Devon Partnership NHS Trust

Senior Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist - CFHD

The closing date is 12 April 2026

Job summary

Preceptee opportunity

We are delighted to be recruiting a 0.8wteSenior Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist to join our developing Parent and Infant Mental Health offer within Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD).

This role is focused on working with infants aged 0 to 2 years and their caregivers, supporting early relationships, emotional regulation, and development. We welcome applications from those seeking part time hours and are open to flexible working arrangements.

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the growth of a specialist Parent and Infant Mental Health service at a key stage of development, within a compassionate, collaborative, and forward thinking organisation. The post can be based in any of our localities Exeter, Barnstaple or Totnes.

The Parent and Infant Mental Health Team sits within the Mood, Emotions and Relationships (MERs) Pathway, while remaining a distinct specialist service focused on early relational health.

You will join a growing network of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists (CAPTs) across CFHD, with clinical leadership from a Principal CAPT and a strong culture of reflective practice, shared learning, supervision, and CPD.

A preceptorship opportunity for early career CAPTs to develop into a Band 8a role
A friendly, well established CAPT network, with strong links to national professional bodies and local training placements
The opportunity to shape and influence a developing Parent and Infant Mental Health model of care

Main duties of the job

Provide specialist psychotherapy to infants (0-2 years) and their caregivers, including complex assessments and interventions that promote secure early relationships
Offer formulation, consultation, and reflective spaces to colleagues across the multidisciplinary team, supporting psychologically informed care planning
Hold a caseload tailored to the unique needs of infants and families, working flexibly across services and systems
Contribute to service development, audit, and quality improvement initiatives within early years mental health
Work collaboratively with partner agencies and confidently assess and respond to clinical and safeguarding risks
Champion inclusive practice, coproduction, and the voice of families, ensuring care is accessible, meaningful, and responsive
Engage in regular supervision, CPD, and reflective practice, contributing to your own development and that of the wider CAPT profession within CFHD
Provide clinical supervision to trainee psychotherapists, Band 7 colleagues, and, where appropriate, colleagues from other disciplines
Use your clinical leadership, audit, and research skills to take a lead in areas of service development and quality improvement

About us

Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD) comprises an Alliance of NHS organisations working together to improve health outcomes for children and young people in Devon.

CFHD provides integrated care and treatment for children and young people across physical and mental health which are provided by Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust and Devon Partnership Trust. We are working closely with other organisations and providers to ensure we deliver locality and county-wide based integrated access to all of our services, based on the i-Thrive Framework.

CFHD works closely with our local universities of Plymouth, Exeter & the Peninsula Medical School where we support students in clinical training placements and in addition support our own staff to undertake post graduate training.

Our integrated care and treatment has been developed and refined in partnership with children, young people and their families/carers.

Our children and young people say

We would like the people who work for Children and Family Health Devon to be understanding, patient and respectful. They should be trustworthy and make us feel safe and comfortable. It is important that they use their skills and experience to listen carefully in a non-patronising and non-judgemental way. When staff are positive and friendly, they help to create an environment that is informal and without pressure.

Date posted

30 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£47,810 to £64,750 a year Band 7 moving to Band 8a, or Band 8a

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time, Flexible working

Reference number

C9369-26-0229

Job locations

Integrated Childrens Services

Fishleigh Road

Roundswell Business Park

Barnstaple

Devon

EX31 3UD

Lescaze Offices

Shinner's Bridge

Dartington

Totnes

TQ9 6JE

Evergreen

Victoria Park Road

Exeter

EX2 4NU

Job description

Job responsibilities

This is a fantastic opportunity for a Senior or Newly qualified CAPT to play a meaningful role in shaping an evolving Parent and Infant Mental Health service, supporting some of our youngest children and their families at a crucial stage of life.

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

Experience of working collaboratively with service users and their families/carers, including using goal-based care and routine outcome measures in practice.
Experience of working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team and across agencies
Experience of working with a wide variety of child mental health problems, across the whole age range, reflecting all levels of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and verbal abuse
Experience of undertaking specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions for children and young people with highly complex mental health problems; including risk assessments
Experience in providing effective clinical supervision, teaching, training and assessing in clinical practice.

Qualifications

Essential

Doctorate Level ACP accredited training in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
Full member of Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP).
Post qualification specialist therapy/assessment training relevant to children and young people
Post qualification training or proven equivalent experience in supervision.

Other

Essential

An Enhanced DBS Check will be required for this role.
Ability to travel across Devon.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

Experience of working collaboratively with service users and their families/carers, including using goal-based care and routine outcome measures in practice.
Experience of working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team and across agencies
Experience of working with a wide variety of child mental health problems, across the whole age range, reflecting all levels of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and verbal abuse
Experience of undertaking specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions for children and young people with highly complex mental health problems; including risk assessments
Experience in providing effective clinical supervision, teaching, training and assessing in clinical practice.

Qualifications

Essential

Doctorate Level ACP accredited training in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
Full member of Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP).
Post qualification specialist therapy/assessment training relevant to children and young people
Post qualification training or proven equivalent experience in supervision.

Other

Essential

An Enhanced DBS Check will be required for this role.
Ability to travel across Devon.

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).