Job summary
- Main area
- Psychotherapy
- Grade
- Band 7
- Contract
- Fixed term: 12 months (Business Development)
- Hours
- Part time - 15 hours per week
- Job ref
- 222-LS-CAMHS-747
- Employer
- West London NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Hammesmith & Fullham CAMH
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £56,276 - £63,176 per annum inclusive pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 22/12/2025 17:00
Employer heading
Child Psychotherapist
Band 7
West London NHS Trust provides a full range of mental health, community and physical healthcare services for children, adults and older people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.
We also provide some specialist services that are commissioned regionally, such as our medium secure services; and nationally, such as the Cassel Hospital for people with complex and severe personality disorder and our high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital.
Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist to join the Hammersmith and Fulham CAMHS Child and Family Team for a one-year fixed-term contract (4 sessions at Band 7) to cover a career break.
We are seeking a motivated and enthusiastic Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist with substantial experience working within multi-disciplinary, multi-agency, and culturally diverse settings. The successful candidate will be skilled in working with children and families who present with high levels of complexity, and will be confident in delivering both thorough assessments and effective therapeutic interventions.
In this role, you will provide psychotherapy assessments and specialist psychoanalytic treatment, including Short-Term Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (STPP) and parent work, alongside a range of more generic clinical duties.
The needs of young people and their families will be central to your work. You will collaborate closely with service users and colleagues to ensure the service continues to meet the needs of the local population. Given the cultural diversity of Hammersmith and Fulham, you will contribute actively to ensuring that the service remains accessible, inclusive, and responsive.
Main duties of the job
The post would suit someone who is passionate about delivering high-quality, effective services to young people and their families, and who values collaboration with multidisciplinary and multi-agency partners in addressing the complex challenges facing child and adolescent mental health services.
In this role, you will provide an efficient, effective and comprehensive child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy service to children and young people presenting with severe, complex and persistent mental health difficulties, as well as to their families and carers. You will work closely and collaboratively with CAMHS colleagues and the wider professional network supporting each young person.
As a member of the multidisciplinary team, you will also offer consultation to external agencies and play an active role in promoting the discipline and practice of child psychotherapy within Hammersmith and Fulham CAMHS.
Working for our organisation
West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.
Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ 4,500 staff, of whom 56% are BME. Our turnover for 2023-24 is £426m.
The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.
The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached.
The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Good relevant honours degree, or a recognised equivalent.
- Other related professional qualification or equivalent.
- Postgraduate accredited training in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy.
- Eligibility for full membership of Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP).
- Keyboard skills (physical skills)
Experience
Essential criteria
- Pre-qualification professional experience with children, adolescents and families (e.g. clinical/educational psychology, teaching, social work).
- Experience of work with complex family situations where there is a threat of abuse and breakdown.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups with presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity and across the age range of 0-18, including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
- Substantial experience in working in multi-disciplinary, multi-agency, multi-cultural context.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of work with therapeutic groups of children.
- Substantial experience of work with families where the parents are mentally ill.
- Experience of assessment and intervention with individuals with neurodevelopmental difficulties.
- Experience of professional teaching and training.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Good knowledge of relevant theories, practices and research in the field of child and adolescent development and psychotherapy and ability to apply them to relevant work situations.
- Evidence of continuous professional development as recommended by the ACP.
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of adult mental health problems.
- Knowledge of research methodology.
- Specialist areas of knowledge based on further training and experience.
Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with patients, staff, administrators and managers about highly complex and sensitive matters in situation of potential conflict or psychological/emotional pain, and where mental health problems affect relationships.
- Capacity to listen to other points of view effectively about highly complex issues through reports, publication or public presentation.
- Good level of analytic skills and understanding of unconscious processes and their impact on the individual, group and institutional processes.
- Ability to remain still and maintain intense concentration in clinical settings with children, adolescents, parents/carers and families where there may be high level of distress, verbal and physical aggression or chaotic activity.
- Ability to integrate available highly complex clinical information into a coherent formulation and to apply it in treatment and clinical management.
- Ability to monitor and assess risk and act accordingly.
- Writes clear records and observes policies, procedures and guidelines.
- Ability to plan and organise own workload and time.
- Ability to plan, co-ordinate and organise aspects of service activities.
- IT and internet research skills.
- Ability to conduct audit and research.
- Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues to plan, evaluate, monitor and develop services.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Ivana Ruzic
- Job title
- Head of Psychotherapy
- Email address
- [email protected]
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