Job summary
Full Time- 37.5 hours per week. This post is offeringthe flexibility for the right candidate to chose working hours between 22.5 hours per week and 37.5 hours.
Springbank ward is currently seeking to recruit an enthusiastic Clinical Psychologist to work within their unique award-winning Personality Disorder Unit in Cambridge. Springbank is the only NHS specialist unit in the country that provides care in a distinctive way adopting least restrictive practice and positive risk-taking strategies.
As the ward psychologist you will have a busy and varied role. The ward adopts Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) as its core approach to assessment, formulation, treatment, and ward structure. All staff have received some training in DBT and the skills and principles of DBT are woven into all interactions. You will play a key role in modelling putting theory into practice.
In addition, the post holder will provide support and supervision to junior staff. The post holder will also provide highly specialist clinical assessments and interventions as required and contribute a psychological perspective to multi-disciplinary reviews and discussions.
Main duties of the job
Develop psychological formulations of presenting problems or situations that draws upon psychological theory and evidence and which incorporates interpersonal, societal, cultural and biological factors.
Develop and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client's mental health problems, based upon a conceptual framework of the client's problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy.
Responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups.
Evaluate and make decisions about treatment options considering both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors.
Provide a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service.
Undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients. To provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment.
Communicate, in a skilled and sensitive manner, to clients, family and carers, information that may be contentious or distressing concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care.
Produce reports on clients, in a timely manner, that convey the key findings of psychological assessment and formulation and treatment outcome in a way that does justice to the complexity of the problems described, but that are understandable to the recipients of the reports, including clients and referrer.
About us
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health & social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health & wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting & empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.
Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services not only via inpatient and primary care setting but also with the community. These services include Children, Adult & Older Peoples mental & physical health, Forensic & Specialist mental health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care & Liaison psychiatry, Substance misuse, Social care, Research & Development.
To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high calibre candidates that share our vision & values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people & members of our ethnic minorities & LGBTQ+ communities.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.
- Psychological oversight and guidance
- Essential part of MDT and DBT Consultation Team Understanding of the ward ethos and positive risk taking strategies
- Research and audit
- Training, education and development
- Continually assessing the needs of the Service and working with the MDT in adapting practice to the needs of the service
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.
- Psychological oversight and guidance
- Essential part of MDT and DBT Consultation Team Understanding of the ward ethos and positive risk taking strategies
- Research and audit
- Training, education and development
- Continually assessing the needs of the Service and working with the MDT in adapting practice to the needs of the service
Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology; Registered as Practitioner Psychologist with HCPC
- Undertaken training in the supervision of trainee clinical psychologists
- Undertaken training in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
Desirable
- Post-doctoral training in a therapeutic approach relevant to the treatment of personality disorder
- Chartered Clinical Psychologist
Experience
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of service users across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings
- Experience of working with a wide variety of service user groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
- Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for service users' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
- Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision
- Experience of application of clinical psychology in different contexts
- Able to demonstrate further specialist training / experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist over a minimum of 2 years, or an alternative agreed by the Head of Speciality
Desirable
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi disciplinary care
- Lived experience of mental health
- Experience of running therapeutic groups and managing group dynamics
Skills & Abilities
Essential
- Knowledge and understanding of the development of personality disorder and an ability to demonstrate compassion for the lived experience of this illness
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration requiring the use of highly developed analytical and judgement skills
- Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, complex, highly technical and / or clinically sensitive information including contentious and highly distressing information to service users, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance, including regular supervision, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
- Skills in providing consultation and supervision to other professional and nonprofessional groups
- Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology
Desirable
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. eating disorder, personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc)
- Ability to formulate and work with complex trauma and dissociation
Knowledge & Understanding
Essential
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, enabling formation of networks with professionals within the Trust and from other agencies to promote effective team working with service users
- Able to contain and work with high levels of distress from service users
- Able to contain and work with high levels of organisational stress
- Interpersonally calm and able to defuse difficult, volatile situations
- Able to tolerate ambiguity and to take decisions in situations of incomplete information
- Ability to exercise appropriate levels of self-care and to monitor own state, recognising when it is necessary to take active steps to maintain fitness to practice
- Good organisational skills
- Motivated towards personal and professional development with strong CPD record
Desirable
- Ability to demonstrate initiative for the improvement of individual practice, systems and services
Other
Essential
- Able to sit for long periods
- Ability to travel
Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology; Registered as Practitioner Psychologist with HCPC
- Undertaken training in the supervision of trainee clinical psychologists
- Undertaken training in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
Desirable
- Post-doctoral training in a therapeutic approach relevant to the treatment of personality disorder
- Chartered Clinical Psychologist
Experience
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of service users across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings
- Experience of working with a wide variety of service user groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
- Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for service users' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
- Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision
- Experience of application of clinical psychology in different contexts
- Able to demonstrate further specialist training / experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist over a minimum of 2 years, or an alternative agreed by the Head of Speciality
Desirable
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi disciplinary care
- Lived experience of mental health
- Experience of running therapeutic groups and managing group dynamics
Skills & Abilities
Essential
- Knowledge and understanding of the development of personality disorder and an ability to demonstrate compassion for the lived experience of this illness
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration requiring the use of highly developed analytical and judgement skills
- Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, complex, highly technical and / or clinically sensitive information including contentious and highly distressing information to service users, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance, including regular supervision, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
- Skills in providing consultation and supervision to other professional and nonprofessional groups
- Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology
Desirable
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. eating disorder, personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc)
- Ability to formulate and work with complex trauma and dissociation
Knowledge & Understanding
Essential
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, enabling formation of networks with professionals within the Trust and from other agencies to promote effective team working with service users
- Able to contain and work with high levels of distress from service users
- Able to contain and work with high levels of organisational stress
- Interpersonally calm and able to defuse difficult, volatile situations
- Able to tolerate ambiguity and to take decisions in situations of incomplete information
- Ability to exercise appropriate levels of self-care and to monitor own state, recognising when it is necessary to take active steps to maintain fitness to practice
- Good organisational skills
- Motivated towards personal and professional development with strong CPD record
Desirable
- Ability to demonstrate initiative for the improvement of individual practice, systems and services
Other
Essential
- Able to sit for long periods
- Ability to travel
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.
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).
Additional information
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).
