PAIRS Senior Specialist Clinician and Leader

PAIRS Senior Specialist Clinician and Leader Job Vacancy

Position: One of either Senior Specialist Psychologist or Senior Specialist Child Psychotherapist or Senior Specialist Parent Infant Psychotherapist

Location: Kent or close surrounding area (location to be agreed)

Hours: Part-time (hours to be agreed)

Salary: Range depending on experience, £61,000 to £74,000.

This is an opportunity for a highly motivated and experienced clinician and leader to join our new developing Parent Infant Relationship Service in Kent (PAIRS). Funded by Best Start in Life through Kent County Council and delivered by Real Group Ltd. The Parent and Infant Relationship Service (PAIRS) will be providing emotional wellbeing and therapeutic support to families across Kent.

This PAIRS team is a specialist service for parents, caregivers and their infants under the age of two, as well as those expecting. We encourage experienced specialist psychologists/psychotherapists to apply. This position is open to applicants who have four years post-qualification experience, however, appropriately qualified candidates with demonstrable expertise and experience in perinatal mental health who have less years post qualification experience, may also be considered.

• Specialist Assessment: Carry out highly specialist dyadic/systemic assessments, risk assessments, and formulations for parents and infants with complex attachment or bonding difficulties.
• Intervention Delivery: Develop treatment plans and deliver Level 3 psychological/psychotherapy interventions (e.g., Parent-Infant Psychotherapy) and specialist modalities such as video feedback. Delivery of Level 2 interventions where indicated.
• Complex Case Management: Manage a caseload of families within which the parent(s)/ caregiver(s) may be experiencing mental health difficulties, adapting interventions to meet diverse cultural and linguistic needs, including working with interpreters. Evidence-Based Practice:
  Utilise clinical screening tools (MORS-SF, PHQ9, GAD7, GBO) and current theory/research to track progress.

• Strategic Coordination: Deliver co-leadership and coordination of PAIRS, developing care pathways and referral management systems to optimise service flow.
• Policy Development: Liaise with senior clinical colleagues to develop, review, and implement operational policies and procedures.
• Innovation: Identify areas for service improvement and propose changes to practices; lead service user engagement and co-production aims to integrate feedback into clinical planning.
• Governance: Exercise delegated responsibility for managing psychological resources and ensuring systematic governance of clinical practice within the team.

• Clinical Supervision: Provide highly specialised clinical supervision to junior qualified/unqualified staff (for instance psychology assistant or trainee)
• Doctoral Placements: Potentially act as a service supervisor for specialist clinical placements for a doctoral trainee (Child Psychotherapist/Clinical Psychologist in training)
• External Consultation: Provide formal and informal specialist advice and consultation to midwives, health visitors, GPs, and other external agencies.
• Training: To offer specialist infant mental health training to key stakeholders

• Audit & Evaluation: Initiate and supervise clinical audits and service-related evaluations to monitor efficacy and impact.
• Knowledge Sharing: Disseminate service evaluation findings through professional presentations and publications to contribute to the wider field of perinatal and infant mental health.
• Professional Development: Maintain and develop expertise in professional training and clinical supervision through continuous professional development (CPD).

The ideal candidate will be a senior specialist parent infant psychotherapist or psychologist and have a significant role in contributing to the specialist interventions for families, providing psychotherapeutic treatment promoting the quality of the relationship between the…