Psychologist, Family Therapist/Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

Children & Young People’s Mental Health Services (CYPMHS)

Come and work for NELFT’s Children & Young People’s Mental Health Service (CYPMHS), and be part of one of the UK’s most innovative healthcare Trusts

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a clinical psychologist, family therapist or Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist to join our dynamic multi-disciplinary team based in Maidstone CYPMHS. Driven by the principles underpinning the national CYP-IAPT programme (Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) the service provides the latest in evidence based NICE compliant psychological interventions to children, young people and their families experiencing emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties.

You will be a highly motivated and innovative individual with extensive clinical experience working with children and young people with emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties.

This is a Full Time position.

Main duties of the job

You will:

- Routinely measure clinical outcomes and deliver evidence-based clinical interventions in line with the CY-IAPT programme within CYPMHS

- Promote the mental and emotional health of children, young people and families in the community through clinical interventions in the care pathway

- Undertake initial school based and community based assessments and deliver a range of early interventions to children and young people with a range of emotional and psychological difficulties where appropriate

- Assess and develop plans of care to meet the complex needs of patients with a variety of conditions.

- Provide clinical leadership and specialist treatment and assessment within your professional sphere of expertise in the service and will be responsible for the extensive clinical supervision of junior clinicians throughout the CYPMHS team.

Working for our organisation

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focusing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

COVID-19 Vaccination

We continue to encourage all staff to ensure that they have been double vaccinated and received their booster. We recognise that taking the vaccine provides the best defence against COVID 19 for our patients, our staff and their families.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

NELFT is an experienced provider of mental health services for children and young people, already providing these services in Essex, Medway and four London boroughs. It is also one of England’s largest NHS Foundation Trusts. 

Our priority is providing the highest standard of care to all of our service users.

About NELFT’s Children & Young People’s Mental Health Services (CYPMHS)

NELFT’s CYPMHS is for anybody aged between 0-18, living in Kent and is free at the point of entry. The service is also for young people with special educational needs (SEN) up to the age of 25. The CAMHS Tier II and Tier III services no longer exist, replaced with an integrated CYPMHS.

Any young person experiencing emotional wellbeing or mental health problems, (or any parent, guardian, professional or teacher of a child who is experiencing emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties), may access our service.

Structure of Children & Young People’s Mental Health Services (CYPMHS)

There is one Children’s Single Point of Access (SPA), a Neurodevelopmental & Learning Disabilities Service, eight Locality Teams, a dedicated crisis team and inpatient service based in Staplehurst These are located across Medway, Dartford, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, South Kent (Folkestone & Dover), Thanet, Swale, and Ashford.

What difficulties can be referred to the service?

Mood and anxiety disorders

Behavioural and conduct disorders

Emerging personality and attachment disorders

Psychotic disorders

Deliberate self-harm and suicidal ideation

Substance misuse with co-existing mental health needs (dual diagnosis)

Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) - with co-occurring mental health needs

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - with co-occurring mental health needs

Neurodevelopmental disorders

Prolonged bereavement problems

All referrals to the service are assessed using a care pathways approach, developed in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance criteria (NICE) and based on a best practice model of treatment.

Locality Team in Children & Young People’s Mental Health Services (CYPMHS)

The aim of our CYPMHS is to respond earlier to children and young people’s needs in order to help prevent, reduce or delay the need for more specialist interventions. This transformation of children and young people’s mental health services has a clinical focus, integrated with local authorities to deliver a long term collaborative approach to planning and delivering services.

CYPMHS focuses on emotional wellbeing as well as mental health and includes access to self-help tools and services based in schools and the community. The CAMHS Tier II and Tier III service no longer exist, replaced with an integrated CYPMHS. Training and support is available to other professionals and agencies. We are creating a modern service that fits with children’s lives in a way that best suits them. Key new features include a Children’s Single Point of Access (SPA) into the service, clear early signposting, and use of digital channels such as Big White Wall to access support and services.

Each locality team have care pathways. Each care pathway is clinically led, with care pathway leads operationally managing all CYPMHS practitioners working in that care pathway. With the support of the team manager, care pathway leads are responsible for assessment, treatment and systematic outcome measurement in that care pathway. CYPMHS multi-disciplinary pathway workers and mental health workers may work across more than one care pathway in a locality team.

Care pathways include;

Mood and anxiety

Complex

Behavioural and conduct

Neurodevelopmental & Learning Disability

Care pathway leads and practitioners ensure that a high quality, timely, accessible and evidence-based service is available to all children and young people who need it. This means establishing and maintaining excellent working relationships with wider social, health and voluntary services.

Working in our CYPMHS locality teams is for you if you are excited by a modern approach. We would very much like to hear from you.

If you are an overseas qualified nurse and wanting to start your journey to becoming a UK based registered nurse with the NMC, you can check whether you are eligible to be supported through our Capital Nurse consortium. Please visit; . Whilst NELFT is happy to welcome overseas nurses we are unable to consider your application directly. You should submit your interest and apply through the Capital Nurse London group.

Person specification

Qualifications & Knowledge

Essential criteria

Successful completion of a post-graduate training in psychological practice ( psychologist, family therapist, child and adolescent psychotherapist

Job role

Essential criteria

Full time post only

Able to work across both localities - Folkestone and Dover.

Role requires being on site, home working at Manager's discretion and needs of the locality

To be able to lead MDT, senior meeting etc.

Qualification and experience

Essential criteria

To be eligible for registration as a full member of the appropriate professional body ( HCPC, BABCP, UKCP, AFT, ACP)

Qualifications and experince

Essential criteria

Extensive experience of working with difficult, disturbed or challenging children/young people requiring skilled and complex interventions

Qualifications and Experience

Essential criteria

Extensive experience of working therapeutically with parents/carers/families of children and young people with complex mental health problems

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.

A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.

Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.

Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.