Principal Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist | Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

This post offers an exciting and unique opportunity for an experienced Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist (ACP Full Member) to work in a specialist NHS psychoanalytic psychotherapy service that works with young people aged 14-25 years-old.

The successful applicant will hold their own complex caseload, undertake clinical assessments of service users/patients and offer highly specialised treatment and therapy. This will include responsibilities for risk management and clinical governance, as well as contributing to overall service development in collaboration with other team members. The post-holder will have responsibility for providing service supervision to a group of child psychotherapy trainees on the doctoral training in child psychotherapy. This will include managing and supervising all aspects of their clinical work and activities and liaising with other relevant stakeholders (service supervisors and M80 staff). The post holder may also provide clinical supervision to other senior members of the multi-disciplinary team offering psychoanalytic psychotherapy. As a senior clinician, the post holder will also have service-wide responsibilities and areas of leadership, depending on interest, experience and service need.

1. Develop and formulate programmes of care/care packages for the formal psychotherapeutic treatment and/or management of a service user/patient's psycho- social difficulties taking into account multiple theoretical and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy and provide highly specialised advice concerning care.

2. Undertake clinical assessments of service users/patients and offer highly skilled treatment or therapy using appropriate therapeutic modalities

3. Manage complex case work.

4. Responsibility for the provision of Service Supervision and management to doctoral trainees in child & adolescent psychotherapy through the duration of their 4 - 5 year professional training.

5. Communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, complex condition-related information concerning the assessment, formulation, and treatment plans of service users/patients under their care who may be hostile or present with challenging behaviour and to monitor, evaluate and report as appropriate

6. Lead on liaison work and cross-sector partnership working such as GPs / schools/universities/ local authorities

This is not an exhaustive list, please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification for more information on the role requirements and duties.

The Adolescent and Young Adult Service (AYAS)

We are a specialist Psychoanalytic Therapies Service for young people between the ages of 14 and 25, designed to meet a variety of needs specific to adolescents and young adults who are struggling with mental health issues and their parents and families. This service represents a long history and established tradition at the Tavistock Centre, spanning over 50 years, of offering a service to adolescents and young adults during this crucial phase of development. The AYAS is staffed by a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in the psychological and emotional difficulties of this age range. The Service includes child & adolescent psychotherapists, child and adolescent psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, social workers, and those training in these disciplines.

The AYAS aims to offer a flexible and accessible service, offering a range of interventions, including brief work (DIT, 16 sessions), group work, time limited (STTP up to 28 sessions) and longer term psychotherapy for both individuals as well as group psychotherapy. The Service also provides therapeutic support and consultation to parents and families of adolescents and young adults, where this is more appropriate and when it can support the young person's therapy.