Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Job overview

We are looking for an enthusiastic Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist to join the Oxleas Intensive Community Support Team (ALD Services).

This is a full time, fixed-term position (12 months).

The role will require to support clients with learning disabilities presenting with complex needs and going through difficult times and their families and networks, providing specialist psychological assessments, interventions and treatment. The role would also entail supervising other psychological therapists and trainee clinical psychologists, and offering advice and consultation on clients’ psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other, non-professional carers.

We would expect the successful postholder to be able to work autonomously within professional guidelines and within the overall framework of the service’s policies and procedures. The postholder will also be able to utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the team/service.

Main duties of the job

To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients 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, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.

To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems and other relevant issues, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems.

To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups.

To evaluate and make 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 clients whose problems are managed by psychologically-based standard care plans.

To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.

To provide clinical placements for clinical psychology trainees.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical:

• To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients 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, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
• To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems and other relevant issues, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
• To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, 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 and make 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 clients whose problems are managed by psychologically-based standard care plans.
• To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically-based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
• To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

Teaching, training, and supervision

• To provide clinical placements for clinical psychology trainees, ensuring the trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to health care, and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.
• To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior clinical psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.
• To continue to gain wider post-qualification experience of clinical psychology over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post-holder is employed.
• To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staff’s psychological work, as appropriate.
• To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of relevant healthcare staff, as appropriate.

Management, recruitment, policy and service development

• To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team’s operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.
• To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.
• To manage the workloads of more junior clinical psychologists, psychological therapists, assistant practitioner and graduate psychologists, within the framework of the team/service’s policies and procedures.
• To be involved, as appropriate, in the shortlisting and interviewing of more junior clinical psychologists, psychological therapists, assistant practitioner/graduate psychologists.

IT responsibilities

To be proficient in the use of IT for email, intranet, and RiO purposes. To be familiar with word processing, database and statistical packages, and to use such packages for complex data analysis as necessary. To use appropriate computer software to develop and create clinical or other service-related reports or documents.

Research and service evaluation

• To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
• To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.
• To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.

General

• To be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a practitioner psychologist and maintain this registration, including maintaining the standards of conduct, performance and ethics required by HCPC.
• To 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 the postholder’s professional and service manager(s).
• To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in psychology across the service, by continuing to develop the skills of a reflexive and reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of clinical psychology, forensic and related disciplines.
• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society, the requirements of the Health and Care Professions Council and Trust policies and procedures.
• To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relevant areas particularly (1) adults with learning disabilities and (2) mental health.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.