Positive Behaviour Analyst

Do you want to influence the development of an evolving service using the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis and Positive Behaviour Support?

Do you want to be part of a supportive, reflective and developing multi-disciplinary service in Hertfordshire; a team whose work and ethos was celebrated at the 2019 HSJ Awards where we were finalists for the Specialist Service Award?

At PALMS, we are continuing to expand and are looking to recruit a Band 6 Positive Behaviour Analyst

Positive behaviour, Autism, Learning disability, Mental health Service (PALMS) works across Hertfordshire providing a specialist multi-disciplinary approach. PALMS offers individually tailored support for children and young people (CYP), aged 0-19 who have a global learning disability and/or Autistic Spectrum Disorder, helping families to manage challenging behaviour and/or to support mental health needs. PALMS aims to keep children and young people with their families within Hertfordshire thereby improving outcomes for all family members. PALMS provides early intervention where necessary and intensive support to families reaching crisis with a step up and step down approach throughout their care journey. Interventions include workshops, groups, individual therapy, and therapeutic work with parents/carers/siblings.

The multi-disciplinary team (MDT) includes Assistant PALMS Practitioners, Children’s Learning Disability Nurses, Clinical and Assistant Psychologists, Consultant Psychiatrists, Outreach workers, Positive Behaviour Analysts, Speech and Language Therapists, Systemic Family Therapists, all supported by a team of Administrators as well as Service, Clinical and Development Leads.

The post holder will work closely with the MDT and other agencies to provide assessment and evidence based interventions related to difficulties within the PALMS remit in a variety of community settings including school, home and respite settings using a range of different modalities

The ideal candidate will be:

• Able to conduct Functional Behaviour Assessments (FBA).
• Able to develop individual Behaviour Support Plans (BSP), by using the evidence collected from the FBA for all CYP on their case load. This can be done independently and alongside other professional roles within and outside the team according to the CYP and families’ needs.
• Able to motivate and empower parents to implement BSPs at home and show awareness of planning for fading support as parents feel confident in the implementation of plan.
• Able to use evidence from the implementation of BSP to inform changes and updates to intervention with CYP.
• Able to offer consultation to other professionals within PALMS using understanding, skills, and knowledge of Applied Behaviour Analysis and Positive Behaviour Support.
• Able to demonstrate good presentation skills in order to facilitate the Positive Behaviour Group and Autism Workshops.
• Able to maintain a high degree of professionalism when working in settings where there is a highly emotive atmosphere.
• Flexible in their approach and have resilience under pressure
• Able to work both in a team environment and autonomously

We can offer you:

• BCBA or BCaBA supervision
• Regular appraisal, personal development planning and opportunities for continuing professional development. This includes specific support with regards to fulfilling the PALMS’ role such as co-facilitating workshops.
• The opportunity to request to attend events that are within the PALMS remit. These conferences are at times in line with gaining CEUs for BCBA re-accreditation.
• The Positive Behaviour Analysts within the team will share attendance at the London Applied Behaviour Analyst Forum (ABAF) throughout the year.
• A planned approach to being able to undertake core PALMS Clinical tasks from shadowing through to autonomously undertaking.
• Opportunities to work closely with a multi-disciplinary team and learn from other evidence based frameworks and approaches.
• Involvement in service development including undertaking clinical audits, project work and service forums.
• Opportunities to provide clinical supervision and line management to other members of the PALMS team as appropriate.
• 27 days annual leave, 29 if you have worked for the NHS for 5 years and 33 if you have worked for the NHS for 10 years, in addition to 8 days bank holidays.
• Entitlement to the NHS pension scheme.

Our team ethos draws on Positive Behaviour Support and putting the family as expert in order to ensure they remain central to our understanding about the behaviour. We have developed a ‘messages of hope’ model to support the sharing of expertise and experience between families. In line with our multi-disciplinary approach, we support families in holistic ways and as such, clinicians have opportunities to draw on a range of models including systemic, narrative, behavioural and biological models. Our team involves a lot of joint work with colleagues within PALMS and those within our partner services.

Feedback is central to developing this vibrant and evolving service. Examples from families who have consulted to PALMS include: “It has given us our confidence back that we needed to get our family back on track and feel happier again”. “With the help of the PALMS team we have made a lot of great progress and can see light at the end of the tunnel. I understand my child better and feel a stronger connection to him. It’s a long road but definitely one worth travelling. A massive thanks to PALMS for being there for us at a very difficult time for our family

The post is permanent and will be based in Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage covering the East and North of the county.

A full valid driving license and access to a car to use regularly for business purposes is ess