Clinical Psychology

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose:

To develop, co-ordinate and ensure the systematic provision of a psychological input into work of Psychiatry Liaison team and personally provide highly specialist clinical input.

To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.

To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate, functioning as a lead specialist in St Thomass Hospital Psychiatry Liaison

To contribute to multiagency Frequent Attenders meetings (trust and pan-London) with wider service stakeholders to create care plans for clients

To ensure that systems are in place and working effectively for the clinical and professional supervision and support of other psychological practitioners in St Thomass Psychiatry Liaison Team.

To promote service evaluation, audit, research and policy development.

Key Responsibilities:

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

To develop, co-ordinate and ensure the systematic provision of a highly specialist psychological service to St Thomass Psychiatry Liaison Team and to contribute to the delivery of psychological therapy to outpatients within Guys Hospital.

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in the Psychiatry Liaison service, including clients presenting with medically unexplained symptoms, psychosis, personality disorders and challenging behaviours, at levels expected of a psychological practitioner who has achieved the equivalent of a PG Diploma-worth of post-qualification specialist development.

To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.

To select and deliver evidence-based specialist therapeutic interventions, drawing from a spectrum of ideas and models, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions as necessary, based on the highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, couple, family or group.

To promote psychological support for carers (or families as appropriate) of referred clients.

KR 2 Responsibilities for team or service clinical functioning

To facilitate Complex Cases meetings for the St Thomas Psychiatry Liaison service, promoting reflexivity and Trauma Informed Care approach.

To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of clients.

To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.

KR 3 Policy and service development

To implement policies and procedures in own area of work.

To identify any aspects of Psychiatry Liaison service which could be improved and propose changes to practices or procedures that affect Psychiatry Liaison and may also affect other services.

KR 4 Care or management of resources

To take care of, and use carefully, the Trusts equipment and physical resources.

To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

To ensure the cleanliness and safe functioning and use of equipment that will be used by clients or other persons.

To monitor and advise clients on the safe use of materials and processes.

Please see Job description for more detailed information.

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level qualification in clinical or counselling psychology or equivalent.
• Registered with the HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist.
• Further training in a psychotherapy model, through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses and/an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning.
• Completed training course in clinical supervision and/or accredited to supervise qualified psychological practitioners
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the professional body.

Desirable

• Ability to practice within more than one model of psychotherapy and ability to integrate these, when working with clients with more complex presentations
• An accreditation in a psychotherapy model.

Experience

Essential

• Evidence of having worked as a Band 8a in adult mental health, as a senior specialist practitioner, under supervision.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and delivering therapy in a range of adult mental health services, including working with clients with personality disorders, psychosis, and behaviours that challenge
• Experience of providing specialist supervision to psychologists (including trainees) and/or other professional groups.
• Experience of providing specialist teaching and training to psychologists and/or other professional groups.
• Experience of providing consultation to colleagues, referrers and other professional groups within own service.

Desirable

• Experience of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision in Psychiatry Liaison, medical Intensive Care Unit or clinical health psychology setting
• Experience of working with Frequent Attenders
• Experience of supporting complex teams and systems in developing and implementing care plans for behaviours that challenge

Knowledge

Essential

• Theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the treatment of Axis I and Axis II disorders.
• Advanced knowledge of the theory of psychological therapy and it's therapeutic application.
• Associated awareness of assessment and clinical psychometrics.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities.
• Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability and accessibility of mental health care.

Desirable

• A good understanding of models of health psychology in addition to models of psychopathology.
• Interest and experience in promoting Trauma Informed Care approach within teams

Skills

Essential

• To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information.
• Consultation skills to work with the multi-professional team or other professional groups and sensitively managing, a number of people's needs simultaneously within the context of therapeutic work/consultation.
• To select and administer specialist assessments, interpreting and integrating complex data that require analysis, interpretation and comparison, drawn from several sources.
• Advanced skills in professional supervision; including skills for supervision of multidisciplinary colleague
• Advanced skills in working with a number of clients and systems together, managing the highly complex emotional relationships within and between the component parts of the systems in ways, which maximise the potential for therapeutic outcomes

Abilities

Essential

• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate.
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings
• Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions, and to deal with unexpected interruptions or changes during these.

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).