Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist or Senior Psychotherapist

Job responsibilities

Clinical

To provide specialist perinatal psychological assessments of service users referred to the team 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, and semi-structured interviews with service users, and others involved in the service users care.

To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a service users psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the service users problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy

To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, 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.

To evaluate, monitor progress and make highly skilled evaluations and 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 exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.

To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment and treatment of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based enhanced care plans

To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to service users formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans.

To ensure that all members of the clinical team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of service users, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory with a primary focus on the perinatal period.

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users and to provide both general and specialist advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management, including perinatal risk factors and red flags.

To act as Lead Professional, where appropriate, ensuring the provision of a care package appropriate for the service users needs, coordinating the work of others involved with care, taking responsibility for arranging reviews as required and communicating effectively with the service user, his/her family and all others involved in the network of care, and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions

To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, highly complex information concerning the assessment, formulation, and treatment plans of service users under their care where there may be conflicting views, high emotion and significant barriers to understanding and change, and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multidisciplinary care.

To provide expertise, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the treatment team.

Teaching, training and supervision

To receive regular clinical professional supervision from the lead clinical psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.

To provide clinical placements for trainee clinical and/or counselling psychologists and/or psychotherapists, ensuring that trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to good mental health care and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.

To provide post-qualification training (CPD) and clinical professional supervision to qualified clinical psychologists and other psychological services staff.

To provide advice, consultation and training and clinical supervision to other members of the team for their provision of psychologically based interventions to help improve service users functioning.

To provide pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical psychologists and/or other psychological services staff as appropriate

To maintain and develop skills in the area of professional pre- and post-graduate training and clinical supervision.

To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with and within the Maternal Mental Health Service with service user groups across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology accredited by the BPS or its approved equivalent
• Registration with Health Professions Council as Practitioner Psychologist.
• To have a recognised qualification i.e., Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Therapy, Psychotherapy
• Additional training in specialist interventions (e.g., CFT, EMDR)

Desirable

• Postgraduate/doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
• UKCP, BABCP or BACP Accreditation (or equivalent).

Knowledge/Experience

Essential

• Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist or senior psychotherapist at a specialist level for a significant period.
• Significant experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Knowledge and skill development to meet KSF factor 2 Level 8 requirements
• Expertise in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Understanding of the philosophy and principles of care underpinning perinatal mental health
• Knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical psychology and psychotherapy.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.

Desirable

• Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings.
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in perinatal or parent-infant mental health
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of inequalities and their impact in the perinatal period
• Knowledge of perinatal trauma and loss

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 oriented.

Skills

Essential

• Well developed and effective communication skills, oral and written, to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and nonprofessional groups.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

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).