Eating Disorders Clinical/Counselling Psy or Psychological Therapist

Job responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Clinical

• Provide specialist psychological assessments, based on the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources (including psychological tests, measures/rating scales, direct and indirect observation and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and involved others).

• Formulate and implement plans for the formal specialist psychological treatment and/or management of mental health problems across a range of care settings, using theoretical knowledge and evidence base to analyse, interpret and compare complex information in order to design specialist programmes of treatment for individuals, groups and families tailored to individual need.

• Provide expertise and psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other multidisciplinary professionals contributing directly to service users formulation, diagnosis and service planning. Ensure that multidisciplinary colleagues have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding the care of service users.

• Undertake risk assessment and management and to provide specialist advice on psychological and eating disorder related aspects of risk assessment and management.

• Share team responsibility to triage and screen appropriateness of referrals to the eating disorder team.

• Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive, distressing and emotional information in relation to health issues where there are often barriers to acceptance.

• Improve access and reduce inequality through offering a service mindful of the needs of individuals and families from a wide range of racial, cultural, sexual, religious and social backgrounds and to develop with colleagues innovative ways of communicating and working across language and cultural barriers.

• Develop working relationships with relevant statutory, voluntary and community groups and organisations. Provide expert consultation about the psychological care of the service user group to external staff and organisations.

• Record, monitor and report on clinical work and communicating complex clinical information to a variety of recipients, e.g. service users, families and carers, other professionals, formal panels and statutory and voluntary organisations, orally, in writing and/or electronically.

• Comply with governance systems in place for the provision and monitoring of clinical and professional supervision of qualified and unqualified psychological practitioners across the directorate.

• Ensure practice within relevant guidelines for professional practice (BPS/HCPC/BABCP etc).

• Ensure the development, maintenance and development of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes.

Administration

• Agree work/caseload levels with team manager and professional lead, and manage own workload to meet expected activity levels.

• Participate in clinical supervision, appraisal and development planning, identifying and agreeing training needs.

• Maintain up to date knowledge of relevant legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to the provision of services.

• Support service development and quality improvement initiatives within the directorate, in line with directorate priorities and in response to identified local need.

• Attend regular service meetings to develop and maintain high standards of professional knowledge and practice in services.

• Attend multidisciplinary team meetings related to service governance and development as required.

Management

Agree work/caseload levels with team manager and professional lead, and manage own workload to meet expected activity levels.

Participate in clinical supervision, appraisal and development planning, identifying and agreeing training needs.

Maintain up to date knowledge of relevant legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to the provision of services.

Attend regular service meetings to develop and maintain high standards of professional knowledge and practice in services.

Attend multidisciplinary team meetings related to service governance and development as required.

Human Resources

• Contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with post-holders professional and team/operational manager(s).

To keep abreast of developments in psychological assessment and

treatment of people with mental health difficulties through self -directed reading, attendance at CPD events, and through own supervision.

• Develop knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and

issues in relation to adult and older adult mental health.

• Undergo regular performance appraisal and review.

• Receive regular clinical professional supervision from a qualified

Psychologist in accordance with good practice guidance from the

BPS.

• To contribute to the development of colleagues understanding of psychological aspects of care through informal and formal discussion/presentation.

• Undertake mandatory training in line with Trust requirements.

Performance and Quality

• Support service development and quality improvement initiatives within the directorate, in line with directorate priorities and in response to identified local need.

• Support systems for evaluation, monitoring and development of the directorates psychological services to ensure services are delivered in line with Trust policies, national guidance and evidence based practice.

• Support and contribute to service related and/or academic research within the team.

• Provide accurate and timely clinical information as required and input into Trust electronic record systems.

• Use information technology in line with Trust and NHS information governance requirements, and maintain up to date knowledge of systems and governance requirements.

• Collate and report on information across service area using information systems to a high standard.

Financial and Physical Resources

• Contribute to the responsible management of equipment and resources required for the ongoing provision of a high standard of psychological service to the directorate.

Education/ Qualification/ Training

Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology or equivalence and able to demonstrate eligibility for BPS CPsychol (Chartered Psychologist) . HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist. Or both ? Core Health/Care Profession (or demonstrated equivalence), with postgraduate level training in a recognised model of psychological therapy (e.g. CBT, CAT) and demonstrated eligibility for accreditation as a practitioner/therapist with the relevant accrediting body (e.g. BABCP/ACAT).
• Evidence of continuing professional development relevant to the specialty as required by professional accrediting/registration body (e.g. BPS/ HCPC/ BABCP/ ACAT)

Desirable

• Further training or qualifications in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice relevant to the post, e.g. supervision, therapeutic models used in eating disorder etc

Experience

Essential

• Experience of specialist assessment, formulation and treatment of clients experiencing eating disorders.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the range of care settings .
• Experience in working in multidisciplinary settings and representing a psychological / psychotherapeutic perspective in teams and services.

Desirable

• Experience of providing teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Experience of the application of psychological interventions in different cultural contexts.
• Experience in contributing to service development, redesign and improvements in secondary mental health services.
• Experience working in the NHS.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and delivery of specialised psychological practice relevant to eating disorders.
• Able to draw upon a theoretical knowledge base in the analysis of highly complex facts and situations, to arrive at appropriate formulation and compare and select from a range of treatment options.
• An in depth knowledge and skills in applying clinical risk assessment and management in own and others' clinical caseload, including eating disorder related risk.
• Able to use highly specialist skills of empathy to overcome barriers to understanding and acceptance.
• Able to communicate at a high level verbally and in writing highly complex, technical and sensitive information to clients, families, carers, and a range of professionals and lay people within and outside the NHS
• Interpersonal and communication skills to facilitate forming effective collaborative networks within the trust and with external agencies in the interests of client care.
• Able to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance, including supervision, to support and improve clinical practice.
• Able to plan, organise and prioritise own workload in the face of periods of competing demands.
• Must be capable of accountability for own work, of autonomous clinical practice, of being guided by precedent and of working towards defined results.
• Able to use skills and knowledge to contribute to design and implementation of service evaluations.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation and psychological research and national guidance and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in eating disorders.
• Aware of the potential impact of discrimination & disadvantage on mental health.
• Competence in use of IT equipment and software packages for the purposes of clinical record keeping, electronic communication, creating organisational documentation, data entry and analysis, research, and multimedia presenting and teaching.
• Able 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
• Able to sit in constrained positions for a substantial proportion of working time.
• Able to concentrate intensely for a substantial proportion of working time, during client contact, teaching/supervision sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc.
• Able to manage effectively frequent exposure to highly distressing/highly emotional circumstances and exposure to traumatic circumstances

Desirable

• To be able to deliver therapy using two or more relevant models, from amongst the following, in order of preference: 1. CBT-E 2. MANTRA, SSCM or FPT 3. Other models used on complex eating disorders, eg DBT, CAT, Schema, IPT
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non professional groups.

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).