in the future development of this service. The post holder will ensure that the standard of the service is maintained at all times. The post-holder will develop knowledge and skills in teaching, training and provide consultation to CAMHS colleagues.

CAMHS services are changing vastly and demands for the service are high. The post holder is expected to embrace change and be flexible in their approach in accordance with service developments.

CAMHS work with children/young people (aged 0 to 18) and their families. The service community-based, innovative and needs-led response to children and young people across the full care pathway.

This role is central to CAMHS strategy of collaborating to reduce health inequalities across the city as well as improving access to mental health services. We also have a strong commitment to participation and can offer you a genuine experience of working with children and young people to shape services and reduce stigma.

To provide psychoanalytical psychotherapy under supervision as required following assessment and engage in joint work with other members of the team

To undertake assessment of children, adolescents, young people and their parents for psychotherapy Work with the inter-disciplinary team attending its meetings and maintaining contact with co-workers. To contribute to the multidisciplinary assessment of a broad range of cases based upon psychoanalytic principles and techniques within the generic team.

Trainee Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist will be supported by a CAMHS to Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist Supervisor develop the ability to provide specialist and autonomous, culturally competent mental health assessment, formulation & Intervention and implementation of specific care plans and review for children and young people and their families/carers following a request for involvement. The Trainee Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist will develop skills enabling them to communicate that care plan in writing to the referrer, General Practitioner and where appropriate the network supporting CYP&F.

All Trainee Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist must use an evidence based approach to develop and implement person-centered assessment, liaison, consultation and intervention to a defined caseload of children and young people. These interventions will be based on a clear theoretical framework and will take full account of the child or young persons developmental needs, gender, ethnicity, religion, race, ability and sexual orientation. The Trainee Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist will need to develop their skills and knowledge enabling them to draw on a range of therapeutic interventions, for example different psychotherapeutic models, non- verbal therapeutic approaches and other techniques adapted for use with children and young people. They will also need to develop an extensive knowledge of the full range of children and family services across all agencies

You are encouraged to make to contact with Angharad Howell, Principal Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist for informal discussion about the training post and to check your pre qualifications before applying.

Please see full job description attached.

Experience

Essential

• Experience (both work and life related)
• Experience of working in a multi-agency and/or multi-disciplinary context.
• Extensive experience of work with children and adolescents, including some experience with those with complex difficulties and special needs
• Experience in assessment, inc risk, care planning, intervention and evaluation.
• Maintaining own safety in Community settings by working within relevant policy and having completed or be willing to complete breakaway training or equivalent.
• Experience of effective working with families of different cultural backgrounds.
• Experience of working within multi-agency safeguarding systems e.g. child protection conferences, child in need meetings
• Experience of managing demanding and difficult professionals/young people/colleagues
• Experience of managing your own caseload and of working with a team approach

Desirable

• Experience of service evaluation
• Experience of post-registration working with children and young people who have experienced mental health and psychological well-being difficulties.

Circumstances

Essential

• Ability to travel across Plymouth
• Willingness to travel for analysis and clinical training
• Ability to work flexibly (hours of work and duties) both as an individual and with other colleagues in LSW and with partner agencies.
• Able to undertake the demands of the post with reasonable adjustments where required.

Desirable

• Car owner/driver or suitable alternative transport to enable you to undertake the job. It is unlikely that public transport will meet this requirement.
• Adjustments can be considered in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Qualifications

Essential

• Honours degree or Masters level in pre-clinical training
• Pre-clinical training post graduate or masters level- M7

Desirable

• Post graduate training qualification in methods of working with children with mental health problems, e.g. counselling, systemic practice or post grad diploma in child and adolescent mental health
• Evidence of supervisor and assessor qualifications

Knowledge & skills

Essential

• Knowledge of relevant legislation and documents pertaining
• to children, e.g. Children Act 2004, Child Protection, National Service Framework, Every Child Matters etc. Learning Disability specific legislation and documents, Aiming High for Disabled Children, Valuing People, Mansell report, Mental Capacity Act.
• Knowledge of a range of mental health problems and disorders affecting children and young people.
• Knowledge of theories of child development and their application to practice.
• An understanding of resilience and vulnerability
• Mental Health and Risk assessment, care planning, evaluation and intervention skills
• Well established case management skills and good organisational skills with ability to prioritise
• Well developed communication skills both oral and written
• Evidence of personal resilience and aptitude for dealing with potentially distressing and highly emotional clinical work
• A capacity to struggle with the necessity for containing anxiety and distress without resorting to premature action.
• Commitment to anti-oppressive practice
• Ability to work in partnership and in collaboration with others, both in and out of own agency/professional background

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).

UK Registration

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