153249 Perinatal Parent Infant Therapist

NHS Scotland is committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. To this end, NHS Scotland welcomes applications from all sections of society.

**Please note we anticipate a high level of interest in this position and may close the vacancy early once a sufficient amount of applications are received. Therefore, please make sure you complete and submit your application at an early stage**

This post requires the post holder to have a PVG Scheme membership/ record. If the post holder is not a current PVG member for the required regulatory group (i.e. child and/or adult) then an application will need to be made to Disclosure Scotland and deemed satisfactory before they can begin in post.

Please note: As this post is part-time the salary will be pro-rata.

Are you a compassionate, motivated and experienced mental health professional with a passion for perinatal and infant mental health?

The Lothian Perinatal Mental Health Service is made up of the Community Perinatal Mental Health Team (CPMHT) and Mother & Baby Inpatient Unit (MBU). We are multidisciplinary teams which support woman and birthing people, their babies and families from conception until babies reach their first birthday (and sometimes a little beyond). We provide assessment and specialist treatment and care for women and birthing people experiencing really tough times- when they present to us with complex and severe mental health difficulties. Our teams are made up of psychologists, nurses, psychiatrists, nursery nurses, social worker and occupational therapist. As a regional lead Board, we also provide support, training and supervision to partner Boards across South-East Scotland.

We are delighted to be recruiting a permanent perinatal parent-infant therapist (PPIT) who will support delivery of our parent-infant therapy pathway across both the CPMHT and MBU. Supporting the relationship between our mums/ parents and their babies, the PPIT will maintain a caseload for parent-infant therapeutic interventions where the caregiver is experiencing severe and complex mental health difficulties. The PPIT will contribute to the delivery of groups such as the Circle of Security Parenting programme. They will support the consultant psychologist, and Principal Parent-Infant Psychologist to deliver training and supervision/ consultation to non-therapy trained colleagues both within perinatal services and with our wider colleagues in health and social care across the Lothians.

We are seeking a motivated, experienced and compassionate mental health professional who has experience of working with parent-infant dyads as well as working with adults with complex mental health difficulties, and who has demonstrable additional training in intervention in the parent-infant relationship. Working as part of a wide multi-disciplinary team, it is crucial that candidates demonstrate commitment not only to their own professional integrity but respect to those professional represented across our service. Candidates must be able to demonstrate their commitment to delivering a service which is accessible to and respectful to all we serve.

Applications for the post will be capped, and late applications cannot be considered, so we recommend that you apply as early as you are able.

We warmly welcome informal enquiries and questions, which can be made to Dr Rachel Fraser, Consultant in Perinatal and Parent-infant Psychology rachel.fraser6@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk