Tower Hamlets CAMHS - Systemic Family Therapist

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Tower Hamlets strive to provide the very best services for our children and young people.

The service embraces continual improvement and the staff and management team have a high degree of enthusiasm for quality improvement. The emotional and behavioral team assesses and treats children, families & young people with a wide range of presenting difficulties, in this busy East London CAMHS. The team aims to offer an accessible, flexible, timely and responsive CAMHS input to children, young people and their families, and their referrers.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for good communicators with energy, motivation and enthusiasm; the ability to work with families and individuals with complex difficulties, and to work effectively with multi-disciplinary and multi-agency contexts; flexibility of approach; commitment to evidence-based practice; and, the pursuit of the highest possible quality of service.

It is a challenging, exciting and deeply rewarding job and we look forward to hearing from candidates who have the qualifications and experience to work in a busy and sometimes challenging Tier 3 CAMHS, and who want to extend their experience and knowledge of working in specialised and innovative ways. This post would suit a newly qualified family therapist as well as a more experienced family therapist looking for a new challenge. We welcome applications from the local community.

You will be part of a multidisciplinary team, which includes three other family therapists, offering goal-based episodes of care to young people, children and families presenting with a variety of challenges. You will also contribute to the duty rota.

About us

The successful applicant will be based at the Greatorex Street Clinic, and we anticipate that work will continue to be a blend of working in the office and from other sites in the community, and with the possibility of working from home.

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached Job Description & Person Specification for full details.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact: Phil Myers, Lead Family Therapist on 07932 337450 or by email philipmyers@ nhs.net

Person Specification

Education, Training and Qualifications

• Family Therapy qualification
• Masters or Doctoral level qualification in Systemic Psychotherapy or AFT agreed equivalent
• UKCP Registered
• Evidence of continuous and relevant professional training and development (CPD) in keeping with qualification period

Experience

• Previous experience of working in CAMHS
• Experience of working with (assessment, formulation and treating) a wide range of CAMHS clinical presentations
• Experience of risk assessment and risk management
• Experience of working with children, young people and families in emotional crisis
• Experience of care planning and delivering episodes of evidence-based interventions
• Experience, skills and flexibility to contribute to and facilitate effective working within a multi-disciplinary team setting
• Experience of working with partner agencies to support children and young people
• Experience of working in a culturally diverse area and inner-city area, and delivering culturally sensitive care
• Experience of working providing modified interventions for children and young people who may have mental health needs in the context of neurovariance
• Experience of delivering brief, consultative interventions

Knowlege and Skills

• A high degree of self-awareness and an ability to reflect on personal and professional attitudes and accept feedback
• Awareness of current national guidelines and policies in the field of CAMHS (such as Child Protection Guidelines, THRIVE Framework, Green Paper) and relevant legislation (e.g., Children's Act)
• In depth knowledge of CAMHS issues including assessment and interventions
• Knowledge of standard setting and audit implementation
• Evidence of well-developed clinical skills and knowledge in CAMHS assessments evidence-based interventions
• Evidence of clinical skills required to work with children and young people with mental health needs in the context of neurovariance
• Skilled in emergency and crisis assessments
• Able to manage own time and caseload
• Basic computer skills

Other

• Commitment to equal opportunities
• Self-motivated, assertive and flexible
• Proven qualities in sustaining the mental, emotional and physical demands of specialized therapeutic work with disturbed and distressed children, adolescents and their families/carer networks
• Freedom to act: Physical effort: Confined sitting position(therapy); travelling within community
• Mental effort: writing reports; planning teaching; concentrating for therapy sessions /clinical supervision; managing psychiatric emergencies; precise accuracy when administering medication (for nurses)
• Emotional effort: Dealing with families in breakdown; experiencing trauma and abuse; occasional patient complaints; conveying of unwelcome news Working conditions: Occasional verbal and physical abuse; unpredictable clinical scenarios e.g., emergency home visits; travel in community all weathers.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.