Counselling Psychologist / Clinical Lead

Our new children's home in Colchester will be responsible for providing stable, short-term and supportive placements for children who are unable to live with their birth families at the current time. This role will provide in person support and training within the home and thus is not suitable for hybrid / remote working.

As a key member of our residential staff team, the Clinical Lead will support both staff and children living in our homes, lead the development of a trauma-informed, therapeutic approach to care, evaluate the effectiveness of their input and the improved outcomes for children, and provide specialist advice and training to professionals and families/carers.

The role

In this role, you will work closely with a dynamic team of social workers, clinical leads, mental health coordinators and local mental health service providers to enhance the emotional and psychological well-being of children and young people who have experienced trauma. Your role will involve fostering nurturing collaborative relationships, and you will actively contribute to the strategic and operational development of our trauma-informed, therapeutic approach to care.

As a specialist in your field, you will provide invaluable advice and training to both professionals and families/carers, helping develop effective strategies to maintain children in their placements, resolve issues and achieve positive outcomes. Your responsibilities will also include conducting highly specialised assessments of therapeutic and placement needs when necessary. Working with a high degree of autonomy while adhering to professional guidelines and our organisational framework, you will collaborate across services to ensure the best possible outcomes for our children, young people, carers and Social Care colleagues.

Furthermore, you will play a pivotal role in continually improving our services, implementing changes and evaluating service quality. You will leverage digital technologies and innovation to enhance our function, all while celebrating and championing Equality and Diversity in every decision you make.

As we expand our residential offer, there is the potential for this role to support other children's homes within Essex., The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond. Having a driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

· A qualified practitioner with significant experience of working within the field of children and young people mental health.

Clinical background and qualifications required:

- Clinical or counselling psychologist; Doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology.

- Systemic psychotherapist; MSc in Systemic Psychotherapy

- Psychodynamic psychotherapist; Degree Masters Doctorate

- Mental Health Nurse with clinical therapy training; Mental health nurse RNMH (+ clinical therapy training) will require NMC pre-registration programme of study.

· Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. PTSD, personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities, ADHD, Autism spectrum, Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, etc.).

· Interest in trauma/attachment/strength-based and solution-focussed approaches and a keenness to promote stable and secure placements for children either in foster care or returning to their family networks.

· Evidence of continuing professional development and registration with the relevant governing body.

· Previous experience and/or interest in adoption/fostering/trauma/attachment/social care, including evidence of psychological / therapeutic assessment and treatment of service users across the full range of care settings.

· Experience of delivering consultations, training and/or supervision.

· Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.

· Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to service users, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside of the Council and NHS.

· Evidence of multi agencies/multi professional working.

· The ability and drive to be proactive in developing effective working relationships with social care and other professional colleagues is essential to the success of this role.

As we expand our residential offer, there is the potential for this role to support other children's homes within Essex.

Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It's an exciting time to join us. Not only have we been judged Outstanding by Ofsted, but we are also making significant investment into our children's residential services.

Children and Families is recognised as a service with a culture of collaboration, integrity and compassion, promoting the development and wellbeing of children, young people and their families and protecting them from neglect and abuse.Working together with partners we deliver a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future., As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service