NursingNetUK

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities:

• To be responsible for a caseload of complex assessment, treatment and consultation work with children, adolescents and their families, with problems of behavioural, emotional, psychological or mental health issues, using the highly specialist Dialectical Behavioural Therapy approach.
• To operate as a member of the multi-disciplinary Outpatient DBT Service to provide a high standard of service to children, adolescents and their families who have been referred to the DBT Outpatient Service and to professionals from other organisations. They will be responsible for assessing and treating children, young people and their families in relation to a range of highly complex emotional, psychological or behavioural problems with particular regard to DBT.
• To work in ways which are sensitive to and appropriate for the needs of families from a wide range of racial, cultural and religious backgrounds. This includes abilities to understand and offer therapeutic interventions to a variety of family forms including single parents, same sex couples and their families, extended families and people with mental health difficulties.
• To provide supervision to junior staff of the same discipline.

Clinical Responsibility

• To assess, plan and implement psychologically based programmes of care for individual children and young people, carers and families with complex behavioural, emotional, psychological or mental health issues.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for all children and adolescents, including the protective and risk factors in the network of significant relationships.
• To be responsible for a defined caseload and to employ methods of proven efficacy with particular regard to the provision of DBT to meet care plan objectives
• To develop, implement and manage evidenced-based psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, employed individually and in synthesis, co-working with other team members/disciplines as appropriate
• To evaluate and adjust practices based on feedback.
• To act as care coordinator, where appropriate, ensuring provision of a care plan, taking responsibility for initiating, planning and review of the client’s care, ensuring the work of others involved and communicating effectively with the child/ the carer/ professional as appropriate, monitoring the progress of multi-disciplinary interventions.
• To carry out assessments and interventions jointly with co-workers from the multi-disciplinary team as appropriate.
• To contribute and develop skills in Clinical Governance.
• To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and mental health

Leadership and Staff Management Responsibility

• To clinically and/or professionally supervise junior staff and trainees within the DBT Team as appropriate and as agreed with professional leads and operational managers.
• To lead and contribute to reading and clinical seminars, participate in the training/education of both clinic team members and trainees placed at the clinic.
• To act as a positive role model for other colleagues and give advice as well as seek advice from Senior Clinicians/Managers as appropriate.
• To take part in clinical and managerial supervision, both as a supervisor and supervisee, managing own caseload within agreed parameters and levels.
• To ensure regular supervision of own casework by clinical supervisor.
• To be responsible for identifying one’s own needs for professional development, discussing and planning this with the supervisor.
• To take an active part in annual staff appraisal/ Individual Performance Review

Financial Responsibility

• To ensure appropriate use of trust resources e.g. clinical tools, office equipment and stationeries.

Service Development and Improvement

• To complete activity and audit data as required and contribute and participate in research and clinical audit as appropriate.
• To contribute and participate within in service training within the clinic e.g. Clinic meetings/ Audit Meetings/ Research Projects, etc.
• To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the service provided by the multi-disciplinary team; including the collection and use of service user feedback and clinical outcomes information.
• To contribute to the development of Clinical Governance agenda within the service.
• To identify unmet needs of the service and bring these to the attention of senior clinicians/managers.
• To consult and liaise with the operational managers and professional leads regarding Clinical objectives and directives.

Communications

• To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner to the parents, carers and professionals involved, and when appropriate, to the children and young people themselves concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of multi- disciplinary care.
• To interpret and evaluate highly complex, sensitive and sometimes contentious information to children and families, carers who may be hostile and aggressive; taking into account historical, environmental and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
• To provide highly skilled and sensitive advice, guidance to other clinicians within the clinic, professionals from other agencies, patient’s and/or their families.
• To take into account issues of parental responsibility when undertaking assessment, consultation and intervention with children and young people.
• To liaise and maintain good communication with referrers and other professionals from other agencies involved with children and adolescents on matters of mutual concern regarding individual service users.
• To actively participate in MDT DBT team meetings and maintain links with colleagues both in the DBT Team and in own professional group within wider CAMHS and Trust.
• To work with other team members in implementing priorities and initiatives as agreed by the DBT CAMHS Community Therapy Lead and Professional leads