Clinical Team Leader

Job responsibilities

Communication and Working Relationships

Clients, family and carers: To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner with clients who may have specific difficulties in understand and/or communicating and who may be hostile, antagonistic or emotionally distressed. Educate and involve family members and others in treatment as necessary, conveying CBT formulations with sensitivity in easily understood language.

Multidisciplinary team colleagues: To work closely with, and provide clinical leadership to colleagues in the IAPT service

Health & social care staff: To communicate with a wide range of health & social care staff in hospital and in community settings in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, complex and sensitive information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under the services care. To provide support & guidance in the application of psychological principles and techniques, and to foster reflective practice.

Senior managers & professional staff: To maintain and build good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers and to foster a positive approach to the IAPT to enable effective negotiation.

Responsibility for Judgement and Analysis

Responsible for the clinical delivery and leadership of the TALKWORKS in a local area of DPT

Formulate, implement and evaluate therapy programmes for clients.

To participate in, and support Trust-wide TALKWORKS policy and service developments, and responsible for clinical policy development and implementation within a local area, having an impact within DPT, primary care and partner agencies.

To ensure all clinical care and treatment is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership.

Planning and Organisation

The TALKWORKS: To plan and coordinate the clinical development of the TALKWORKS in a local area of DPT, within overall service plans, working with network leaders, primary care and partner agencies. To prioritise own workload, balancing the demands of patient care, support and guidance of carers and professionals, and service research and development activities.

The multidisciplinary service: Provide an advisory service on planning matters related to the practice and delivery of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to individuals/groups/committees across the Mental Health Trust, Primary Care Trust and other voluntary agencies, as required.

Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy

1. Responsible for the clinical delivery and leadership of the TALKWORKS in a local area of DPT

2. Accept referrals via agreed protocols within the service

3. Assess clients for suitability for CBT.

4. Make decisions on suitability of new referrals, adhering to the departments referral protocols, and refer unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referral agent as necessary.

5. Formulate, implement and evaluate therapy programmes for clients.

6. Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the number of client contacts offered, and clinical sessions carried out per week in order to minimise waiting times and ensure treatment delivery remains accessible and convenient.

7. Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or clients in treatment, where appropriate.

8. Work closely with other members of the team ensuring appropriate step-up and step-down arrangements are in place to maintain a stepped care approach.

9. Assess and integrate issues surrounding work and employment into the overall therapy process

Policy, Service, Research, Innovation and Improvement

The post holder is responsible for their own professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines, working within clearly defined occupational procedures.

Policy & service: To participate in, and support Trust-wide TALKWORKS policy and service developments, and responsible for clinical policy development and implementation within a local area, having an impact within DPT, primary care and partner agencies.

R & D: Establish and maintain a local internal clinical audit programme, develop a research element for the service and organise personal or service-led R & D activities as required.

Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources

Responsible for the budget and resources for TALKWORKS under the direction of the Professional Manager.

Responsibility for Supervision, Leadership and Management

Management: Responsible for leading and managing the TALKWORKS as a key component of integrated mental health and wellbeing services.

Leadership & supervision: To lead and ensure the supervision of all TALKWORKS staff in the team.

Information Resources and Administrative Duties

To lead the local implementation of the commissioned IAPT information system (IAPTus), and to coordinate the training in its use for all TALKWORKS staff. To lead staff in integrating the use of the information system into their therapy practice and so complete all the information requirements as agreed by local protocols.

To maintain accurate records and complete all requirements relating to data collection and reporting within the service.

To be responsible for using an email account to generate, monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by which the Trust conducts much of its internal communication.

Responsibility for Research and Development

R & D: To undertake service-relevant research and development activity agreed within the service, and to organise personal or service led R & D activities as required.

To implement NICE approved therapy provision within teams as required

Freedom to Act

Ability to work independently within defined occupational procedures and use initiative within a service

To participate in, and support Trust-wide TALKWORKS policy and service developments, and responsible for clinical policy development and implementation within a local area, having an impact within DPT, primary care and partner agencies.

To ensure all clinical care and treatment is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership.

To plan and coordinate the clinical development of the TALKWORKS in a local area of DPT, within overall service plans, working with network leaders, primary care and partner agencies. To prioritise own workload, balancing the demands of patient care, support and guidance of carers and professionals, and service research and development activities.

Any Other Specific Tasks Required

To ensure all clinical care and treatment is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership.

To continuously update the skills and techniques relevant to the clinical work.

Planning and Organisational Skills

Essential

• Skills to plan the work and the development of a team, to lead and work within a team, and to foster good working relationships

Qualifications

Essential

• A recorded/registered qualification in one of the following at graduate level in nursing, social work, occupational therapy, arts therapy, psychology or within a psychological therapy.
• Specialist training in CBT or other IAPT compliant therapy (can include a combination of: professional diploma, advanced diploma, BABCP/BACP registration, other further substantial training, accredited CBT/other IAPT compliant supervision, specialist courses in particular CBT/other IAPT compliant techniques) to masters or equivalent level
• Has received training (either formal of through experience) and carried out risk assessments within scope of practice
• Good record of Continuing Professional Development and willingness to continue this
• BABCP accredited or BACP accredited/UKCP Registered as a Psychotherapeutic Counsellor / Association of Christian Counsellors Accreditation / National Counselling Society Accredited Professional registrant.

Desirable

• Trained in provision of supervision for CBT/other IAPT compliant therapy

Experience

Essential

• In-depth experience of working in mental health services where multi disciplinary working was embraced as part of service delivery
• Experience of delivering service re-design
• Experience of developing and implementing service policies and procedures
• Involvement in research programmes
• Experience of leading a team
• Experience of day to day management of a team

Desirable

• Experience of working in Primary Care Services
• Worked in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes

Knowledge

Essential

• An understanding of anxiety and depression and how it may present to Mental Health Wellbeing and Access Services.
• Knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health
• An understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post
• Expertise and knowledge across the spectrum of an IAPT service

Communication and Working Relationship Skills

Essential

• Proven ability to communicate clearly in difficult and complex situations.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients
• The ability and skills to act as an advocate for a new service, to engage and foster good professional relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of this service with the wider health care system

Desirable

• IT Skills

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

Essential

• Able to lead a service and make decisions and judgments about the best way forward in a complex work environment where the evidence base is evolving.

Other

Essential

• Full range of skills and competencies as laid out in the competence framework for CBT (Roth and Pilling 2007)
• Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality
• Ability to be self reflective, whilst working with service users, & in own personal and professional development and in supervision
• High level of enthusiasm and motivation.
• Ability to use clinical supervision and personal development positively and effectively

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).