Clinical Psychologist/Mental Health Practitioner Early Years (CAPS) - ref. t0848103
Job overview
The post holder will provide a specialist psychological service for young children and their families as part of the citywide CAPS Early Years Intervention Service in Manchester. The community service offer includes providing parent groups, individual psychological assessment and intervention; and advice, consultation & training to support the psychological knowledge of the early years workforce.The post-holder may also be responsible for the supervision of trainee and assistant clinical psychology colleagues.
The service consists of a team of clinical psychologists; specialist PIMHS Health Visitors and midwife, nurse practitioners and child psychotherapists; alongside parent group leaders employed within the voluntary sector. We work as part of the under 5s CAMHS provision in Manchester, linked to both an integrated Infant mental health pathway and early years social communication pathways.We are looking for two Clinical Psychologists who are able to join the team to work effectively and autonomously within this multi-agency context offering both clinical work, supervision, training and consultation.
CAPS has a 20+ year proven track record of successful re-commissioning with our most current commission being offered for 5 years from 2021; and significant additional investment as part of Best Start for Life funding, with Manchester receiving trailblazer status from the government.
Main duties of the job
Are you a Clinical Psychologist or Mental Health Practitioner passionate about working with parents and their children upto the age of 5? Are you interested in working in an expanding service, alongside local colleagues and partners working with young children and parents?If you are enthusiastic about helping this important client group, at a time of national developments for parents and children, then these posts will be an excellent opportunity for you.
You will have experience of working with young children and their families who present with a range of relationship and social / emotional development needs and risk. It would be helpful to have skills and experience in supporting children and their parents in the early years to develop good attachment relationships.
You will autonomously manage your own caseload, providing a range of high-quality care appropriate to the infant, young child and parent’s needs; within professional practice guidelines and a structured supervision framework. You must be confident and experienced in communication, supervision and consultation.
This post is a clinical post and includes supervision, training and offering consultation to other workers contributing and working with a multi-agency team.
For further information please contact Dr. Elisa Samuels - Head of CAPS on 07812 519221.
Working for our organisation
MFT is one of the largest NHS Trusts in England with a turnover of £2.8bn & is on a different scale than most other NHS Trusts. We’re creating an exceptional integrated health & social care system for the 1 million patients who rely on our services every year.
Bringing together 10 hospitals & community services from across Manchester, Trafford & beyond, we champion collaborative working & transformation, encouraging our 30,000 workforce to pursue their most ambitious goals. We set standards that other Trusts seek to emulate so you’ll benefit from a scale of opportunity that is nothing short of extraordinary.
We’ve also created a digitally enabled organisation to improve clinical quality, patient & staff experience, operational effectiveness & driving research, and innovation through the introduction of Hive; our Electronic Patient Record system which launched in September 2022.
We’re proud to be a major academic Research Centre & Education provider, providing you with a robust infrastructure to encourage and facilitate high-quality research programmes. What’s more, we’re excited to be embarking on our Green Plan which sets out how MFT continues to play its part in making healthcare more sustainable.
At MFT, we create and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, provide equal opportunities for career development that are fair, open, and transparent, protecting your health and wellbeing and shaping the future of our organisation together.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, take a look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the ‘Supporting Documents’ heading. So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the ‘Candidate Essentials Guide’ that sits with the Job Description and Person Specification.This document provides you with details about the Trust, our benefits and outlines how ‘we care for you as you care for others’. Most importantly, it also contains critical information you’ll need to be aware of before you submit an application form.
Diversity Matters
MFT is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply for this post.As an inclusive employer, we are here to support you. If you have any special requirements to help you with your application, email our team at [email protected].
We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- You must have a recognized qualification such as Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology or Nursing or midwifery qualification or SW qualification and accredited by the BPS or HCPC or NMC or SW
- Or you must be registered with the UKCP as a psychotherapist
- Certificate in supervision skills
- Additional post graduate training in psychological therapies and interventions relevant to the perinatal period
Experience and Knowledge
Essential criteria- Significant experience of working with children and young people within an early intervention/early years context
- Relevant experience and training in multi-disciplinary assessments in children and adolescents
- Experience of liaison and working with a range of other relevant agencies and professionals, including managing difficult conversations and differences of opinion
- Experience of developing and providing evidenced based assessments, formulations, and care plans and effective use of ROMS
- Experience of assessing and managing risk: including safeguarding
- experience of working effectively with people with mental health difficulties, including autonomous management of a complex caseload which frequently deals with distressing and emotional circumstances
- Experience in teaching and training staff from other professional groups in psychological skills and concepts
- Up to date knowledge of child mental health and relevant legislation
- To be able to function as a part of a multi-disciplinary team and to liaise effectively with other agencies i.e., education, GP’s, maintaining positive working relationships
- Experience/certification in an evidence-based intervention delivered in the perinatal period eg. Baby bonding, Baby IY, Circle of security
- Experience of working in a parent infant mental health setting
- Experience of mentoring and supervision of others, including supporting the mental health and wellbeing of junior staff and trainees