Are you a Practitioner Psychologist with a clinical or forensic background and a passion for working with children and young people who have experienced early adversity and have complex mental health difficulties?
Are you motivated by a role where you can make a huge difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable individuals in the community?
If so, our Senior Practitioner Psychologist position at Lansdowne Children's Home in Hailsham, East Sussex may be just the role for you!
Lansdowne Secure Children’s Home is 12 bedded social care provision for young people aged 12-17. The young people have complex needs and are described as ‘high need/high vulnerability/high risk’.
The health team's focus is informed by the Framework for Integrated Care (also known as SECURE STAIRS). This aims to support trauma-informed care and formulation-driven, evidence-based, whole-systems approaches to creating change for young people within the Children and Young People’s Secure Estate (CYPSE).
You will be joining our Integrated Health and Emotional Wellbeing Service (IHEWS) at Lansdowne Secure Children's Home in Hailsham, East Sussex. We are a small and welcoming multi-disciplinary health team whose role is to support both the young people and the residential staff within the centre.
Your main duties will involve being responsible for the assessment of, and some therapy with, the young person; consultation to, and support and training of, the care and education staff group; including supervision of other Psychological Professional staff when applicable (e.g, Practitioner Psychologist, Assistant Psychologist and Trainee Psychologist). You will work closely with the wider multi-disciplinary health team and will receive supervision from a Principal Practitioner Psychologist within SPFT CAMHS.
As part of your recruitment to the post we would include discussion around supporting attendance in training in Level 1 Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP).
This is a 30 hours per week role working days will ideally include Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Discussion will take place on appointment.
Sussex Partnership provides mental health and learning disability care for all age groups across Sussex and for children and young people in Hampshire.
We encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/ life balance brings about huge health-related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, flexible start/ finish times or anything else. If it works for you and works for the role, we'll do our best to make it happen.
We’d love you to join our Trust, rated ‘good’ overall and ‘outstanding’ for caring by the CQC. Our staff agree, in our recent staff survey 82% told us that they recognise that care for patients is our top priority.
Other key survey results:
- 70% highlighting flexible working as a key point for satisfaction at work
- 79% reporting feeling able to make suggestions to improve the work in their team
- 77% identifying opportunities to show initiative in their roles
We welcome applications from Clinical or Forensic Psychologists who have experience post qualification in working with children and young people, and experience of supervising other psychological professionals, for example, Assistant Psychologists.
Preceptorship:
This role can be offered as a Band 7-8a preceptorship, providing a structured and supportive transition for newly qualified practitioners. You will receive dedicated mentorship from an experienced practitioner to build your confidence and refine your skills. The preceptorship process typically takes between 20 months and 2 years to complete, enabling you to smoothly progress to a Band 8a position.
Note: The specific band (8a or 7) will be determined based on your qualifications and experience
The setting
Lansdowne Secure Children’s Home is a 12 bedded social care provision for young people aged 12-17. It is in Hailsham, East Sussex and will require the successful candidate to work on site. The young people are placed with us for welfare reasons, secured under the Children's Act (1989), Section 25. They have a history of persistent absconding and are likely to continue to abscond from anything other than secure accommodation, during which episodes they are likely to suffer significant harm, or injure themselves or others.
The funded training
As part of your recruitment to the post you will be funded to attend training in Level 1 Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP). DDP informed parenting is one of the key models of care that informs the practice of the mental health staff in their work with the young people and care staff group. This model was chosen because of its congruence with the Framework for Integrated Care's core principal which is that it is the environment and 24/7 relationships within in that are proposed as the primary agents of change for young people in secure settings. As a model of intervention it is also particularly well suited to young people who have experienced developmental trauma and who as a result are understandably mistrustful of others and may struggle to engage in a reciprocal relationship.
Career Progression: We know that building on your personal and professional development are key to providing the best patient care. We are committed to providing a working environment where you can progress your career, build your knowledge base and develop your skillset.
As part of this role, you will be a member of the Trustwide Psychological Professions (PP) Network and will have access to other specialist PP and Trust Networks. We will support your leadership development by offering access to our Sussex Partnership Psychological Professions leadership development course.
