Highly Specialist Psychologist/Psychotherapist Croydon Crisis Plus

Job overview

Croydon Crisis Plus  - Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist/Psychotherapist - B8a or B7-8a preceptorship

This is an exciting opportunity to join Croydon Crisis Plus, a repeat/high intensity user psychology service, as a highly specialist psychologist/psychotherapist within Croydon Community Mental Health Services. The team works across services in the Croydon directorate whilst being based within the secondary care community mental health teams.

The successful applicant will use their clinical skills to support a complex range of service users and their network. They will think creatively, work flexibly and have a range of skills in working alongside others. The role involves offering time-limited, formulation- and psychologically-informed crisis and care support to the service user, carer(s) and network of services. The post holder will also be expected to guide the work of other mental health professionals and assistant/trainee psychologists. The model emphasises consultation alongside the service user, including their networks of services. Applicants would benefit from experience of multi-agency management of self-neglect, self-harm, violence and substance misuse. In addition, skills and experience of training, coaching and supervision to support other practitioners are a valued asset.

Main duties of the job

Clinically, you will be: offering targeted support to a small cohort of service users who have had repeated psychiatric admissions; supporting the professional and personal network around the service user; supervising junior staff; teaching and training MDT colleagues. The service is growing and expanding across SLaM and this role also has a strong service development component, including: research and evaluation; developing and refining the existing service; supporting the development of new services; liaison and joint work with senior colleagues across the directorate and Trust.

Key duties include:

• Working with repeat service users across Croydon Adult Mental Health Services
• Offering time-limited interventions: Engaging highly complex service users; supporting them to reflect on their experiences of services and take a more active role in their care Developing specialist, trauma-informed formulations, centred around relationship to help Engaging with carers and family Co-producing multi-service/-agency crisis plans and interventions
• Engaging highly complex service users; supporting them to reflect on their experiences of services and take a more active role in their care
• Developing specialist, trauma-informed formulations, centred around relationship to help
• Engaging with carers and family
• Co-producing multi-service/-agency crisis plans and interventions
• Consultation and liaison with teams and agencies across Croydon
• Supporting, developing and evaluating Crisis Plus in conjunction with the Clinical Service Lead and Trust Lead for Crisis Plus
• Deputising for the Clinical Lead and representing Croydon Crisis Plus across the directorate
• Supporting and directing the work of junior staff in the team (B5 Assistant Psychologists and B6 DClin Trainees)

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Crisis Plus model offers time-limited intervention to repeat users of crisis/acute pathways and the network of services, agencies and carers supporting that individual. Crisis Plus aims to reduce dependency on acute, crisis and emergency services through safe, reflective and assertive community treatment. Service users will primarily include individuals who have frequent contact with inpatient, emergency and other acute/crisis services. Repeat users typically present with challenging and complex needs, including interpersonal trauma, high levels of distress/hopelessness, a range of diagnoses and an increased risk of harm to self and others. They are likely to have a history of difficult engagement/relationships with services, which makes them increasingly vulnerable to admission, which in turn can be traumatising and further impact on the relationship to/with help and services.

Clinical and Client Care

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in the Croydon Crisis Plus service including risk of harm to self and other and risk of those vulnerable to dependency on acute and crisis services.
• Knowledge and experience of using CBT/third wave models such as DBT/Open Dialogue and/or other evidence-based treatments in the management of personality disorder, psychosis and/or substance misuse.
• To ensure cultural context is considered/discussed and to provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with SUs and their carers/families.
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.

Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

• To contribute to the effective working of the team or service and to a psychologically-informed framework for the service.
• To contribute to the team's 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 offer advice, consultation and training in Croydon Crisis Plus planning and evidence-based interventions to other members of the service on the specialist psychological 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.

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.

Management and supervision

• To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of more junior psychologists with support from a more senior psychologist.
• To contribute to the recruitment of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
• To provide supervision for the psychological work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.

Please see Job Description attached for full list of responsibilities. Please get in touch with CSL Dr Rebecca Rose if you would like to hear more about the role: [email protected]