Systemic Therapist/ Parent Infant Therapist/Adult Psychotherapist

at  Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute develop the ‘think family’ approach within our Maternal Mental Health Service.
The post-holder will work as a member of CNWL’s Maternity Trauma and Loss Care Service (M-TLC) and will be required to provide therapy assessment and treatment, within the service. Other members of the team are specialist midwives, CBT therapists and psychologists.
The post holder will be line managed by the service lead and have clinical supervision with the lead parent infant psychotherapist. The post holder will provide specialist assessment and treatment to service users and support and signposting to their families/carers.
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.
Using trauma informed approach, the post holder will provide assessment and treatment to women and their babies under CNWL MTLC. They will also provide advice, and consultation on patient care to non-therapy colleagues and to the professional network involved in treating and caring for women in maternity teams across the four maternity services within the CNWL footprint. The focus of this post will be on the boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon.
The Maternity Trauma and Loss Care Service (MTLC) is part of CNWL Perinatal Services. The focus of the MTLC service is to support women who have experienced trauma and loss within the maternity context.
The post holder will be supported by working as part of an MDT and will work autonomously within professional guidelines and within the overall framework of the service’s policies and procedures. They will utilise research skills for audit to support policy and service development; and will undertake research within the area served by the service and of relevance to women and their babies under the care of the MTLC.
The post holder will provide specialist, psychotherapeutic interventions, including developing group work within the community, and/or virtually, and will contribute to implementing care plans for women with a range of mental health and social and emotional difficulties, particularly focusing on providing psychotherapeutic interventions flexibly which are adapted to the needs of women and their infants in complex and varying degrees of illness and distress.
The post-holder will be expected to attend weekly team meetings, case discussion and reflective practice forums. The post-holder will also contribute to the ongoing development of effective recovery-oriented treatment models.
In collaboration with colleagues, to provide specialized assessment of patients referred and their babies to Maternity Trauma and Loss Care Service based on the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex information derived from a variety of sources including interviews with patients, and reports from other professionals involved in the care and treatment of patients.
To understand the impact of maternal (and paternal) mental health on infants and other family members, and to help develop pathways through which parenting issues and relational risks can be addressed. To support and further embed the services ‘think family’ ethos and support with thinking about systemic and family factors.
In collaboration with colleagues, to make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about treatment options, taking into account complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual or couple.
In collaboration with colleagues, to formulate plans for the psychotherapeutic treatment and/or management of a patient’s mental health needs and the infants mental health needs based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patients’ problems. This will occur optimally, during the assessment phase, but also during treatment, to take into account approaches available in other services, and the available evidence for their efficacy in respect of each individual patient’s problems.
To be responsible for implementing a range of psychotherapeutic interventions for individuals, groups and couples as appropriate. Experience in group, as well as individual, work is essential and the post holder would be expected to run a therapy group, as well as see individual patients for treatment. The clinician will be expected to use existing knowledge and theoretical frameworks in a creative and innovative way to address highly intricate clinical situations that will differ for each patient.
To contribute actively to team meetings and network meetings to help keep the baby in mind.
To contribute to a developmental and psychotherapeutically-based framework for the understanding and the care of patients and their babies within the referral network. This may take the form of formal consultancy and teaching (see below), or the more informal consultation and teaching which may occur through case meetings or liaison with other professionals.
To undertake risk assessment of all patients and their babies during assessment and treatment. To undertake risk management for appropriate patients in conjunction with outside agencies, when appropriate. To provide specialist advice on risk assessment and management to other professionals.
To keep appropriate clinical records and to communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner information concerning the assessment, formulation and management of patients under the clinician’s care, and to monitor, evaluate and communicate with the GP and referrer about progress during the course of interventions. This will entail complying with the Trust’s requirements regarding CPA, case note standards, outcome monitoring, and with guidelines on confidentiality and data protection.
Provide assessments of patients referred to M-TLC based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources.
To contribute to the assessments of women with specialist mental health disorders including formulations of predisposing, protective, precipitating and perpetuating factors.
To provide a comprehensive and time limited psychological therapy service to patients within the MTLC who may have a wide range of psychological needs resulting from the experiences of trauma related to the maternity context. This will include the provision of evidence-based treatments for trauma.
Implement care plans for the formal treatment and/or management of a woman’s problems, (with consideration of her baby’s needs) based upon an appropriate conceptual framework, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
Evaluate and make decisions about treatment options considering both the evidence base, theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes which have shaped the individual, family or group.
To be responsible for implementing a range of time-limited psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, grounded in the principles and techniques of a range of theoretical approaches.
Provide specialist expertise, advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to women’s formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan as well as regarding infant mental health.
Contribute directly and indirectly to a framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all women treated within the service, across all settings and agencies providing services for women, their children and their families.
To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual women and their families and to provide advice to other professions on risk assessment and risk management in relevant cases.
Communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of patients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni and multi-disciplinary care.
Managerial
Develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT work as appropriate.
Contribute to the pre and post-qualification teaching of psychological approaches and sharing clinical skills, as appropriate.
Provide advice, consultation and training to professionals (including children’s social workers) working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings.
To gain additional specialist experience and skills relevant to clinical psychology and/or the service as agreed with the professional psychology manager.
To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision as appropriate.
Research and Audit
To assist with the team’s data collection for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
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.
To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where clinical and/or organisational matters need addressing.
To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual and group work, in some instances, alongside other team members.
To undertake appropriate research and to provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.
To undertake audits and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.
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.
To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in Psychology/Perinatal Psychotherapies across and beyond the service.
Administration and Clinical Recording
To enter required data into the Trust’s patient administration systems and to make use of data bases as directed by managers in the course of clinical duties.
To use computer and computer software to prepare reports, presentations and documents relevant to working duties.
To undertake administrative tasks in line with service requirements, making appropriate use of administrative support available.
Mandatory Training
The post holder will complete the CNWL mandatory training programme annually within directed timescales.
Multi-agency Meetings
The post holder will prioritise attendance at relevant multi-agency planning meetings such as Child In Need, Child Protection conferences, Professionals meetings and CPAs

Please refer the Job description for details