Consultant Clinical Psychologist

Job summary

The principal purpose of the job is to improve the psychological health & wellbeing of people within the post holder's specialist field of practice.

A key responsibility of this role will be as an enabler of the leadership team for psychology and psychological practice at Directorate level, ensuring that the Psychology and Psychological Therapy Services provided across Specialist Directorate improves access to psychological interventions (with consultation, assessment & formulation and evidence based direct / indirect therapeutic interventions), is an integrated part of all relevant clinical pathways, delivers high clinical standards, makes best use of its resources and develops evidence-based practice that meets the needs and choices of people using the services. This will include Clinical Health Psychology & Neuropsychology Services as well as other Directorate services where psychology and psychological therapies are commissioned.

A further key responsibility will be to provide oversight, guidance, and supervision for the delivery of neuropsychological interventions and services across the Trust.

30 hours per week ( wte)

Interviews are scheduled to take place on the 20th September 2024

Main duties of the job

Providing professional and strategic leadership for Specialist Services Psychology & Psychological Therapies (PPT) Professional Leads at Directorate level. Providing professional leadership and supervision to Clinical Health Psychology & Neuropsychology (CHNP) Leads and their staff in the delivery of efficient psychology and psychological therapy services. Taking a strategic and advisory role in the development and delivery of neuropsychology, psychology and psychological therapies in the Clinical Health Psychology & Neuropsychology Services. Providing a specialist clinical neuropsychological service in a designated clinical arena. Supporting, promoting and developing neuropsychological services within DPT and partner acute provider Trusts Working alongside the DPT Head of Profession, Directorate Service Managers and Professional Leads to support service development and redesign projects, proposing and implementing policy changes within this domain. Providing professional supervision for other identified Specialist Services Professional Leads. Providing supervision for psychologists working in clinical neuropsychology services and undertaking BPS accredited training in clinical neuropsychology (QiCN).

About us

About Devon Partnership Trust

We provide mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services, as well as a range of specialist & secure services for the wider south west region & nationally. We are passionate about promoting good mental health & wellbeing. We strive to use the expertise & resources within our organisation, and through our partnerships, to deliver high quality services that are safe & focused on people's recovery.

We are committed to developing a culture of coproduction, involving patients, families & carers in everything we do

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications & experience - we recruit individuals who possess & demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. These include such attributes as showing a commitment to quality of care, improving lives of others, giving respect, dignity & compassion. We can bring those values to life in our everyday tasks by giving a smile; making time for people; challenging ourselves & others, & being open to new ideas.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer & applications are encouraged & welcomed from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics as governed by the Equality Act 2010. Part time & flexible working applications will be considered & supported, where possible. We particularly encourage applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions, neurodiversity or learning disabilities. We are a Disability Confident Leader.

