Specialist Clinical/Forensic/Counselling Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

KEY RESULT AREAS

Clinical:

1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of mentally disordered offenders and challenging behaviour clients referred to the Psychological Therapy Service based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex 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 clients, family members and others involved in the clients care.
2. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems and offending behaviour, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
4. To evaluate and make 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.
5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan. This should include a service to both mental health professionals and the Criminal Justice System.
7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving mentally disordered offenders.
8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management. This should include the writing of Court Reports and appearing as an professional/expert witness at Court.
9. To act as care co-ordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans under enhanced CPA including clients, their carers, referring agents and others involved in the network of care.
10. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni-and-multi-disciplinary care.
11. To provide a psychological service to challenging behaviour inpatients, and to provide specialist outpatient psychological therapies.

Teaching, Training and Supervision

1. To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior clinical psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.
2. To continue to gain wider post-qualification experience of clinical psychology over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post holder is employed.
3. To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staffs psychological work, as appropriate.
4. To provide professional and clinical supervision of assistant/graduate psychologists and, as appropriate, to contribute to the supervision of individual cases for trainee clinical/forensic/counselling psychologists.
5. To contribute to the pre-and-post-qualification teaching of clinical, forensic and/or counselling psychology, as appropriate.

Management, Recruitment, Policy and Service Development

Specific line management and budget management responsibilities should be added where applicable.

1. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the Bracton Centres operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.
2. To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.
3. To manage the workloads of assistant and graduate psychologists, within the framework of the Bracton Centres policies and procedures.
4. To be involved, as appropriate, in the shortlisting and interviewing of assistant/graduate psychologists.

IT Responsibilities

1. To be proficient in the use of IT for email, intranet, eCPA and Rio purposes. To be familiar with word processing, database and statistical packages, and to use such packages appropriately as necessary. To use appropriate computer software to develop and create clinical or other service-related reports or documents.

Research and Service Evaluation

1. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
2. To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.
3. To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.

General

1. To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the post holders professional and service manager(s).
2. To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in psychology across the service, by continuing to develop the skills of a reflexive and reflective scientist practitioner; taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of clinical psychology, forensic and related disciplines.
3. To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological society/HPC and Trust policies and procedures.
4. To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both mentally disordered offenders and to mental health.

Person Specification

HCPC registration/BPS Accreditation

Essential

• HCPC registration/BPS Accreditation
• Relevant doctoral/or equivalent qualification
• Evidence of clinical skills utilising a range of evidence based therapeutic interventions
• Experience working with complex trauma

Desirable

• Experience working in prisons/with forensic populations

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

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

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Address

HMP Thameside

Griffin Manor Way

London

SE28 0FJ

Employer's website

http://oxleas.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)