Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Job overview

We are excited to offer two posts for psychologists to work on our adult acute psychiatric wards. One of these is part of new investment as our organisation is enhancing the therapeutic environment and interventions on our wards where some wards will benefit from having full time qualified psychology input for the first time.

The job involves a diverse range of tasks, including direct assessment and intervention, as well as many opportunities for indirect contributions to recovery, via training staff, reflective practice and service development.

The posts established as 8a posts, however they can be taken as band 7 preceptorship posts with a pathway to transition to 8a after a minimum of 18 months. One post is shared across two mixed 18-bed acute wards. The other post covers only one ward, a single-sex, 18-bed unit.

You will benefit from support from an assistant psychologist and be part of a team of 8 qualified and 5 assistant psychologists working in the Adult Inpatient Psychology Service.

Main duties of the job

service users on a mixed gender psychiatric ward, providing highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy, working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the acute and urgent care pathway and ward policies and procedures.

To support and enhance the work of the multi-disciplinary team by providing advice, consultation, training and supervision on service users’ psychological care to other members of the team, including facilitating or supervising the facilitation of reflective practice groups. To lead on the  implementation of trauma informed approaches to care across two admission wards.

To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the service and participate in service-related quality improvement and innovation  projects.

To take professional responsibility for attached doctoral trainee practitioner psychologists (8a role  only), assistants and/or graduate psychologists

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Regular contribution to daily MDT meetings to plan patient care
• Joining MDT for individual patient reviews to ensure that psychological aspects of their difficulties and care planning are considered
• Direct sessions on the ward including individual patient assessment, formulation and treatment, as well as group and family sessions.
• Indirect input to MDT to support staff in day-to-day management of patients.
• Focus on service users who require one-to-one observations or seclusion to identify a pathway to reduce need for restriction.
• Provision of regular reflective practice.
• Regular contribution to various aspects of service improvement for ward one.
• Provision of supervision to other qualified psychology staff working on acute wards.
• Contribution to wider service planning and improvement for the adult inpatient services.