Job description

Job responsibilities

To communicate in a highly skilled manner with clients who may have specific difficulties in understanding and/or communicating and who may be hostile, antagonistic or highly emotionally disturbed To communicate complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS To work closely, both individually and collectively, with multi-professional colleagues, and motivate and lead staff in improving practice and support those who may be concerned about systems changes To ensure psychologists and the psychological therapies staff are informed, engaged and clear about their contribution to team and service improvement To communicate with a wide range of health & social care staff in both hospital and community settings in a highly skilled manner concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under the services care. To provide support & guidance in psychologically informed practice To nurture good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers across the specialist teams, the four clinical directorates, the Trust and ICS, to enable effective negotiation ofa positive approach to change To provide specialist clinical (neuro) psychology and associated psychological therapy expertise and advice To provide psychological therapies, developing specialist psychological formulations and assessments of clients, formulating plans for their psychological treatment and implementing specialist neuropsychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups. To support the Head of Profession and Service Managers in undertaking service development and improvement plans and coordinating the resulting work within the team. Proposing and implementing policy changes within this domain and taking a lead in locality and Devon wide service redesign To provide psychology leadership to the multi-professional planning, development and marketing of mental health and wellbeing in specified services To work with psychology and management leads to shape the planning and implementation of service developments across the Directorate. To provide expert evidenced based (neuro) psychological therapies, developing specialist (neuro)psychological formulations and assessments of clients, formulating plans for their psychological treatment and implementing specialist psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups. To provide specialist neuropsychological assessments of clients referred to the service based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses. To formulate and implement plans for the formal (neuro)psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy. To be responsible for implementing a range of neuropsychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams For Clinical Psychologists/Psychological Therapists to administer routine outcome measures, psychometric and neuropsychological tests requiring high levels of skill and accuracy in visual discrimination of client responses, manipulating test materials whilst observing and scoring client behaviour. To work within the parameters and protocols of the service as an autonomous professional practitioner with responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients To provide expert, specialist advice, guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of patient care to colleagues, other service providers, patients, supporters and families. To contribute directly and indirectly to a neuropsychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management. To interpret and contribute to the development of policies and procedures for the provision of (neuro) psychology and psychological therapy services in integrated psychological medicine and other specialist services as required. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the services operational policies and services, through the deployment of skills in research, service evaluation and audit. To support the Head of Psychological Professions and Service Managers by undertaking projects and coordinating work for specific aspects of service delivery. Responsible for managing budgets and resources for psychologists and other assigned staff under the direction of the Service Managers. To advise on staff recruitment, both in the development of job specifications, advertising and short-listing processes and to undertake the recruitment process as a member of interview panels where required To ensure consistent and effective professional supervision and appraisal of psychological therapy staff To provide neuropsychological and clinical health psychology service leadership as part of the Specialist Services Senior Management Team To provide leadership to teams within the context of reforms to health care, ensuring they are fit for purpose To ensure effective supervision for non-psychology staff providing psychological therapies To provide (neuro) psychology leadership in the Specialist multi-professional Teams. To lead effective change management To receive regular supervision (clinical, managerial and professional) in line with codes of practice and trust policy. 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 and related disciplines. To supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other Psychologists and health professionals who provide psychologically based care and treatment. Have the ability to teach and train others To provide consultation to other professional and non-professional groups and to provide specialist advice, consultation, training and clinical supervision to other staff for their provision of psychologically based interventions to improve outcomes for people. To regularly provide postgraduate placements, including doctoral level clinical placements for trainee clinical/counselling psychologists and/or psychotherapists, ensuring that trainees acquire the necessary skills competencies and experience to contribute effectively to good (neuro) psychological practice and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies. 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 To maintain accurate electronic records, compliant with Trust Practice Standards and relevant codes of practice. Develop and maintain statistical systems to monitor service delivery and performance. Producing regular reports that involve manipulating and analysing data. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work within the Specialist Teams. To lead on project work including specific areas of audit, research or service evaluation. As a clinician to be responsible for collecting clinical practice and outcome data that contributes to building practice based evidence and service evaluation. To participate in service audits and relevant research projects. To ensure all psychological therapy staff participate in appropriate audit and evaluation of outcomes of the CHNP and specific Specialist psychology and psychological therapy services as required Responsible for clinical and professional leadership of the Specialist Teams Psychologists/Psychological Therapists in conjunction with the Team / Service Leads Provision of strategic leadership for a specialist area across Devon working closely with other leaders, Heads of Profession and managers The post holder is accountable for their own professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines. To work autonomously within clinical professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the governance of psychological practice within the Directorate To provide expert and specialist clinical (neuro)psychology expertise and advice guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of patient care to colleagues, other service providers, patients, supporters and families To ensure all clinical care and treatment provided by psychologists is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership. To ensure that all relevant staff groups continuously update the skills and techniques relevant to their clinical work. To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and mental health. Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or equivalent qualifications as assessed by the HCPC). HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist Msc in Clinical Neuropsychology as accredited by the BPS (or equivalent eg. grandparent status) Entry on the BPS Specialist Register in Clinical Neuropsychology BPS RAPPS eligible supervisor and registered QiCN Supervisor (or a willingness to achieve this within an agreed timeframe)

Desirable

Further training or equivalent experience in working with people with acute and/or chronic long-term health conditions. Further training in at least one psychological therapy

Experience

Essential

Experience of specialist (neuro)psychological assessment and treatment of clients with complex (neuro)psychological needs across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community and inpatient settings Experience of working with people with neurological and other health conditions Experience of working with people with a range of complex psychological and other medical needs relevant to the services Experience of leading research projects and/or service evaluations and audit Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision Experience in undertaking leadership roles within psychology services in the NHS, and in contributing to the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies and clinical policies in multi-disciplinary, multi-agency contexts Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity Experience in undertaking leadership roles within clinical psychology services in the NHS, and in contributing to the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies and clinical policies in multi disciplinary, multi agency contexts

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

Extensive specialist knowledge of neurological and other medical services for adults and of the services they provide Broad knowledge of the application of psychological theory and practice in the specialist areas covered by the post Extensive knowledge of the application of psychology in the context of complex mental and physical health services Extensive knowledge of the skills, practice and knowledge base of Clinical Psychology. Knowledge of the policy context of specialist psychological services within the organisation and of clinical leadership arrangements in this setting. Knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex data analysis Up to date knowledge of research evidence related to psychological therapies and interventions particularly in relation to outcomes and service user involvement Knowledge of and ability to work with current NHS drivers in mental and physical health including the Talking Therapies agenda

Leadership

Essential

Excellent verbal, nonverbal and written communication skills Strong leadership qualities, resilience and ability to manage ambiguity and uncertainty kindly Skills in managing conflict, negotiation and achieving consensus in complex situations in the pursuit of agreed strategic aims Demonstrable skills in relation to service development and the management of change Evidence of leading or participating in quality improvement initiatives Evidence of ability to develop themselves and others in a reflexive and creative manner Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media Ability to integrate and manipulate complex data, interpret this information and convey its meaning Ability to make highly skilled evaluations and decisions; and take a long term perspective. Proven organisational, planning and time management skills Ability to work under pressure and to deadlines Demonstrable skills in relation to service development and the management of change

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