Skip to main content
Please wait, loading

Job summary

Main area
Children & Adolescent Services
Grade
Band 8C
Contract
Fixed term: 12 months (Business Development)
Hours
Part time - 22.5 hours per week
Job ref
222-LS-CAMHS-799
Employer
West London NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Ealing CAMHS
Town
London
Salary
£85,641 - £97,746 Per annum Inclusive, pro rata
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
30/07/2026 23:59

Employer heading

West London NHS Trust logo

CAMHS Head of Psychology

Band 8C

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

The Head of Psychology Roles have been embedded in West London CAMHS, a vibrant and thriving service, for many years, and a role that is of strategic value within the psychological professions in the Trust. Owing to the appointment of one of the postholders into the Interim Ealing Borough Clinical Lead role, we are seeking a secondment for a new Interim Head of Psychology for Ealing CAMHS. 

This post will lead Psychology within Ealing CAMHS and also some appropriate tasks across the service line, in liaison with the other borough’s Heads of Psychology. The successful candidate will be responsible for the leadership, management, supervision and development of Psychology within Ealing CAMHS and beyond. 

Psychology is very well established profession in CAMHS services and has a large group of staff who deliver innovative and highly regarded clinical services in many different contexts. There is a well-functioning psychology leadership team in place with three other Heads of Psychology covering other Boroughs a number of 8b posts across CAMHS.

Main duties of the job

The job description sets out the Head of Discipline and clinical responsibilities for the Consultant Clinical Psychologist(s) in CAMHS. 

In addition to providing a professional lead role for the profession, the post-holder will also undertake an active clinical role in Ealing CAMHS. A key component of this role is to work with the CAMHS senior management team developing Psychology in Ealing and across the three boroughs covered by the Trust. The leadership and management responsibilities may require at times having a presence in the other CAMHS locations.

We would be delighted to hear from experienced Principal Clinical Psychologists with extensive clinical experience; leadership and management skills and want to work creatively in supporting and developing Psychology within CAMHS and across the Trust.

The WTE available for backfill is 0.6 WTE.  

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 & Training

Essential criteria
  • CAMHS Core Professional Training relevant to discipline: Clinical or Counselling Psychology; Systemic Family Psychotherapy, Child Psychotherapy, Nursing, Social Work and/or Occupational Therapy
  • Professional registration with the appropriate Regulatory Body for the discipline (e.g. Health Professions Council (HPC), Association of Family Therapy, UKCP, Association of Child Psychotherapy, NMC etc)
Desirable criteria
  • Post-/graduate or doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice within CAMHS
  • Supervision Training
  • Leadership/Management Training

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Extensive experience of working as a qualified member of the discipline for a significant number of years within CAMHS services
  • A breadth of experience in clinical leadership and management.
  • Extensive experience of managing member of the discipline/others
  • Experience of representing the discipline within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
  • Extensive experience of the application of Discipline specific practice in different cultural contexts
  • Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups in CAMHS services, and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings
  • Experience of maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
  • Experience of working in an effective time-limited manner with children and adolescents, including the use of techniques and modalities relevant to the discipline.
  • Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan.
  • Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision of the relevant discipline
  • Experience of Supervising member of the discipline across a range of service groups within CAMHS and related settings, with experience of liaison with other agencies (local authority and education) in relation to the development and commissioning of posts and the working up of service level agreements in relation to these posts
  • Experience of the management of staff including appraisal, performance management and budget holding commensurate with a leadership role.
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings, including primary care.
  • Experience of managing members of other disciplines
  • Experience of service development

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria
  • Skills in the use of complex methods of assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
  • Knowledge and skills of the application of assessment and therapy within child and adolescent populations.
  • Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
  • Skills in providing consultation to other professional and nonprofessional groups.
  • Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
  • Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the relevant Regulatory Body.
  • Formal training in supervision of other psychological therapy staff.
Desirable criteria
  • Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
  • Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised therapies and assessment methodologies relevant to discipline and CAMHS.
  • Knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis.
  • Knowledge of the development of the discipline in the national context.
  • Experience of developing and including service user initiatives in service planning

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Fair Train work experience quality standard - gold standardNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleJob share policyInvestors in PeopleDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - BronzeArmed Forces Covenant

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

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Keyur Joshi
Job title
Associate Director of CAMHS
Email address
[email protected]
Apply online nowAlert me to similar vacancies