Clinical Psychologist

Clinical Psychologist, Band 7 Bexley Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Full Time 37.50 hours per week/Permanent Due to significant increased investment in Bexley CAMHS we are pleased to be able to advertise for two full time band 7 clinical psychology posts based at Park Crescent Children and Young People Service. Applications are welcome from both qualified clinical psychologists and trainees expecting to qualify later this year. We also welcome applications from those wishing to combine aspects of these posts as the service configuration in Bexley CAMHS allows us to design flexible job plans to meet both the clinical needs of the population and the developmental needs of staff. The current opportunities are as follows: Assessment and treatment pathway A very exciting opportunity has arisen to join Bexley CAMHS at a time of change. We are initiating a whole service improvement to the patient journey, enabling children and families to access help earlier and enabling staff to have job plans better tailored to their expertise and development. We seek to appoint a band 7 clinical psychologist to work within the multidisciplinary team providing assessment and treatment to children and families with a wide range of mental health problems (from mild to severe). You would work in a large friendly MDT alongside other clinical psychologists at bands 7, 8a and 8b as well as colleagues from other disciplines. Innovative service developments are encouraged and we are keen to enable clinicians to develop job plans that offer opportunities for development of skills and interests. The current service improvement means all staff will be able to have job plans which include clear expectations for numbers of clinical contacts, types of work (e.g. assessment, core intervention and ongoing specialist therapy) and caseload size. Tier 3.5 Intensive Adolescent Team The Bexley CAMHS Adolescent team is a lively, friendly, well established and award winning multi-disciplinary team which provides a successful specialist tier 3.5 service for young people in Bexley aged 12 to 18. You would work with adolescents and their families/carers, with significant and acute mental health difficulties who are at risk of requiring Tier 4 inpatient care. The service offers assertive and intensive multi-disciplinary interventions as a community alternative to inpatient care. As a result of the work of this team the numbers of young people from Bexley needing to be admitted to tier 4 inpatient units has fallen from one of the highest to one of the lowest in London. The team uses a mentalization based approach (AMBIT) in which training is provided to the postholder. The postholder would also be expected to participate in the MBT-A treatment pathway for young people who self harm and/or are at risk of suicide. Funding for MBT-A training at the Anna Freud Centre is attached to this post. There are also opportunities to develop skills in CBT for Psychosis and IPT-A. The clinical lead for the team is the Consultant Clinical Psychologist and you would also be working alongside an experienced 8a clinical psychologist, as well as colleagues from other disciplines including psychiatry, psychotherapy, family therapy, occupational therapy and nursing. Working relationships between disciplines in the team are excellent, there is high staff morale and low staff turnover. You would be working both as a care co-ordinator and providing specialist psychological therapy. Job plans are designed to accommodate both of these. There are multiple opportunities for joint working both within the team and with partner agencies in Bexley. There will also be scope for the post holder to provide some clinical input into the assessment and treatment pathway within Bexley CAMHS (see above). Bexley CAMHS is a friendly, busy and thriving CYP IAPT service, regarded as an accessible and effective service. Staff that work in Bexley CAMHS describe a warm and caring environment across the whole service. We are based in a newly refurbished, purposely designed building at Park Crescent (Erith Hospital Site), Park Crescent, Erith DA8 3EE. The site is easily accessible from Kent, SE and East London, as well as parts of Essex and Surrey. There is parking on site and nearby streets. There are also excellent public transport links including a direct train to Erith from London Bridge in under 40 mins. Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health, learning disabilities and community services to the London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich. The Trust and CAMHS have recently been rated as Good by the CQC and has a culture of supporting staff, whilst providing excellent services within a robust clinical governance framework. The clinical psychology is well regarded within the Trust as a whole and there are excellent CPD opportunities, including a programme specifically for newly qualified psychological therapists which is protected within job plans for the first 2 years