Principal Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist

Overview

We are seeking an experienced Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist to take up the role of Co-Lead Child Psychotherapist for Bromley CAMHS, and Co-Principal Child Psychotherapist for the Generic Team, in partnership with an experienced colleague already in role. You will jointly lead the provision of an efficient, effective and comprehensive specialist child and adolescent psychotherapy service for children and adolescents with severe, highly complex and persistent mental health problems and their carers within the Generic multidisciplinary team, carrying your own caseload and supporting colleagues working across the service in our Adolescent, LAAC and Neurodevelopmental teams.

You will provide supervision, consultation, teaching and training to psychotherapists and multi-disciplinary colleagues, jointly provide clinical leadership within the Generic Team, and lead on key service initiatives within the service, the discipline, and at Trust level. There is a strong psychotherapy group in Bromley CAMHS, from trainee level through to band 8s, who are valued highly by their multidisciplinary colleagues, and who run a weekly psychotherapy workshop for colleagues as well as peer supervision spaces.

You will also be part of a vibrant Oxleas Trust-wide child psychotherapy group who meet regularly for CPD activities and organise an annual public conference.

• Lead and support the Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy discipline within Bromley CAMHS.
• Contribute to leadership within the Generic Team, alongside the Team Manager and Senior Clinical Psychologist, for instance by facilitating team reflective practice, Initial Assessment “Hubs” and some additional team meetings.
• Contribute to the leadership of the service through participation in Management meetings and other senior functions such as clinical triage and the “duty senior” role.
• Support more junior psychotherapists, for instance through supervision, and facilitation of peer supervision and workshop spaces.
• Supervise a child psychotherapist in doctoral training.
• Carry a small caseload of direct psychotherapy cases, whether short-, medium- or longer-term, and parent work cases.
• Contribute to service-development initiatives at the CAMHS and Trust level.

Additional responsibilities include clinical leadership, service development, training and supervision duties, meeting management, and safeguarding and risk management compliance.

You will be an experienced Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist with a high level of clinical and interpersonal skill, with experience of supervision of more junior colleagues and/or trainees, or the aptitude and interest to develop such skills further. You will be able to think calmly and creatively under pressure, containing the anxieties of multi-disciplinary colleagues and more junior colleagues, in clinical situations presenting interpersonal and emotional pressure, complexity, safeguarding difficulty or risk.

To be responsible for working within the appropriate Safe Guarding, Deliberate Self Harm, Substance Misuse guidelines, for own cases and the provision of appropriate advice in supervision and consultation. This includes reporting to and liaising with multi-disciplinary service and external agency staff (e.g. Social Services staff, CAMHS colleagues, adult mental health staff, primary health and hospital staff, education staff, Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, named Safe Guarding worker, Substance Misuse Worker).

To be responsible for continually monitoring and evaluating risk to/ from children and young people in own caseload and during supervision/consultation discussions. This may be due to Safe Guarding concerns, Deliberate Self Harm or other risky behaviour (e.g. running away, substance misuse, causing harm to others).

To provide highly specialist psychoanalytic psychotherapy assessment for children/adolescents with severe, highly complex and persistent mental health problems and make decisions about treatment options taking into account relevant evidence based research, theory, practice and highly complex factors concerning historical and development processes which have shaped the child/adolescent, their parents/carers and family. To provide highly specialist long term psychoanalytic psychotherapy for children/adolescents with severe, highly complex and persistent mental health problem.

To provide highly specialist psychotherapeutic assessment and treatment for carers and families where required, and to provide specialist assessment reports for social services, courts and solicitors as required. To participate and collaborate with other team members to provide specialist clinical services, and to coordinate and organise network meetings with professional members of other agencies. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility based on the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics of the Association of Child…