An exciting opportunity has arisen within Southwark CAMHS. This is a full-time fixed term post, to cover maternity leave, for a Behavioural Support Practitioner working across two teams within Southwark CAMHS, CAMHS Enhanced Intervention Service (CEIS) and the Neurodevelopmental Service (NDS). The Neurodevelopmental Service is a tier 3 CAMHS service which provides assessment and intervention for the behavioural and mental health needs of neurodivergent children. CEIS is an innovative team which provides an intensive level of intervention and support to children with autism and/or learning disability, and their families, who present with behaviours which challenge, where there is a significant risk of placement breakdown. CEIS is a joint partnership between the All Age Disability (AAD) Service (Southwark Council) and NDS. CEIS employs a Positive Behaviour Supports framework for the delivery of support to young people and their families, as well as drawing on multi-disciplinary input from within the team and from AAD and NDS. As such this role offers rich opportunities for delivering high quality PBS while also incorporating and learning from other theoretical approaches and interventions. Both teams employ a trauma informed approach, and are fully committed to employing a neuroaffirmative perspective which prioritises the lived experience and quality of life of the young people and families under its care.
The key areas of responsibility are:
To provide applied behavioural assessment and intervention for children and young people (CYP) who present behaviour that challenges services and poses a high level of risk to their well-being, and the stability of their placement (i.e. home or school), including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.
To employ the principles of Positive Behaviour Support in all aspects of clinical work.
To contribute to the development of the CEIS team, including treatment pathways and interventions, developing partnerships with other agencies, and other aspects of governance.
To participate in strengthening local services and developing capable environments though training, consultation and modelling.
To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.
To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate.
To participate in service evaluation, audit and research.
To work as an autonomous professional within professional and Trust guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by the policies and procedures of the service, taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions with support of clinical supervisor.
To plan and facilitate staff training and teaching, and presentations as appropriate
This role provides excellent professional support including:
Specialist external supervision is provided by a UKBA (cert)
Access to two SLAM-wide PBS supervision groups, one which is open to all interested professionals and which is only for those in PBS roles (e.g. UKBA (cert)).
We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance.
Some of our benefits are highlighted here:
Generous pay, pensions and leave, we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
Work life balance, flexible working and support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing.
Career development, There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
Car lease, our staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars
Accommodation, our staff benefits from keyworker housing available which is available on selected sites
NHS discounts, with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website.
Other benefits include:
Counselling services
Wellbeing events
Long service awards
Cycle to work scheme
Season ticket loan
Childcare vouchers
Staff restaurants
Key Responsibilities:
KR 1 Clinical and Client Care:
- To provide applied behavioural assessments, formulations and interventions for CYP who present behaviour that challenges services and poses risks to their well-being.
- To work with family carers or with staff who provide direct support to CYP to enable them to develop their skills to work effectively with individuals whose behaviour challenges.
- To ensure that interventions and work with care staff or families of referred CYP adheres to and actualises the principles of Positive Behaviour Support, and is culturally appropriate.
- To manage a clinical caseload taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions with support of clinical supervisor.
- To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning:
- To contribute to the effective working of the CEIS and Neurodevelopmental team and to the development and maintenance of a Positive Behaviour Support framework within the service.
- To contribute to the team’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
- To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
- To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals, and other agencies concerned with CYP in order to develop and review care plans.
KR 3 Policy and service development:
- To implement policies and procedures in own area of work.
- To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
- To contribute to service development through participating in appropriate projects.
KR 4 Care or management of resources:
- To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.
- To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.
KR 5 Management and supervision:
- Where requested: to supervise trainee Behaviour Support Practitioners after accreditation by the training course(s) and completion of the Trust’s Supervision Training.
- Where requested: to supervise trainee applied psychologists or qualified staff, within own area of specialism
KR 6 Teaching and Training:
- To provide training to family carers and to support workers to enable them to develop their skills to work effectively with individuals whose behaviour challenges services, and to implement and adhere to the principles of Positive Behaviour Support in all aspects of care.
- To provide occasional specialist training in behavioural approaches to care to other professions as appropriate.
- To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.
KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance:
- To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
- To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.
KR 8 Research and development:
- To participate regularly in service evaluation, audits or research relevant to service needs.
- To lead occasionally on specific service evaluation, audit or research.
KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development:
- To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychologist according to Trust guidelines.
- To ensure own Continuing Professional Development as required by the Personal Development Plan.
- To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
- To comply with the Trust’s Code of Conduct for Non-Regulated Clinical Staff, and ensure professional development in line with it
KR10 General:
- To travel to home visits, community placements, care planning meetings, and service-related meetings as appropriate and across the Trust when required.
- To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst CYP and follow trust policies relating to its management.
- To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations such as those involving challenging behaviour and to support others involved in such situations.
