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Job description

We are seeking an enthusiastic and experienced therapeutic practitioner to join the Parent Infant Relationship Service (PAIRS) in Sheffield. Practitioners such as Clinical Psychologists, Systemic Family therapists, Cognitive Analytic therapists, Child Psychotherapists, Art, Drama and Music therapists are all welcome to apply.

PAIRS is a newly established and growing specialist service within CAMHS. We are a small team of psychologists and psychotherapists who are passionate about supporting parents, carers and professionals to make sure that every baby in Sheffield has the best possible start in life by promoting healthy parent infant relationships.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a real passion and commitment to parent-infant working, be able to understand and appreciate the complexities of this kind of work, including intergenerational aspects and the importance of this on the early emotional and social development of the child and implications for lifelong wellbeing.

Ideally, you will have a level of experience working in this area and be able to use initiative and imagination to help develop the service. You will be required to have good communication skills and an appreciation of systemic dynamics when working with very complex families. You will also have a good understanding of working with professional networks, building respectful multi-agency relationships and be able to manage a workload, prioritising key tasks, and targets for intervention.

The post holder will work as a highly specialist practitioner in the Parent Infant Relationship Service (PAIRS) providing community based therapeutic support to families with complex, emotional, behavioural and developmental difficulties with a particular focus on early intervention to support the development of healthy parent/infant relationships.

They will provide detailed, highly specialist assessment and therapeutic interventions focussed on enhancing the relationship between a parent and infant/ young child, promoting secure attachment and reducing risk.

They will work closely with colleagues in Health Visiting, Midwifery, Perinatal MHT, Local Authority Early Years/ Family Hub Services, Children’s Social Care, IAPT and other AMH services, and Education, acting as a highly specialist resource, through the provision of training, consultation and clinical supervision.

Sheffield Children’s is one of three independent, specialist paediatric hospitals in the country, providing dedicated healthcare for children and young people across community, mental health and acute specialist settings.

We have three overarching aims that set the direction for the Trust in our vision “to create a healthier future for children and young people.”

• Outstanding patient care
• Brilliant place to work
• Leader in children’s health

Our commitment to rewarding colleagues is demonstrated through our brilliant reward and benefits offer including; generous annual leave entitlement and pension scheme and access to salary sacrifice schemes such as cycle to work and lease cars.

We are committed to supporting colleagues from different heritages and lifestyles while at work. This is supported through the offer we have in place for flexible working and the three equality network groups we have in place. Colleagues are encouraged to join these groups and request flexible working.

• Delivery of the PAIRS service for families with complex, emotional, behavioural and developmental difficulties during the perinatal period up until the child’s 3rd birthday.
• To provide highly specialist assessments of parents, infants and young children referred to the service, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources which might include psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members, and others involved in the client’s care.
• To formulate and implement plans for the psychological/ psychotherapeutic treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems in the context of the family, and wider system, employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
• To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological/psychotherapeutic interventions focussed on enhancing the relationship between a parent and infant, adjusting and refining formulations as appropriate throughout the intervention drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses. This highly specialist therapeutic work requires empathy, understanding and the ability to contain difficult and highly expressed emotions in both the parent and infant/child.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of referred families.
• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options, taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family, or group.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for referred families and their children and to provide advice to other professionals on psychological and social aspects of risk assessment and management in line with safeguarding policies and procedures.
• To be responsible for and manage a defined and complex caseload and undertake case management responsibilities within the caseload.
• To communicate information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients to the family, relevant professionals and the wider system. Doing this in a in a skilled and sensitive manner and in line with good practice in relation to information governance.
• To draw on highly specialist expertise and experience in understanding and building relationships to establish and sustain mutually respectful relationships with service users and other professionals
• To liaise with professionals from external agencies, particularly in relation to complex presentations and to attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary and multi-agency meetings as appropriate.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.

1. Management and Service Development

• Support the PAIRS Clinical lead in the development of the PAIRS service and wider parent infant relationship pathway.
• To take responsibility for shaping and managing specific elements of the pathway. For example: building relationships with service leads, developing an understanding of their service, sharing expertise about IMH and information about PAIRS and establishing new referral pathways/ ways of working together.
• To have an awareness of strategic priorities for the service and Trust as well as other services/ agencies involved in the pathway and to initiate and influence PAIRS service delivery with these in mind.
• Contribute to the development and monitoring of operational systems to support clinical effectiveness/ governance.
• To participate in service audit and evaluation as required or directed.
• To participate in recruitment as appropriate.

1. Teaching, Training, Consultation and Supervision

• To take a lead in planning developing and delivering training to external professionals to raise awareness and understanding of parent infant mental health and support their work.
• To provide specialist advice, consultation, reflective practice supervision, and training to staff working with parents and infants across a range of agencies and settings where appropriate (e.g., Health Visiting, Maternity Services, General Practice, Children’s Social Care & Early Help, Adult Mental Health Services, Children’s Health and Third Sector Organisations).
• To attend to CPD and attend further training as identified in supervision/annual appraisal.
• To attend regular supervision with an appropriately qualified supervisor from PAIRS.
• To attend regular team safeguarding supervision
• To be responsible for the supervision and line management of junior staff and students as appropriate.

1. Clinical governance and research

• To participate in evaluation, audit and research activities as required by the PAIRS Clinical Lead
• To participate in evaluation of all clinical activity within the post and provide such information as required by the PAIRS Clinical Lead for the purpose monitoring and evaluation of PAIRS and the other services within the parent-infant relationship pathway
• To utilise evidence-based literature and research to support effective practice.
• To represent a professional viewpoint in relation to nationally accepted good practice and to ensure a high level of ethical standards and professional conduct.
• To maintain own CPD/ education and awareness of new recommendations/guidelines set by the Department of Health/National Institute for Clinical Excellence in the spheres of psychological therapies for families and their infants.

1. General

• To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the post-holder’ s professional and service manager(s).
• To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice across the service, by continuing to develop the skills of a reflexive and reflective practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field and related disciplines.
• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice and Trust policies and procedures.
• To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and mental health.
• To attend team, clinical, business and other meetings as required

Inclusive Recruitment & Selection

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and accurate data capture is an important part of that to ensure we are supportive and representative. Our aim is to ensure that all applicants can see themselves in the available categories on our application form, but we recognise that some of our data capture fields are not inclusive. We have flagged this with our system provider to ask for change.

We offer encouragement and active support to applicants with additional needs, including those from ethnic minorities, with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community. If you wish to adjust any aspect of the recruitment process or wish to find out more about our recruitment & selection processes, please get in touch with our Recruitment Manager: [email protected]

We are continually reviewing our recruitment & selection process to support the long-term aim of Sheffield Children’s being a champion of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. If you have any ideas for improvement, please get in touch with Catherine Gilbert [email protected]

Trust Values

The Trust is committed to providing great quality patient care and keep children, young people and families at the heart of what we do by following our CARE values:

• Compassion – leading by kindness and showing empathy, understanding and respect
• Accountability – striving to do the right thing and owning responsibility
• Respect – value differences, tackling inequality and fostering a culture of inclusion
• Excellence – delivering a high-quality standard of care