Applied Psychologist

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

This job is now closed

Job summary

We would like to invite applicants to join us within the University of Hospital of Southampton Adult Psychology Service. The post works into respiratory departments and works alongside other Clinical Psychologists in offering individual assessment and therapy to patients and families and works with teams to offer psychologically informed care.

Post holders will be encouraged to link to local and national clinical health psychologists to develop links and best practice. Within the department there is a keen interest in developing and sharing knowledge. We have active interests in Systemic, Acceptance and Commitment, Cognitive Analytic Therapy and EMDR therapeutic approaches. Funded training opportunities are available to all team Psychologists; recently these have included EMDR, ACT and CAT.

The team can accommodate flexible working with most posts having an element of remote working. Personal wellbeing is valued within the team.

We have close links with Southampton University where there is an established Clinical Psychology training course and many psychologists teach on the systemic and health modules. There are also specialist courses in Health Psychology and a research group focusing on the applications of Health Psychology.

If you would like to find out more information this post, please contact Dr Alison Pearce (Lead Consultant Clinical Psychologist for UHS Adults) by email uhsclinhealthpsych@southernhealth.nhs.uk.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work respiratory medical teams to provide a psychological service for the team, patients, and families. They will offer assessment and therapeutic interventions to patients and supervision, consultation, and training to medical teams.

Post holder will connect to the wider UHS Adult Psychology team and other link with Child Psychology, Neuro Psychology, Mental Health Liaison and wider psychological services to develop pathways around patient care.

We have generic job descriptions to assist career development and gaining experience. We would encourage people to contact the team to find out more about the posts and the clinical area. We would be very happy to answer any of your questions.

About us

Are you committed to providing remarkable care and service?

Are you passionate about helping people and want to make a difference every day?

We want to meet you!

Southern Health is one of the largest Foundation Trusts in the UK, specialising in mental health, adult and child community health and learning disabilities. We are committed to promoting the welfare and safeguarding of children, young people and adults at risk of abuse and neglect through our 6,500 strong workforce.

Southern Health has over 300 sites across the county and we serve 1.5 million people throughout all stages of their lives. Our aim is to work alongside the people we support (and our health and care partners) to deliver the best possible care and constantly improve.

Here at SHFT we have so much to be proud of:

Working as a team and supporting each other, we put patients and our staff at the heart of everything we do.
We have a skilled and diverse workforce and are committed to our staff development, offering bespoke training packages, leadership pathways and career opportunities.
We offer a variety of benefits such as an amazing pension scheme, generous annual leave, Childcare Choices scheme, many discounts (Blue Light card, The Company Shop, NHS Staff Discounts, cycle to work scheme) and much more.

Come to work with us, together we will provide outstanding treatment and care to improve lives.

Date posted

17 March 2023

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£48,526 to £54,619 a year Based on full time hours

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

348-SOU-I-1085A

Job locations

Princess Anne Hospital

Coxford Road

Southampton

Hampshire

SO16 5YA

Job description

Job responsibilities

*To provide specialist psychological assessments for individuals, couples or families 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 person's care

*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.

*To formulate and implement highly complex plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of an individual's psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework (i.e., psychological formulation) of the individual's problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings. Where appropriate providing the role of lead professional and all the duties this entails. The post-holder will monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-professional care.

*When appropriate identify repeating patterns of crisis or health issues and advise ways of breaking the cycle, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the individual's presenting and underlying problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

*To be responsible for implementing a range of highly specialised psychological interventions for individual clients, carers, families. This will be employed both within and across teams, individually and in synthesis. The post-holder will adjust and refine psychological formulations, drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

*Facilitate a systemic understanding of psychological issues where particular interpersonal relationships or other factors may lead to repeated crises, admissions to hospital or periods of ill-health.

*Commencing with assessment, clinical work will require the analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options and theoretical perspectives, which will in turn facilitate the development of complex formulations in collaboration with the individual. The formulation will inform the most effective evidence-based highly specialised programme of care/ interventions.

*To work as and exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, recommended treatment and discharge of individuals whose problems are managed by psychologically informed care plans.

*To provide a range of specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan. e.g., psychological management of symptoms of psychosis and deliberate self-harm.

*To identify and address factors which may contribute to the team's difficulty in maintaining a consistent approach with individual clients.

*To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all people of the service, across all multi-professional teams, settings and other agencies serving the client group.

*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.

*To liaise with carers and families and organise and provide family work interventions as appropriate

*The post-holder will be required to work with individuals in situations where there may be hostility, abuse and/or a highly charged atmosphere. They will be required to communicate, in a skilled and sensitive manner, highly complex, highly sensitive and/or highly contentious information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of people under their care, where there are significant barriers to acceptance which need to be overcome using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills. This will include the writing of clinical reports, letters, and notes in line with Trust operational standards, and liaison with senior Psychologists.

*Will be required to sit in a constrained position for client therapy and extended assessment.

*To represent Psychological Services at multi-professional meetings, as required, and provide highly specialist psychological opinions and recommendations.

*Provide a psychological perspective and psychologically based framework for understanding the individual and their care needs for the appropriate service, (including care, staff / service dynamics, staff / service organisational systems, promotional activities) within a wide range of settings including meetings, case discussions, team meetings, reflective practice meetings, and inter-agency to the benefit of all people served by the service.

*To support and inform the leadership team of the Clinical Health Psychology (in delivering a psychologically informed service and take a lead clinical role in the development of clinical and service delivery.

*Facilitate reflective practice to support staff in with working with complex and challenging cases.

Job description

Job responsibilities

*To identify and address factors which may contribute to the team's difficulty in maintaining a consistent approach with individual clients.

*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.

*To liaise with carers and families and organise and provide family work interventions as appropriate

*Will be required to sit in a constrained position for client therapy and extended assessment.

*To represent Psychological Services at multi-professional meetings, as required, and provide highly specialist psychological opinions and recommendations.

*Facilitate reflective practice to support staff in with working with complex and challenging cases.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
Formal training in supervision of other psychologists or equivalent experience
Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist

Desirable

Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
Post-doctoral training in a specialised area of psychological therapy.

Experience

Essential

In depth experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of people across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings 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 patients' psychological care and treatment, within the context of a multi-professional care plan.
Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
Experience of service development and working with teams.

Desirable

Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.
Experience of working within a Physical Health Setting and in particular the area that the job is focused on.
Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
Experience of working with trauma using evidenced based approaches.
Experience of working within the NHS as an Applied Psychologist
Experience of neuropsychological and psychometric Assessment

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
Formal training in supervision of other psychologists or equivalent experience
Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist

Desirable

Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
Post-doctoral training in a specialised area of psychological therapy.

Experience

Essential

In depth experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of people across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings 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 patients' psychological care and treatment, within the context of a multi-professional care plan.
Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
Experience of service development and working with teams.

Desirable

Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.
Experience of working within a Physical Health Setting and in particular the area that the job is focused on.
Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
Experience of working with trauma using evidenced based approaches.
Experience of working within the NHS as an Applied Psychologist
Experience of neuropsychological and psychometric Assessment

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.