Psychotherapist, Practitioner Psychologist & Psychological Therapist

Job overview

A highly valued and well supported Band 8a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist working on Hayworth  and Aubrey Lewis 1 (AL1) acute admission wards for older people.

Main duties of the job

Hayworth (based at Ladywell Unit, Lewisham) and AL1 (based at the Maudsley Hospital) provide multidisciplinary assessment and treatment to older people experiencing acute functional (non-organic) mental health difficulties.

• You will provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and therapeutic interventions for clients. Where indicated you will undertake cognitive and neuropsychological assessment. This will involve working closely with your multi-disciplinary colleagues to develop plans that are informed by the evidence base and an understanding and formulation of the person’s needs and preferences.
• You will work with the carers or families of clients and in this regard, work with your team members to provide a culturally competent and person-centred service.
• As a member of the leadership team you will contribute to the effective working of the multi-disciplinary team and to a psychologically informed framework for the service. You will have a key role supporting the wider staff team in response to emotionally distressing situations
• You will supervise more junior staff from psychological professions
• You will initiate and evaluate service development and evaluation on the unit using appropriate methodology eg QI which you will share internally within SlaM and externally as presentations and publications.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

KR 1      Clinical and Client Care

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in the Aubrey Lewis 1/Hayworth acute ward for older peoples’ mental health at clinical skills levels expected of an applied psychologist who has achieved the equivalent of a PG Diploma-worth of post-qualification specialist development.
• To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
• To act as an integrated member of the ward’s multidisciplinary team taking clinically autonomous responsibility for ensuring that psychological aspects of patient care are addressed.

KR 2      Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

• To contribute to the effective working of the team and to a psychologically informed framework for the service.
• To contribute to the team’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
• To be proactive in challenging discrimination and to support the development of culturally competent services.
• To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of clients.
• To liaise with referrers, 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 direct clinical work and work with other team members.

KR 3      Policy and service development

• To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and through appropriate governance processes, 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 appropriately, 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.

KR 5      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 supervise trainee applied psychologists within own area of specialism.
• To contribute to the appraisal of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
• To contribute to the recruitment of junior psychologists, as appropriate.
• To provide supervision for the psychological work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.

KR 6      Teaching and Training

• To undertake occasional teaching and training of pre and post- qualification psychologists and specialised training to other professions as appropriate.
• To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within older adults mental health services by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychology and psychological therapies and by implementing knowledge gained in practice.
• 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 carry out appropriate and to support/collaborate in wider research aligned with the Older Adults Clinical Academic Group.
• To provide expertise in a specialist research area which will contribute to older adults mental health.
• 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 psychologist according to HCPC and Trust guidelines.
• To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with BPS and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the HCPC ‘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 the HCPC ‘Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics’ and ‘Standards of Proficiency’, and ensure professional development in line with these.
• To adhere to the BPS’s Professional Practice Guidelines and Trust policies and procedures.

KR10     General

• To travel to clinical appointments and service meetings as appropriate and across the Trust when required.
• 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 and to support others involved in such situations.
• To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics or Saturday working, within the overall Job Plan.