Main area CAMHS Grade Band 8b Contract Permanent Hours Part time - 22.5 hours per week (Some working from home alongside clinic based settings) Job ref 186-1261-25-MH

Employer Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Hopewood Town Nottingham / Nottinghamshire Salary £64,455 - £74,896 per annum (pro rata for part time) Salary period Yearly Closing 04/11/2025 23:59

Principle Clinical Psychologist

Band 8b

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Job overview

CAMHS Principle Clinical Psychologist , Nottinghamshire ASD Assessment Pathway.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Principal Clinical Psychologist (0.6 WTE) to support Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) assessments for children and young people in the Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County neurodevelopmental pathways. You will join a small team of Psychologists to support the provision of highly specialist psychological expertise as part of the multi-agency and multi-disciplinary assessment pathway for possible ASD often in the context of complex social care, mental health and/ or learning needs.

The postholder will be expected to contribute to ASD assessments through consultation, direct assessment, training and supervision. This is a newly established service and additional provision to the wider neurodevelopmental pathway. This role offers lots of opportunities to support service development and evaluation, alongside experience working with other agencies including Community Paediatrics and local authority agencies.

As part of the Nottinghamshire CAMHS service, you will also be joining a larger group of Psychology colleagues and CAMHS colleagues to support liaison and co-working to share knowledge, expertise and support appropriate pathways for assessment.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will support the Community Paediatricians in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire regions through consultation and direct assessment of children, young people and families as part of ASD assessments. This role will involve working closely with Community Paediatricians, Speech and Language Therapists and Specialist Nurses to undertake specialist assessment and support psychological expertise within ASD assessments.

The post holder will be skilled in assessment of ASD and consideration of alternative formulations or co-existing needs, using standardised and evidence-based assessments. Part of the role will also involve supporting the pre-assessment services through consultation, ensuring children and young people are on the most appropriate pathway for their needs.

As a newly established service, a further key role will be establishing the impact of the additional Psychology provision to the wider pathway. Therefore, the role will also involve supporting the evaluation of the service and feedback to service managers and commissioners to inform policy and service development.

Working for our organisation

We have more than 100 sites and a huge scope of unique opportunities to develop your career and gain some amazing experiences. We strive to be a great place to work and offer many staff benefits and tailored staff support and wellbeing programmes.

We have a huge variety of opportunities in our expansive Trust covering geographically from South Yorkshire , Nottinghamshire to Leicester, providing mental health inpatient and community services, community health services forensic mental health services and secure prison healthcare across the East Midlands.

Do you want to make a difference?

Do you believe in Trust, Honesty, Respect, Compassion and Teamwork?

Then Nottinghamshire Healthcare is the perfect place for you to start, maintain or further your career. Join our team of nearly 9000 who are making a difference every day. We are all about our people – our staff, volunteers, carers, service users and patients. We are NottsHC.

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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will also join an integrated, friendly, and supportive group of 24 Psychologists working across the Nottingham City and County conurbation multi-disciplinary CAMHs. There are good opportunities for CPD, strong mechanisms for support and good links with the DClinpsy courses at Trent, Sheffield and Leicester University.

• To make highly skilled decisions, recommendations & advise within multiagency consultation about future assessment & treatment options taking into account information and assessment findings from a range of different data sources.
• To provide direct specialist psychological assessments of children & young people where there are concerns relating to social communication and interaction based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological (and neuropsychological) tests, with clients, family members and others involved in the child’s care.
• To coordinate & lead the MDT assessment panel discussion where indicated for children and young people where there maybe developmental concerns within the context of complex, multifactorial factorial presentations of need and where expert opinion may differ.
• To ensure comprehensive assessment of ASD for all cases in line with NICE guidance and local protocol, ensuring the use of multiple sources of information and consideration of alternative formulation of need where indicated including intellectual disability, relational needs and or developmental trauma.
• To advise on any clinical risk identified as part of assessment activity and to direct to the appropriate service for further support.
• To ensure comprehensive verbal and written feedback to both families and agencies supporting children, which will inform recommendations for local Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision and also future care plans provided at a multi–agency level.
• To provide a highly expert assessment where opinion regarding a child’s needs may differ across the CAMHS and other agencies.
• To provide appropriate support structures through supervision and consultation to the MDT Assessment panel and wider support networks around complex presentation where ASD may be diagnosed within the context of multiple contributing factors including intellectual disability, mental health and social care needs, with a view to providing a more comprehensive formulation / understanding of need

We would also consider applications from candidates seeking part time hours.

Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. The cost of the DBS application is £26.40 (standard) or £54.40 (enhanced), this cost will be deducted from your salary over the first 2 months of employment.

You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. An annual fee of £16 per year applies.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Post graduate doctorate in clinical psychology as accredited by the BPS
• Current Registration with the HCPC
• Additional training in relation to supervision of unqualified and qualified staff

Training

• Further specialist training in the diagnostic assessment of children & young people with Autism / ASD.
• Advanced knowledge, experience and expertise gained in at least one specialist area of clinical practise gained though post-qualification specialist training and supervised practise (e.g. Psychotherapy, neuropsychology, Attachment Therapy, Clinical Supervision)
• Training in Cognitive Assessment e.g. psychometric testing of children with complex developmental concerns.
• Further relevant post qualification training including psychological models of assessing and treating developmental trauma.
• Further training in the assessment of comorbid neurodevelopmental presentations e.g. ADHD

Experience

• Extensive experience in the assessment of children & young people where there may be underlying Autism / ASD in line diagnostic criterion and NICE guidelines
• Experience of assessment of children/ young people & their families presenting with a broad range of mental health needs both in terms of severity and complexity, where there may be multiple contributing factors to understanding their presentation & informing further treatment.
• Experience in the specific assessment and formulation of both child and adult attachment.
• Experience of offering a consultation model to supporting the MDT and wider network around the child.
• Experience of effective multi-disciplinary, multi-agency working.
• Provision of clinical supervision and training to psychologists and practitioners from other professional groups
• Experience of coordinating MDT assessment.
• Experience of clinical audit and/or service evaluation
• Experience of staff training.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of assessment approaches to exploring possible ASD in the context of mental health and relational needs.
• Knowledge of the Diagnostic criterion using DSM 5 or ICD11 in the application of ASD assessment.
• Knowledge of NICE guidance in the assessment of ASD in children and young people where there may be additional mental health or social care needs
• Detailed knowledge of a range of models of assessment, formulation, management and treatment of mental health difficulties & relational trauma across a broad age range 0-19 years.
• Knowledge of the Safeguarding protocol

Skills

• To communicate in skilled and sensitive manner information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment options of clients.
• Specialist skills in engaging with clients with complex communication needs and clinical presentations.
• Research and Audit skills to evidence the efficacy of specialist interventions, in conjunction with partner providers, service managers and to evaluate patient experience including the development of appropriate outcomes measure for the service.
• Research & or Audit activity applied within a Specialist Childrens health setting.
• Supervision of audit & research activity within a specialist CAMHS setting.

Additional Information

• We reserve the right to close the post early once we have received a sufficient number of applicants.
• The Trust believes in treating everyone with dignity and respect and encourages applications from all sectors of the community. We guarantee an interview to candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum essential criteria.
• In submitting an application form, you authorise Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to confirm from your previous or current NHS employer and other prior employers; previous NHS service details and personal data held about you. This data will be transferred using NHS Electronic Staff Record and third party systems via an automated process and only used for the purposes of obtaining and maintaining accurate employment records, should you be appointed to the post. Should you require any further information please refer our Privacy Policy shown on the Trust website, please click here for more information.
• For eligible posts, DBS disclosures are mandatory before commencement of employment. If you are in a position that is deemed a regulated adult and/or child care role, you will not be able to start your employment until we have received a satisfactory DBS Disclosure. The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Convictions which would otherwise be considered as 'spent' will also be checked as part of an Enhanced DBS Disclosure.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.