Job summary
The Sefton Homeless Psychology Service is looking to recruit an experienced, dedicated, compassionate and talented therapist.
This is an opportunity to be involved in the development and delivery of a new and innovative service. This post represents an important step in the growth of the service, and we are looking for an applicant that can demonstrate the necessary clinical skill, knowledge and experience, alongside personal values that are matched to the demands of the role and the ethos of the service.
Working in a team that seeks to understand and support people with multiple complex needs, you will be asked to use all of the skills you have developed in your career so far, through both direct and indirect ways of working.
You will be encouraged and supported by a small team of committed and friendly people who share your interest and enthusiasm for this work and recognise the challenges as well as the rewards it presents.
Secondment opportunities may also be available for people already working within Merseycare.
Main duties of the job
The Sefton Homeless Psychology service offers appointments to people living in Sefton who are experiencing homelessness. These appointments allow for a consideration of how any mental health issues may be impacting on their ability to live more independently, and in line with their personal values and aspirations.
Information from these meetings is used to inform and support referrals to local services and also to inform the care and support provided to people who live in supported hostel accommodation. Clinical and Assistant Psychologists from the team may also provide direct, time limited, psychological interventions.
The Sefton Homeless Psychology service also works in partnership with the Sefton Supported Housing Group (SSHG), which is a consortium of third sector organisations that provide a range of supported accommodation to people experiencing homelessness.
All of the providers have made a commitment to develop their services in a way that is trauma informed and which follows the principles of Psychologically Informed Environments. Your role in the Sefton Homeless Service will be important in helping the SSHG continue to develop their services in this way.
About us
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Job description
Job responsibilities
To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sourcesincluding 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.
To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/ormanagement of a clients psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptualframework of the clients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence ofefficacy.
To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals,carers, families and groups, within and acrossteams employed individually and in synthesis,adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatorymodels and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses where appropriate.To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account boththeoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical anddevelopmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment and treatment ofclients whose problems are managed by psychologically based enhanced care plans.
To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionalscontributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
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 servingthe client group.
To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provideadvice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and riskmanagement.
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 duringthe course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
Job description
Job responsibilities
To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sourcesincluding 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.
To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/ormanagement of a clients psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptualframework of the clients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence ofefficacy.
To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals,carers, families and groups, within and acrossteams employed individually and in synthesis,adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatorymodels and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses where appropriate.To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account boththeoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical anddevelopmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment and treatment ofclients whose problems are managed by psychologically based enhanced care plans.
To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionalscontributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
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 servingthe client group.
To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provideadvice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and riskmanagement.
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 duringthe course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology accredited by the BPS or its approved equivalent.
- Registration with Health Professions Council as Practitioner Psychologist.
Desirable
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across a range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client 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 26/4/23 of physical abuse.
- Experience of teaching,training and/or supervision.
- Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts
Values
Essential
- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High Professional Standards
- Responsive to Service Users
- Engaging Leadership Style
- Strong Customer Service Belief
- Transparency and Honesty
- Discreet
- Change Orientated
Skills
Essential
- Expertise in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non- professional groups.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
- Knowledge of IT systems including word processing, email, and local electronic patient information systems
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex, multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings. (Reasonable adjustments will be made for those with sensory impairment)
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of service governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Well developed and effective communication skills, oral and written, to communicate complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers, and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
Desirable
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific, difficult to treat groups (e.g., personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of at least one specialised psychological therapy
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology accredited by the BPS or its approved equivalent.
- Registration with Health Professions Council as Practitioner Psychologist.
Desirable
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across a range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client 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 26/4/23 of physical abuse.
- Experience of teaching,training and/or supervision.
- Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts
Values
Essential
- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High Professional Standards
- Responsive to Service Users
- Engaging Leadership Style
- Strong Customer Service Belief
- Transparency and Honesty
- Discreet
- Change Orientated
Skills
Essential
- Expertise in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non- professional groups.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
- Knowledge of IT systems including word processing, email, and local electronic patient information systems
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex, multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings. (Reasonable adjustments will be made for those with sensory impairment)
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of service governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Well developed and effective communication skills, oral and written, to communicate complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers, and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
Desirable
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific, difficult to treat groups (e.g., personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of at least one specialised psychological therapy
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).
Additional information
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
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Working in the area of Sefton, with bases available throughout the borough depending on location
Hartley Hospital
1b, Curzon Road, Southport
PR8 6PL
Employer's website
https://www.merseycare.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)
