Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Job overview

We have a fixed term post at Band 8a for a dynamic & creative clinical psychologist working in an innovative community learning disabilities team in Greenwich. You will be working with other clinical psychologists & psychological therapists, alongside other colleagues in multi-disciplinary teams. You will have a key leadership & consultation role as a senior psychologist in the team.

The post is based at the Woolwich Centre, Woolwich, but you may also work across the three boroughs of Bromley, Greenwich & Bexley. It is essential that you can travel throughout the Oxleas area, using public transport where necessary.

You will be working in a variety of community settings, with individuals, groups, families & staff teams, providing assessment, support & intervention & applying a range of therapeutic approaches. You will work with other clinical psychologists & psychological therapists, alongside other colleagues in the multi-disciplinary team, sharing psychological knowledge & ideas & fostering psychological mindedness. You will have a key leadership & consultation role as a senior psychologist in the teams. You will be supervising clinical psychologists & trainees, assistant practitioners & other psychological therapists.

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, 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.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We have a thriving learning disability psychology speciality with 27 wte clinical staff working in 3 community learning disability teams across 3 boroughs. Group systemic supervision is provided to all psychologists in the service & individual supervision by experienced colleagues. The psychology speciality is a creative & innovative one, encouraging research & service evaluation, with a strong focus on measuring outcomes:

• 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.