Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Job overview

As Joint Link Psychologist for Halswell Ward, the postholder will share responsibility for psychological input to a 15-bed male medium-secure ward, working closely with the established Link Psychologist and multidisciplinary team. The role involves contributing psychological expertise to ward rounds and CPA meetings, supporting evidence-based assessment and intervention planning to meet service users’ needs. While the Link Psychologist typically completes psychological assessments, allocation of therapeutic work is agreed within Psychology and Psychotherapies referral meetings based on clinical need and team capacity.

The postholder will provide consultation and training to MDT colleagues and the nursing team, to guide the development of a compassionate, safe and psychologically-informed male forensic ward; addressing the specific needs of the inpatients, including trauma-based models of care, systemic work with friends and family members.

Depending on experience, the postholder will be able to supervise trainees, assistants and students to help deliver psychological work on the ward and across the 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 be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams, employed individually and in combination, adjusting and reformulating the therapeutic models as appropriate on the basis of feedback and follow up, drawing on a number of different explanatory theoretical 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 undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide specialist advice to other professionals in the NHS on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management, as well as to other external agencies concerned with Public Protection, such as Social Services, Probation, Multi Agency Public Protection Panels (MAPPPs).

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

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 multi-disciplinary care.

To receive regular clinical professional supervision from the Lead for Psychology and Psychotherapies (forensics) and/or the established Link Psychologist for Halswell Ward (depending upon banding) and other senior professional colleagues via peer supervision. If supervision specific to the therapeutic approach of the postholder is not available within the forensic service, then this will be sought from within/outside of the Trust.

To continue to develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and clinical supervision and to provide supervision of other MDT staff’s psychological work as appropriate.

To provide professional and clinical supervision of trainee and assistant clinical psychologists, ensuring that trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to good mental health care and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.

To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organizational matters need addressing.

To contribute towards the development of changes of practice across the Forensic Service and the writing of policies to formally reflect this.

To contribute to recruitment and selection of MDT members of staff and/or Psychology and Psychotherapies’ staff members.

To utilize theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and the development of psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic groups and work with other team members.

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 post holder’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 reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of clinical and forensic psychology and related disciplines.

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