Principal Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist

Principal Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist

Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

A rare and exciting opportunity has arisen for a Principal Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist to join our East Cheshire Children and Young People's Mental Health Service (CYPMHS 0-18).

The post-holder will work closely with the Trust-wide Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, local Clinical Co-ordinator, Operational Team Manager and Specialist CYPMHS Clinicians in East Cheshire CYPMHS 0-18 to lead on the delivery of a high-quality child and adolescent psychotherapy and psychoanalytically informed service to our local children, young people and families.

With the support of the Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, it is anticipated that the post-holder will offer placements for Trainee Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists from the Northern School of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy (NSCAP), and clinical supervision to qualified Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists.

Our main clinic base is in Macclesfield, only minutes from the Peak District National Park. The post-holder would also be expected to offer some clinical input to our team in Crewe where there would be an opportunity for some joint working with the Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist while settling into the post.

Please note that the post is advertised at 0.7 WTE and you must be a full member of the Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP) in order to be considered for shortlisting.

Main duties of the job

The Principal Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist will offer highly specialist psychoanalytic assessment and treatment of children and young people presenting with severe and complex mental health difficulties.

It is anticipated that the post-holder will offer placements for Trainee Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists in the near future to promote a culture of learning in the team, and further embed the provision of a psychoanalytic offer for the children and young people who access our service. It is also anticipated that the role will involve offering clinical supervision to qualified Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists in time.

In collaboration with other senior members of the team, they will be responsible for a range of leadership, supervision and clinical governance activities.

This is an exciting time to join CWP's Children and Young People's Mental Health Services, to be part of a developing multidisciplinary team, and to join a small but innovative group of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists across the wider Trust.

Job responsibilities

Please download a copy of the job description for full details.

Person Specification

TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS

• Post-graduate diploma or Master's degree (pre-clinical training recognised by the Association of Child Psychotherapists).
• Professional qualification as a Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist recognised by the Association of Child Psychotherapists (doctoral-level training or equivalent).
• Full membership of the Association of Child Psychotherapist.
• Post qualification training in clinical supervision.
• Relevant post-qualification training for specialist clinical, research, professional teaching/supervision or equivalent.

EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE & EXPERTISE

• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of child and adolescent psychotherapy, including psychoanalytic theories and models of development, psychopathology, family and institutional dynamics and models of intervention and practice.
• A minimum of 4 years post-qualification experience of working in the role of a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist offering psychoanalytic clinical assessment/intervention with children/young people presenting severe and complex difficulties (and their families, parents/carers) in a CAMHS (or equivalent) setting.
• Substantial/extensive experience of psychoanalytic assessment and therapeutic work with difficult, disturbed and challenging children and young people (and their families, parents/carers) requiring skilled and complex psychotherapeutic understanding and interventions.
• Experience of the service supervisor role for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists in doctoral training.
• Extensive/substantial experience of working with professional networks and awareness of issues for networks and teams.
• Extensive/substantial experience of providing consultation and support to professionals in health, education and/or social care.
• Significant experience of representing child and adolescent psychotherapy within the context of multidisciplinary and multi-agency treatment and care.
• High level ability to communicate effectively, (in written and verbal forms) complex, technical and clinically sensitive information to children, young people and their carers and families, and a wide range of professionals within and outside of CYPMHS.
• Knowledge of legislation and national guidance in relation to the needs of children and young people and to mental health (including safeguarding procedures) and its implications for clinical practice.
• Experience of designing and implementing audits.
• Experience of supervising and/or facilitating development of qualified child psychotherapists.
• Post-qualification experience in developing a relevant area of special interest (e.g., brief under-5s work, STPP, consultation to CLA networks).
• Experience of contributing to service developments.

Skills

• Highly developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, to convey highly complex and clinically sensitive information to children, young people and their families and to a range of professionals within and outside the NHS.
• Capacity to communicate clearly with a wide range of multidisciplinary team colleagues.
• Highly-developed skills in the use of complex psychoanalytic methods of assessment, intervention and management in work with infants/children/young people, parents/carers and families.
• Highly-developed skills in co-working, liaison and consultation with others.
• Capacity to work collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team context.
• Ability to assess risk, manage risk and make complex judgment about risk issues.
• Ability to work with people from different backgrounds, cultures and ethnicity from one's own.
• Ability to cope with stressful interpersonal situations, including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical aggression, and to communicate in situations in which there may be barriers to the acceptance of communications.
• Capacity to prioritise complex tasks and organise workload to meet service needs.

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.