Child And Adolescent Psychotherapy Trainee

Job summary

We are delighted to invite an application for a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy training post to be based in the South Beds Neuro-Developmental (NDT)
Team with dedicated time to the Emotional and Behavioural (E&B) in Luton CAMHS.

Health Education England has confirmed funding for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Traineeship in South Beds. The funding can extend to 4 years of clinical training at an ACP accredited training school. Applications are invited from candidates who have been accepted onto a clinical training beginning September 2026. They will already be working with children and young people in a professional capacity and will have an interest in and some understanding of psychoanalytical thinking in Parent and Infant/Child relationship and its impact on further development.

The post within the Emotional and Behavioural Team will focus on early specialist intervention with those children who may present with neurodevelopmental conditions.

The candidate will take up a post in the Neurodevelopmental Team with dedicated time into the Emotional and Behavioural Team (E&B) in Luton CAMHS team.

The successful candidate will be involved in the core work of the locality CAMHS teams alongside undertaking their psychotherapy training cases for the course of the 4 years clinical placement.

There will be opportunities to rotate across the different specialist teams (i.e. '0-5' Team; Primary Care Access Team; Eating Disorders; and Mental Health in Schools Team) with the aim of developing a specialism towards the end of the training.

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are:
We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

The Team is part of a comprehensive stepped care approach to CAMHS care in Luton following the I Thrive model, with our first step access services offering Giving Advice and Getting Help services to schools, GP practices and Early Help services, and Getting More Help and Risk Management Services to those who require medium to long-term support from our multi-disciplinary teams.

Our clinic is readily accessible from North London or from Milton Keynes and Northampton (Mid Beds and Bedford). ELFT offers attractive recruitment packages and we are committed to offering our staff the opportunity to develop their skills. The Trust supports commuting into Luton and offers generous contributions towards Annual Rail Travel Cards.

You are encouraged to contact:

Luton CAMHS
:
Miguel Massa (Lead Child Psychotherapist and E&B Clinical Team Lead)  or Eugenia Baibazarova (Principal Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist)  or Natalie Chakaduka (NDT Operational Lead)

For details/informal visits. Tel

• Honours Degree
• Observation Course or equivalent pre-clinical course already completed
• Only candidates who have been accepted on the IPCAPA training for the academic year beginning Sept'26 to be considered

• previous relevant professional qualification

• Experience of working with infants/children/young people and their parents/carers with neuro-developmental conditions and providing interventions aimed at facilitating attachment and bonding
• Experience of work with children/families (pre-latency/latency/adolescent) in a range of community settings
• Experience in a mental health setting
• Ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, clinically sensitive information to children, young people and parents and other professional colleagues within and outside the NHS

• Experience of multi-agency working (i.e. education, social care, community paediatrics, voluntary sector, etc)
• Experience in working with child development and community paediatric settings
• Experience of work with children/families with neurodevelopmental difficulties and learning difficulties
• Experience of working in an acute setting

• Some…