CAMHS Clinician (Children Looked After Team) London, England
Job description
Band 7 (0.1 WTE - 12 months fixed term)
This is an exciting opportunity for a Band 7 clinician with experience of working with Children Looked After to join an experienced CAMHS team co-located with Children's Social Care.
The work has a consultative focus, offering group and individual consultation to social work teams; opportunities for developing and delivering trainings; holding a small clinical caseload, which will include 1:1 work with under 16's and work with foster carers. The post-holder will also support the specialist reunification project, supporting the professional network, as well as families directly, towards the plan of returning children home. Our work is framed within a stepped model of care and links closely with Islington Children's Social Care's focuses on DDP and motivational practice
We strongly encourage applications from all sections of the community, particularly from under-represented groups in the service including Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates.
We would like to support candidates with any accessibility issues. Please contact us if there is anything we can do to support you with the application process or prior to the interview stage.
Islington Community CAMHS offers workers spaces to reflect, and encourages continued professional development and bringing dilemmas around EDI issues, though CPD opportunities, monthly whole-service 'lunch-time learning' seminar/workshops, BAME discussion forums and BAME reflective spaces.
Please see the Job description and the Persons Specification for further details about the job role. If you are unable to access the PDF, the details of the job description can also be found in the 'detailed job description and main responsibilities' section.
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.
POST SUMMARY
This is a full-time (1.0 WTE) post fixed term for 12 months based in the multidisciplinary CAMHS team for Children Looked After (CLA) and care experienced. Services offered by the team are commissioned by Children’s Services and clinicians are located alongside social workers and other practitioners, in an integrated service that aims to improve the experiences and outcomes of children and young people, their carers and families.. The post is located with the Under 16s CLA Social Work teams.
Under 16s CLA Teams (0.8 WTE):
The post holder will join other CLA CAMHS clinicians attached to the Under 16s social work teams and offer a range of consultation (group and individual) and clinical work in line with the team’s stepped model of care. Islington’s Social Work model, Motivational Practice, is a relationship-based, purposeful approach with social workers practicing in a trauma informed way, incorporating Dyadic Developmental Practice (DDP). Clinicians are positioned to support social workers, as the lead professionals engaged in existing relationships and work with looked after children and their carers.
A stepped model of care is used with clinical advice and consultation available to social workers through clinician’s contribution to group supervision, consultation to individual social workers, to the ‘parenting team’ and attendance at multi-agency care and placement planning meetings. Direct work is offered when the level of concern about a young person’s presentation or needs indicates a psychological assessment or intervention is required, alongside the work of the parenting team.
The post holds a small clinical caseload (20%), offering specialist assessment and evidence-based interventions to young people and/ or their carers. Clinical work will include specific trauma focused interventions.
There are also opportunities for developing and delivering trainings to social workers and foster carers, including co-facilitating an attachment-based parenting skills group for foster carers with social work colleagues.
Return Home (Re-unification) Project (0.2 WTE)
Islington Social Care are committed to developing local practice and the support offered to children and families, when children return home from care. A re-unification framework has been developed to guide social work practice and a Family Support Worker and Clinician will work in collaboration with social workers, to support the ongoing development of the framework and the offer of support to families. The post-holder will provide consultation to the professional networks and systemic assessment and therapy to children and families, jointly with social workers where possible. It is anticipated that some of the therapeutic work will be home based.
MAIN DUTIES
Consultation and Clinical Work
1. To provide highly specialist mental health advice and consultation to social workers in the Looked After Service to support their practice and management of young people presenting with a range of presentations and needs.
2. To attend group supervision, sharing clinical and mental health knowledge and expertise to contribute to case discussion.
3. To facilitate joint consultations with social workers and supervising social workers, to enhance their trauma and DDP informed practice with children and care-givers.
4. To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills of social workers and to support embed the social work practice model.
5. To provide specialist mental health assessment of children and young people using individual, parent/carer interviews, systemic, developmental and other assessment methods as required.
6. To provide highly specialist evidence-based intervention for looked after children and carers, drawing on innovative ways of engagement and intervention.
7. To formulate and devise clinical management plans for a range of specialist psychological interventions; individual, family and group.
8. To provide reports and communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, as required.
9. To liaise with professionals in health, mental health, education, social care and voluntary sector services, as required.
10. To carry out clinical work in health settings, client’s placement and other settings to best meet the client’s needs.
11. To ensure the regular use of routine outcomes as part of evaluating the impact of the clinical, consultation and other work offered.
12. To have due regard for your own personal safety and that of children/carers, adhering to moving and handling regulations, restraining policies and ensure the safe positioning of self and others.
13. To conform to the provisions of the Health and Safety Act and to comply with local statutory training including the appropriate level of Child Protection, on an annual basis or as required.
Teaching, training and supervision
1. To attend regular clinical supervision and participate in team and service training, as required
1. To provide clinical supervision of trainees and other CAMHS staff, as required by the team and service.
2. To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical staff as required.
3. To continue to develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training, consultation and supervision
Management, policy and service development
1. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team’s operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.
2. To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing
3. To be involved in the recruitment, short listing and interviewing of Assistant Psychologists and other clinical staff, as appropriate
4. To attend, as required, to a range of interagency meetings to represent the team in a delegated role, offering guidance, where appropriate, ensuring that issues relating to the service are noted and brought to the attention of the Team manager.
5. To assist, in the integration and development of user participation, outcomes measures, and evidence-based treatment approaches in line with the wider CAMHS strategy for service improvement.
Research and service evaluation
To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
1. To contribute to service development (and if necessary undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research).
General
1. To ensure the development and maintenance of the highest personal standards of practice,
2. through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the postholder’s line manager.
3. To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues of relevance to the service and client group.
4. To undertake such other duties and responsibilities, appropriate to the grade of the post, as may be agreed with CLA CAMHS managers
