Principal Clinical or Counselling Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

The postholder will offer high-quality, psychologically-informed care across the OOKP services and may also have the opportunity to advise on the development of other relevant psychology services within Moorfields.

To carry out specialist psychological assessments of patients referred to the OOKP service, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with patients, family members and others involved in the patients care, in order to reach a psychological formulation of the patients difficulties.

To be responsible for holding and managing a clinical caseload and to exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the planning and prioritising of own workload and the assessment, treatment and discharge of patients, within the bounds of the service operational policy.

To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups drawing on different psychological and explanatory models

To formulate and implement plans for evidence based psychological treatment and/or management of a patients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patients problems.

To evaluate and make complex decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

To undertake complex risk assessments and risk management for individual patients. To provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

To facilitate a patient peer group, including overseeing governance and pragmatic issues and supporting patients in the running and use of this group.

To provide consultation, mentorship, supervision and advice about psychological issues at a high level of professional expertise to other members of the team/service.

To provide specialist psychological advice, consultation, training and clinical supervision to other professionals in order to develop a psychological understanding on the basis of which to plan, implement and evaluate evidence based interventions for patients with complex needs.

To communicate effectively in writing and orally complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to patients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.

Teaching, Training and Supervision

To receive and provide regular clinical supervision.

To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of legislation, policy and developments in the provision of services relevant to the Clinical population.

To keep abreast of developments in the relevant professional area of expertise and pursue further training within resources available.

Provide expert advice, consultation, training and clinical supervision to other members of the service.

To provide pre- and post-qualification teaching of applied psychology and psychological therapy, as appropriate.

This post is one day a week on Thursdays.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or outside the UK] as approved by the HPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Post-doctoral training and experience in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice in the areas of clinical health and acute medicine.

Desirable

• BABCP Accreditation as CBT practitioner and/or AFT AFT accreditation in systemic, couple and family work and/or specialist trauma-based post-qualification training.

Experience

Essential

• Significant assessed experience of working as a qualified psychologist including a minimum of 5 years' post-qualification experience.
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of working together with service users to ensure that they are equal partners in service design, evaluation, research and training.

Desirable

• Experience of working with patients who have experienced blindness or significant loss of vision.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for patient's psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally-qualified care coordinator and also as a member of a diverse NHS multidisciplinary team

Knowledge

Essential

• Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.

Desirable

• Knowledge of rare conditions affecting vision in patients and the impact on social behaviour and personal relations.

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

Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Moorfields Eye Hospital

City Road

London

EC1V 2PD

Employer's website

https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/work-for-us (Opens in a new tab)