Senior Clinical Psychologist - Early Child Development

Devon Partnership NHS Trust; Barnstaple; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job description

Job summary

We are recruiting to a 0.7 WTE Clinical Psychologist post within the Early Child Development Pathway in Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD). The role is available at Band 8a, or as a Band 7 preceptorship, with structured support to progress to Band 8a once agreed competencies are met.

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to psychologically informed care for young children under the age of 5 and their families, particularly where there are concerns about development, early mental health, or attachment.

You will work as part of a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency team, delivering assessment and intervention in a way that prioritises the parent-child relationship, supports trauma-informed care, and aligns with NICE guidance, including the use of video feedback and parent-infant psychotherapy models.

You will also contribute to the assessment of autism (ASD) in children under 5, bringing psychological insight into early neurodevelopmental diagnostic pathways and supporting families through formulation and feedback.

If you are looking for additional hours, this post can be considered alongside other Clinical Psychology roles within CFHD, depending on interest and service need.

Main duties of the job

• Deliver psychological assessment, formulation and intervention with children under 5 and their caregivers
• Contribute to the diagnostic assessment of autism in early childhood, alongside other professionals
• Provide consultation, supervision and reflective practice within the wider multi-disciplinary team
• Support service development and quality improvement, including audit, research and co-production
• Engage in trauma-informed, relational and developmentally sensitive practice across the team
• Receive regular clinical supervision and benefit from a structured job plan to support your professional growth

We Offer:

• A preceptorship pathway from Band 7 to Band 8a
• A supportive clinical network of psychologists across CFHD
• Regular supervision, peer support and CPD
• Opportunities for research, service development and links with local doctoral training programmes
• A values-led team committed to inclusion, co-production and early intervention

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.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see the attached Job Description for the full person specification and a more comprehensive role description.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• A Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent e.g. Masters level qualification in Clinical Psychology if qualified before 1996.
• Active registration as a Practitioner Psychologist with the HCPC.
• Post qualification specialist therapy/assessment training relevant to children and young people.
• Post qualification training or proven equivalent experience in supervision.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of undertaking specialist psychological assessments and therapeutic interventions for CYP with a wide variety of mental health problems and/or neurodiversity and/or learning disability, reflecting all levels of clinical severity; including risk assessments of self-harming/dangerous/challenging behaviour.
• Experience of teaching and/or training.
• Experience of delivering clinical supervision.
• Experience, and/or training in diversity awareness and social inequality.

Desirable

• Experience of work in psychological interventions with children, young people and their families in a range of service settings or agencies.
• Experience in undertaking leadership roles within clinical psychology services in the NHS, and in contributing to the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies and clinical policies in multi-disciplinary, multi-agency contexts.

Knowledge, skills and abilities

Essential

• Specialist knowledge of child development and the impact of adverse childhood experiences.
• Broad knowledge of psychological services; and of the services in the NHS where psychology is applied to the needs of children and young people.
• Knowledge of psychometric assessment tools and their appropriate use.
• Detailed understanding of relevant legislation (e.g. Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity, Section 25 of the Childrens Act).
• Advanced psychological assessment and formulation skills including risk assessment.
• Ability to travel across the geographical service area as required.

Desirable

• Knowledge and experience of undertaking neurodevelopmental assessments, including Autism assessments.

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.
UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see.

Employer details

Employer name

Devon Partnership NHS Trust
Address

Integrated Childrens Services

Fishleigh Road

Roundswell Business Park

Barnstaple

Devon

EX31 3UD

Employer's website