Perinatal Parent Infant Psychotherapist | Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust in Harrow

The opportunity has arisen for a suitably qualified Parent-Infant Psychotherapist post within the Brent and Harrow Community Perinatal Mental Health Service. This position is open to applicants who have substantial post-qualification experience; however, appropriately qualified candidates with demonstrable expertise and experience in perinatal mental health who have less than significant years post-qualification experience may also be considered.

The parent-infant psychotherapist will have a significant role in contributing to the specialist interventions for families offered extended periods of care and providing psychotherapeutic treatment promoting the quality of the relationship between the mother and her infant. Aligning to the Long-Term Plan, our service is now offering a review at 12 months post-natal for provisions of Extended Period of Care up until 24 months post-natal. Furthermore, we are also offering Partner’s Screening for mental health needs in significant others and additional signposting.

The Team provides a Monday-Friday, 9.00-5.00 service based at the Mental Health Unit, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow. The successful applicant would be expected to have the flexibility to work occasional extended opening hours to facilitate early or late clinic appointments, home visits or training.

The applicant must have excellent clinical skills and experience with a wide variety of patient groups across the whole life span. In addition to the focus on maternal mental health, specialist perinatal mental health services also consider the context and the infant and parent-infant relationship.

Applicants must have a proven ability to formulate, document, implement and review plans for the psychotherapeutic treatment and management of women with a full range of clinical problems. They should demonstrate an ability to thoroughly assess risk, to formulate safe and effective risk management plans and document these clearly and effectively.

We are looking for an experienced parent-infant psychotherapist with excellent interpersonal skills. They must be keen to work pro-actively and be confident and motivated as well as flexible and able to show initiative. They must be robust and resourceful and willing to work in an environment which can be demanding and challenging. Appropriate training, support and regular supervision will be provided by the Lead Parent-Infant Psychotherapist and by the MDT, as well as group supervisions ‘Holding the Baby in Mind’. We expect applicants to have experience of managing their own caseloads in a complex multidisciplinary context. We also expect applicants to have experience of participating in formal child protection procedures.

The team works closely with Maternity Services on each site as well as with local community and inpatient mental health services, primary care services, social services and a wide range of other statutory and third sector organisations.

JOB PURPOSE AND REQUIREMENTS

The post requires a flexible approach with a broad range of applied psychotherapeutic techniques, given the variety and time-specific nature of treatment during pregnancy, around birth and in the postnatal first year. The post holder needs to have had experience in the field of perinatal mental health, in particular parent-infant interventions in complex high-risk cases. The postholder will require the skills to develop outreach clinics for pregnant and postnatal women with mental health problems whilst working as an autonomous practitioner. The post will require a good communicator, skilled in liaison as well as an experienced clinician who would be able to offer advice and consultation to midwives and health visitors and other relevant professionals working in the community.

To provide an efficient, effective, comprehensive and specialist psychological assessment and psychotherapy treatment plan for women and their partners during the perinatal period. Patients with moderate and severe, highly complex and persistent mental health problems are seen within this service. The work will include offering an opinion on diagnosis/formulation to patients seen within the Perinatal Service in discussion with the Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist.

To provide the particular highly specialist areas of expertise gained in post-qualification specialist training to perinatal patients who present with complex and persistent mental health problems within the perinatal period. To provide advice and consultation from a psychological perspective around parent-infant relationship and the psychotherapeutic care, psychological care to psychologist and non-psychologist colleagues, and to other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines and within the overall framework of the service’s policies and procedures.

To be informed by evidence-based practice and participate in audit, policy, service development and research within the team. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and within the overall framework of the service’s policies and procedures. To undertake and oversee audit and research activity in the sector. To offer highly specialised clinical work – both assessment and treatment in the Perinatal Service to distressed pregnant and postnatal women who are suffering from perinatal mental health disorders.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Clinical:

• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by MDT and psychotherapeutic based care plans ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation and intervention.
• To communicate with the referral agents and others involved with the patient’s care on a regular basis.
• To provide highly specialist psychotherapeutic assessments including biopsychosocial assessments.
• To formulate and devise parent-infant psychotherapeutic treatment and management plans for referred patients and to provide psychotherapeutic treatment, using specialist methods and techniques as appropriate to the service.
• 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 offer the most appropriate treatment for patients in co-operation with other members of the multidisciplinary team.
• To offer highly specialist interventions for severely disturbed mother-infant attachment in the antenatal and postnatal period.
• To provide highly specialist intervention during the post-partum period to mothers and their babies and/or the parental couple and their infant.
• To develop group therapeutic interventions with new mothers and their infants.
• To act as a Lead Professional for the client, where appropriate, ensuring the provision of a care package appropriate for the client’s needs, co-ordinating the work of others involved with care, arranging client’s care reviews as required and communicating effectively with the client, his/her family and all others involved in care; and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management, in line with Trust and inter-agency policies and procedures with the aim of overall risk reduction.

This advert closes on Wednesday 26 Aug 2026. Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme.