Highly Specialist Psychologist/Psychological Therapist/Psychotherapist

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Southwark Acute and Crisis Psychology and Psychotherapy team.  We are offering a permanent contract for a full-time Clinical/Counselling Psychologist/Psychotherapist Band 8a.  The post holder will be based at the Maudsley Hospital which provides acute mental health care to people living in Southwark, South East London.

Main duties of the job

This is a split post across two urgent care services – Our new Mental Health Urgent Care Centre and our Place of Safety unit.  The post holder will provide psychological assessment and very short term therapy services to clients; offer advice and consultation to ward colleagues; and play an integral role in the promotion and evaluation of innovative, psychologically informed approaches to meeting clients’ mental health needs.  The post holder will be expected to train and develop non-psychology staff in psychologically minded care.  Prior experience of working within acute and crisis services is desirable and the candidate is expected to have a sound knowledge of evidence based short-term interventions.  Supervision and support to the post holders will be provided by senior Clinical Psychologists working in Southwark’s acute and crisis services.

The post holder will have experience of consultancy to colleagues at all levels, teaching, supervision and group work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job Purpose:

• To provide a highly specialist psychological interventions to mental health acute crisis services including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.
• To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.
• To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate, functioning as a lead specialist.
• To promote service evaluation, audit and research.
• To work as an autonomous professional within registration body guidelines and codes of conduct and guided by principles and policies or procedures of the service, taking responsibility for interpreting policies within defined parameters.
• To agree outcomes/results with clinical/professional lead and to decide how they are best achieved.
• To be active in the provision of staff support within their area, including but not limited to Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve. To participate, as a recipient, in staff support work when appropriate.

Our values and commitments:

Key Responsibilities:

KR 1       Clinical and Client Care

• To provide specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients (individuals, couples, families and social networks where the identified client has complex mental health needs) according to discipline in the acute crisis services including assessing/working with psychosis, learning disabilities, personality disorders, offending behaviour, etc., within limits expected at Band 8a.
• To provide culturally appropriate psychological or psychotherapeutic interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
• To provide reports, including relevant formulation, opinion and interventions, in order to inform referrers and, where appropriate, service users and their families.
• To select and deliver evidence-based specialist therapeutic interventions, drawing from a spectrum of ideas and models, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions as necessary, based on the highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, couple, family or group.
• To promote psychological support for carers (or families as appropriate) of referred clients.

KR 2       Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

• To contribute to the effective working of the team or service and to a psychologically/psychotherapeutically informed framework for the service.
• To contribute to the team or service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
• To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
• To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological/psychotherapeutic care of clients.
• To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
• To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
• To liaise with the service/s MDT and other professionals.

KR 3       Policy and service development

• To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.
• To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.
• To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

KR 4       Care or management of resources

• To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.
• To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.
• To ensure the cleanliness and safe functioning and use of equipment that will be used by clients or other persons.
• To monitor and advise clients on the safe use of materials and processes.
• To ensure adequate confidential and safe storage for artefacts produced during the therapy process in line with professional guidelines.
• To be responsible for obtaining, storing and maintaining all materials and equipment for the provision of therapy in work setting within budgetary constraints.
• To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.
• To authorise client travel expenses (if required)

KR 5       Management and supervision

• To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of more junior psychological practitioners with support from a more senior practitioner.
• To supervise trainee psychological practitioners within own area of specialism having completed the relevant Supervision Training.
• To contribute to the appraisal of more junior psychological practitioners as appropriate.
• To contribute to the recruitment of more junior psychological practitioners as appropriate.
• To provide supervision for the psychological and/or psychotherapeutic work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.

KR 6       Teaching and Training

• To undertake occasional teaching and training of pre and post- qualification psychological practitioners, and specialised training to other professions as appropriate.
• To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychological therapy and by implementing knowledge gained in practice.
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

KR 7       Record-keeping and Information Governance

• To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

KR 8       Research and development

• To initiate/undertake, support and supervise regular complex service evaluation and audits.
• To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.

KR 9       Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

• To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychological therapist according to professional body and Trust guidelines.
• To maintain own Continuing Professional Development in line with professional body and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and professional Standards for Continuing Professional Development.
• To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
• To comply with professional body Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics/Standards of Proficiency.

KR10      General

• To travel across the Trust when required (e.g., for training purposes, meetings etc).
• To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.
• To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations (such as challenging behaviour, abuse etc) and to support others involved in such situations through Trust-wide approaches including Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve.