MHST Senior Clinician Huntingdon

Are you ready for a new challenge and a real opportunity to make a difference? Are you interested in working in early intervention services with children and young people? The successful candidate will work closely with their Team and Clinical Lead, to ensure that the MHST is a success. They will join a dynamic service in a creative environment where evidence-based interventions, new ideas, ways of working and supporting children and young people are actively encouraged. This is a unique opportunity to take on a managerial and supervisory role, whilst also engaging in important clinical work within schools and colleges. The post would be ideally suited to a clinician looking to broaden their professional skillset, whilst being part of a new national initiative to increase the numbers of children, young people and their families supported within an early intervention mental health service.

Main duties of the job:

• Support and provide a high-quality service to students (and their families) experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
• Work closely with the team to ensure children and young people receive faster access to earlier mental health support.
• Supervise and line manage Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs), Senior Wellbeing Practitioners and deliver evidence-based interventions to support the recovery of young people referred to the service.
• Provide assessment of health, development, and biopsychosocial needs, and provide a risk assessment and formulation of children and young people presenting with a wide variety of mild to moderate mental health and social needs.
• Complete psychosocial formulations to inform care planning.
• Provide consultation as required to other professionals (such as teachers and family workers) around mental health difficulties in children and young people.
• Offer interventions such as CBT, solution focused work, guided self-help and group support to children and young people.
• Enhance emotional wellbeing and promote or build resilience in children and young people through educational workshops, assemblies and PSHE lessons.
• Deliver psychoeducation and support to parents/carers and education staff.
• Supervise and manage other members of the team, including Senior Wellbeing Practitioners and EMHPs, through the delivery of CBT-informed supervision.
• Oversee the formulation of treatment and management plans for schools, parents/carers, children and young people being supported by the EMHPs and the Senior Wellbeing Practitioners.
• Produce accurate records, reports and observations as required.
• Liaise closely with other professionals including colleagues in the Emotional Health and Wellbeing Service, GPs, Paediatricians, Specialist CAMHS, school counsellors, Children’s Services, and other voluntary agencies.
• Measure outcomes for all interventions.
• Contribute to team multi-disciplinary working.
• Demonstrate appropriate understanding of the legal and ethical issues in providing mental health care to children and young people.

Qualifications & Training:

• Relevant therapeutic professional qualification or equivalent e.g. Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, accredited CBT Therapist, qualification in systemic family therapy, qualification in child and adolescent psychotherapy.
• Appropriate and valid UK professional registration e.g. in psychology, systemic family therapy, psychotherapy, teaching, social work, nursing, occupational health or an undergraduate degree in a relevant field.

Experience:

• Experience of work with children and/or adolescents with mild to moderate mental health problems.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.
• Experience of clinically supervising team members with their own clinical work, delivering evidence-based interventions to children and young people in groups and/or one to one.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Knowledge of legislation related to children and/or adolescent's mental health and social care e.g. Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act, Care Act, Child Protection and Safeguarding of Vulnerable Children.
• Ability to work autonomously in a community setting, making appropriate decisions.
• Good knowledge of different outcome measures used in Children and Young People settings (e.g. SDQs/RCADS).