Featured job: Clinical and Counselling Psychologists

Oxford Health is advertising a number of positions: you'll find details in the advertisement where there is the offer of a site visit. 'Restructuring is creating new positions,' says Emma Munro, Counselling Psychologist with the Bucks CAMHS Community Service, which she went on to talk about. 'The service is split into two teams: assessment and intervention. We're lucky to have received more funding for the assessment team which has created new positions. Altogether there are around 15 of us, working with 5-to-17-year-olds.'

Emma's role in the neurodevelopmental team splits across assessment and intervention. Her description gives a flavour of working for Oxford Health. 'The neurodiversity team involves psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, and health assistants work together in a holistic way. Assessment includes formal techniques like ADOS and cognitive assessments, a comprehensive developmental assessment, and also looks at the child or young person's whole environment; for instance, we're involved in school observation. We use that information to decide whether they meet the criteria for a condition and that defines which professional takes the lead in any intervention.'

Emma has worked here for four and a half years 'and a lot of people stay for a long time, only tending to leave for reasons like relocation.' So it's a good place to work? 'It really is. The team is passionate about difference and diversity, not only among the children and young people we work with but also among colleagues. Team members can genuinely be themselves, disagree in constructive ways and be open and honest. This helps us all to grow as professionals and as people. It's a great atmosphere. Just to give you an instance about how the organisation helps here, it offers inclusivity groups for staff which you can attend if you have a particular identity or if you want to learn about or support that group.'

So you'd like applicants who would value those sort of working conditions whichever role they apply for. 'Yes. We've had applicants in the past who have direct experience in this area but we train, support, and develop new members of the team. There are good preceptorship and shadowing schemes. What we're really looking for is the passion for diversity and difference that I've mentioned.'

The working conditions and support systems mentioned in the advert look good. 'I work between Aylesbury and High Wycombe and there are some really nice areas in and adjacent to Buckinghamshire. Some people live in Oxfordshire or Berkshire and commute to work. Like many organisations we work in a hybrid way – in fact, I'm at home today. That's good for activities like meetings with schools and social services, and dedicated time for report writing. It allows you more flexibility and a better use of time. But we're often meeting children who struggle to communicate so being in clinic for meetings is crucial.'

If you had to sum up the attractions of the jobs advertised, how would you do it? 'I can't speak highly enough of my colleagues. They are open and accepting and this allows us to challenge each other, to learn and to grow. The atmosphere is creative and that's a key value we have.'

Find out more via our Jobs in Psychology website.