High Intensity Therapist

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose

The principal purpose of the job is to improve the psychological health & wellbeing of people within an identified Devon locality.

The post holder will be part of an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service and will provide high intensity interventions - initially cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The post holder will work with clients who have a range of complex Anxiety and Depression related problems for which CBT is demonstrated to be clinically effective.

The post holder will work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and should be committed to equal opportunities

The postholder will act as a lead specialist for IAPT, providing professional clinical supervision to less experienced staff, trainees & students, and contributing to the leadership of the local service under the direction of the team Clinical Lead

This will be achieved in this post by:

1. Providing a CBT service as a key component of integrated mental health and wellbeing services and IAPT to DPT
2. To have significant discretion and work independently within a defined occupational context making use of supervision when appropriate. To work within professional guidelines
3. Ensuring the maintenance of standards of practice according to the employer and any regulating, professional and accrediting bodies (e.g. BPS, UKCP, BABCP), and keep up to date on new recommendations/guidelines set by the department of health (e.g. NHS plan, National Service Framework, National Institute for Clinical Excellence).
4. Providing clinical supervision and delegated management to staff as required
5. Ensuring that client confidentiality is protected at all times.
6. Be aware of, and keep up to date with advances in the spheres of CBT
7. Ensure clear professional objectives are identified, discussed and reviewed with senior therapists on a regular basis as part of continuing professional development.
8. Attend clinical/managerial supervision on a regular basis as agreed with Manager.
9. Participate in individual performance review and respond to agreed objectives.
10. Keep up to date all records in relation to C.P.D. and ensure personal development plan maintains up to date specialist knowledge of latest theoretical and service delivery models/developments.
11. Attend relevant conferences / workshops in line with identified professional objectives

Duties and Responsibilities

Communication and Working Relationship Skills

• 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 colleagues in the multi-professional integrated mental health and wellbeing service on a day to day basis.
• 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 integrated mental health and wellbeing service and to enable effective negotiation.

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

• To have significant discretion and work independently within a defined occupational context making use of supervision when appropriate. To work within professional guidelines.

Planning and Organisational Skills

• The IAPT service: To plan and prioritise own workload, balancing the demands of patient care, support and guidance of carers and professionals, and service research and development activities in consultation with service managers.
• The multidisciplinary service: Provide an advisory service on 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.

Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy

• Accept referrals via agreed protocols within the service.
• Assess clients for suitability for CBT.
• 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.
• Formulate, implement and evaluate therapy programmes for clients.
• 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.
• Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or clients in treatment, where appropriate.
• 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.
• Assess and integrate issues surrounding work and employment into the overall therapy process.

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development Implementation

• 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 implement policy led changes to own role and to comment on proposed policy changes and for service development. To participate in, and support service development to IAPT, P&PT and the wider MH Community.

Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources

• Careful use of equipment.

Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g. Supervision, Training, HR Advice and Management

• Leadership & supervision: To act as a lead specialist, providing clinical supervision to less experienced staff and trainees within the IAPT service, and contributing to the leadership of the local service under the direction of the teams Clinical Lead.

Responsibility for Information Resources and Administrative Duties

• To maintain accurate records.
• Complete all requirements relating to data collection within the service.
• Keep coherent records of all clinical activity in line with service protocols.
• 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

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

Freedom to Act

• To have significant discretion and work independently within a defined occupational context making use of supervision when appropriate. To work within professional guidelines.

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 their clinical work.

Knowledge

Essential

• Demonstrates an understanding of anxiety and depression and how it may present to Mental Health Wellbeing and Access Services.
• Demonstrates a knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health.
• Knowledge of medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems.
• Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post.

Communication and Working Relationship Skills

Essential

• Full range of skills and competencies as laid out in the competence framework for CBT (Roth and Pilling 2007).
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients.
• Advanced communication skills.
• Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships.
• The ability and skills to act as an advocate for a new service, to engage and foster good relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of this service into the wider health care system.

Desirable

• Fluent in other languages apart from English.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working in mental health services.
• Ability to meet agreed/specified service targets.
• Ability to manage own caseload and time.
• Demonstrates high standards in written communication.
• Able to write clear reports and letters to referrers.

Desirable

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

Physical Skills / Other

Essential

• Ability to work under pressure.
• An Enhanced DBS check will be required for this role.
• High level of enthusiasm and motivation.
• Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality.
• Car driver with ability and willingness to travel to locations throughout the organisation.

Planning and Organisational Skills

Essential

• Computer literate.

Qualifications

Essential

• A recorded or registered qualification in one of the following at graduate level in nursing, social work, occupational therapy, arts therapy or within a psychological therapy, or
• Evidence using the career framework of training in mental health and experience working in a stepped care service for anxiety and depression, and
• Specialist training in CBT (can include a combination of - professional diploma, advanced diploma, BABCP registration, other further substantial training, accredited CBT supervision, specialist courses in particular CBT techniques) to masters or equivalent level.
• Able to attend supervision training if not already trained.
• Good record of Continuing Professional Development and willingness to continue this.
• BABCP Accredited within one year of CBT course completion.

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

Essential

• Has received training (either formal or through experience) and carried out risk assessments within scope of practice.
• Experience of risk assessment.
• Ability to use clinical supervision and personal development positively and effectively.
• Ability to be self-reflective, whilst working with service users and in own personal and professional development and in supervision.

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).