Highly Specialist Applied Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

To provide highly specialist psychological support, advice, and clinical supervision / consultation regarding children and young people (CYP) in care, and care leavers, who would benefit from a psychological perspective regarding their needs and how to best support them.

To use their highly specialist psychological formulation skills and understanding of trauma-informed care, to support CAMHS practitioners working with Children in Care to develop needs-led psychologically informed formulations and care plans.

To provide highly specialist psychological support and consultation to residential homes, foster carers and professional networks.

To work autonomously and collaboratively within the multidisciplinary team around the child, providing consultation, advice, guidance, support and teaching to other agencies/ professionals such as local authority social workers.

To provide highly specialist psychological assessments and therapeutic interventions for young people who are looked after by the local authority, and to care leavers, including children and young people living in residential childrens homes and foster placements.

To provide psychological support to children and families who are experiencing (or have experienced) serious emotional trauma, bereavement, relationship difficulties or placement disruption, and also to provide support to parents, carers and staff working with such clients.

To formulate psychological treatment plans that are specific to each child and family, based upon an analysis of complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes contributing to the presentation, and selectively drawing on appropriate conceptual and theoretical models.

To facilitate multi-agency consultations and contribute to systemic thinking within complex networks supporting young people who are looked after or are care leavers.

To select and administer highly specialist psychological assessments including specialised psychometric assessment (including skilled manipulation of test material), neuropsychological assessments, self-report measures, as appropriate), structured observations, clinical interviews, and to interpret and integrate this highly complex data.

To provide written summaries and reports to the multidisciplinary team around the child following assessment and consultation.

To provide ad-hoc support and advice to local authority staff and carers

To be responsible for ensuring clinical outcome data is routinely entered and appropriately collated.

To lead on and contribute to service development work

To deputise for the Clinical Lead for children in care when needed, for example, by attending panel meetings and operational meetings for children in care with local stakeholders.

To work closely with the Consultant Clinical Psychologist to support the embedding of trauma-informed care and the Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) framework into routine practice in the Children in Care Team and wider local authority teams.

To provide clinical and managerial supervision to less experienced staff.

To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans. To provide general advice to other professionals on risk assessment and management.

To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans, and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of care.

To provide clinical supervision for doctoral trainees and assistant psychologists and to continue to develop skills in the area of professional post-qualification teaching, training and supervision of other staff in the delivery of psychological services

To ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality psychology service, by providing strong, effective professional direction, ensuring the delivery of evidence based psychological interventions and practice.

To continue to demonstrate advanced psychological skills in practice and provide support and advice regarding service development / development and implementation of highly specialist psychological interventions and the delivery of the highest quality of care in collaboration with service users, carers, staff, managers and, other agencies across a number of teams/geographical areas.

Offer clinical leadership in respect of psychological aspects of the service, coordination and management, as agreed by the head of the speciality.

Person Specification

Knowledge

Essential

• Highly specialist knowledge of assessment tools and therapeutic interventions relevant to client group and settings, and an ability to compare and contrast relative benefits underpinned by evidence based practice.

Experience

Essential

• Extensive post qualification experience working as an Applied Psychologist with children and families.
• Extensive post qualification expertise in maintaining multi-professional and multi-agency partnerships.
• Extensive post qualification experience of providing reflective supervision or specialist consultation/ training and advice within the service they work and/or partner agencies.
• Expertise in applying a trauma informed approach to working with children / young people with mental health needs.

Desirable

• Experience of being involved in service development and contributing to policy planning.

Qualifications

Essential

• Post-graduate training (doctoral level equivalent) in clinical / counselling / forensic / educational / health psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• Trained in clinical supervision and the supervision of doctoral trainees.
• Additional specialist training related to working with children, young people and their families and carers.

Desirable

• Additional qualification in relevant therapeutic interventions / approaches e.g. DBT, IPT, CBT, IFS, PBS, family therapy or systemic practice, EMDR, DDP / Theraplay.
• Leadership teaching / qualification

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Navigo Health and Social Care CIC

Address

Freshney Green Primary Care Centre

Sorrel Road

Grimsby

DN34 4GB

Employer's website

https://navigocare.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)