Assistant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist (ACP)

at  Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

We are looking for an Assistant Psychotherapist to join the Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster (KCW) Under 5s team. The post-holder will be based in Kensington & Chelsea CAMHS clinic and will work in the community and in Family Hubs across KCW.
The KCW Under 5s Service is a specialist CAMHS service for children under the age of five, their parents/carers and for professionals working with this age group. Launched in January 2017, the service aims to provide an accessible, destigmatising, culturally sensitive infant/young child mental health perspective through:
consultation to parents and professionals
specialist assessment
6 session brief work with Under 5s and their families
interagency partnership working
The Assistant Psychotherapist role requires a motivated, organised and enthusiastic professional interested in supporting a lively Under 5s clinical team. Once settled in the role, there will be opportunities for developing their own clinical understanding through shadowing, involvement in assessments and some joint working/brief work.
The post holder will be enrolled, or planning to enrol in the Masters ACP regulated Child and Adolescent pre-clinical training programme seminars (M7, Tavistock Clinic, or other ACP Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy pre-clinical Masters training programme - pre-requisite qualification for ACP Child & Adolescent Psychotherapists in doctoral training).
To be involved in supporting initial assessments alongside Under 5s and/or CAMHS clinicians.
Under supervision t o plan, develop and deliver programmes designed to support and compl e ment the work of CAMHS practitioners in order to facilitate educational, social and emotional needs of Under 5s families and/or young people as part of the overall CAMHS treatment plan.
To support delivery of outcome focused brief psychodynamically - informed Goal Based individual and group interventions as needed to CAMHS Under 5s families and /or children and young people within CAMHS experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties and their parents
To work independently according to a plan agreed with supervisor and within the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.
To assist in clinically related administration, ROMS, QI project, collection of statistics, taking notes and organising agendas and minutes of team meetings, assisting with managing waiting lists, lia i sing with external agencies, signposting referrals, assisting in development of audit and/or research projects and teaching and project work.
Deliver on Trust priorities in line with participation, which will require active engagement within the service and Trust .
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The post holder will be expected to support their team, department and organisation to achieve the Trust’s Values in their day to day work:

• Compassion • Respect • Empowerment • Partnership

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

1. Job Summary

• The post holder will be enrolled, or planning to enrol in the Masters ACP regulated Child and Adolescent pre-clinical training programme seminars (M7, Tavistock Clinic, or other ACP Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy pre-clinical Masters training programme - pre-requisite qualification for ACP Child & Adolescent Psychotherapists in doctoral training).
• The post-holder will work under supervision as part of a multi-disciplinary team delivering high-quality; brief psychodynamically-informed, outcome focused interventions for CAMHS Under 5s Service and/or children and young people within CAMHS experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
• To work with the multi-disciplinary team maintaining excellent working relationships with other professional and voluntary workers and significant others.
• To represent the service as appropriate at meetings, case conferences and to liaise with other agencies.
• To support and enhance the professional psychological care of clients within the CAMHS Under 5s Service and/or K&C CAMHS across all sectors of care. To support clinicians and clinical systems, do ROMS etc.
• To support the provision of psychological assessment and intervention ie brief parent-young child psychotherapy and/or brief, psychodynamically-informed Goal Based Interventions - under the supervision and guidance of a qualified Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist, or senior Band 6 Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist in Doctoral Training where appropriate.
• In addition the post holder would support the development and delivery of a wide range of supportive interventions to enable Under 5s children and families and/or young people referred to the service to improve their emotional well-being as well as their life chances.
• The post holder will be required to be creative, flexible, adaptable, professional and motivated in all aspects of their role, both in clinical delivery and within the development of the service provision.
• The post-holder will be involved in elements of participation in the Under 5s Service and respective borough. This includes engaging all service users in various ways to gain feedback, participate in shaping services and running appropriate participation groups within the services as needed.
• The post-holder will work with Under 5s families, children, young people and families within CAMHS with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and should be committed to equal opportunities.

Please refer the Job description for details