Senior Clinical Psychologist

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Paediatric Psychology Service at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust as a Band 8a Senior Clinical Psychologist. The proposed role would involve providing input into our Paediatric Narcolepsy and DSD service.

The post holder will be a key member of the Paediatric Psychology Team who will provide ward based assessments and intervention within a well established acute medical multidisciplinary setting and provide support for broader acute services within the Trust.

The post holder will also have the opportunity to provide supervision and contribute to the broader developments within Paediatric Psychology and the hospital as a whole.

hours per week- must work Fridays

Main duties of the job

1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the Narcolepsy and DSD Team 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.

2. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the formulation and implementation of plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client's mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client's problems in the context of the family and wider system, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of client settings.

3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

4. 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.

About us

AtSheffield Children's, our purpose is clear: to provide healthier futures for children and young people. Our three strategic aims are:

Outstanding Patient Care

Brilliant Place to work

Leaders in Children's Health

We work successfully with local, regional, and national partners to provide physical and mental healthcare across acute and community settings. Many of our clinicians are amongst the best in their field, recognised nationally and internationally for their expertise.

As well as having enormous pride in what we do, we are a friendly, welcoming, and motivated NHS Trust who are guided by our CARE values: Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence. Our nearly 4000 colleagues live these values, ensuring kind and compassionate care that makes patients and their families feel safe and at home.

As we approach our 150th anniversary in 2026, we remain committed to enhancing our reputation in children's health leadership, improving the experiences of both patient and colleagues, and focusing on our communities and population health.

Job description

Job responsibilities

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 clients care. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the formulation and implementation of plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems in the context of the family and wider system, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of client settings. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, 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. To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals, including those from primary care/Tier 1, contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan. To lead on aspects of service delivery on behalf of the team and profession, contributing directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the team. 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 coordinate, where appropriate, intervention plans in respect of children and young people, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans including clients, their carers, referring agents and others involved the network of care. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

Teaching, training, and supervision:

To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior clinical psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues To gain more specialised and extended expertise in particular psychological approaches and/or with particular client groups through further specialist supervision and experience supported by a programme of professional development as identified in an agreed personal development plan. To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staffs psychological work as appropriate. To provide professional and clinical supervision of trainee and assistant clinical psychologists where appropriate. To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical psychology as appropriate. To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.

Management, recruitment, policy and service development:

To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the teams operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit. To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing. To manage, where appropriate, the workloads of assistant and trainee clinical psychologists, within the framework of the team/services policies and procedures. To be involved, as appropriate, in the short-listing and interviewing of assistant / graduate psychologists. Line Management Responsibilities.

Research and service evaluation:

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members. To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research. To undertake project management, including taking a lead on complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.

General:

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 post-holders professional manager and multi-disciplinary team leader. 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 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 and Trust policies and procedures. 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. It is a requirement of the post that the post-holder must maintain registration with the Health & Care Professions Council as a Clinical Psychologist (or other agreed domain title as appropriate) and to maintain this Registration at all times.

Note:

This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities, and the post-holder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with the manager. This job description will be reviewed regularly in the light of changing service requirements and any such changes will be discussed with the post holder. The post holder is expected to comply with all relevant Trust policies, procedures and guidelines, including those relating to Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety and Confidentiality of Information. The relevant policies will generally be those of Sheffield Care Trust for employment matters. Policies and procedures governing service delivery and patient care will generally be those of Sheffield Childrens NHS Trust.

Inclusive Recruitment & Selection

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and accurate data capture is an important part of that to ensure we are supportive and representative. Our aim is to ensure that all applicants can see themselves in the available categories on our application form, but we recognise that some of our data capture fields are not inclusive. We have flagged this with our system provider to ask for change.

We offer encouragement and active support to applicants with additional needs, including those from ethnic minorities, with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community. If you wish to adjust any aspect of the recruitment process or wish to find out more about our recruitment & selection processes, please get in touch with our Recruitment Manager:

We are continually reviewing our recruitment & selection process to support the long-term aim of Sheffield Childrens being a champion of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. If you have any ideas for improvement, please get in touch with Catherine Gilbert at Trust Values

The Trust is committed to providing great quality patient care and keep children, young people and families at the heart of what we do by following our CARE values:

Compassion leading by kindness and showing empathy, understanding and respect Accountability striving to do the right thing and owning responsibility Respect value differences, tackling inequality and fostering a culture of inclusion Excellence delivering a high-quality standard of care Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

oDoctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuro-psychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, as accredited by the BPS. oFurther specialist supervision in specific psychological approaches and or client groups supported by case presentations, group supervision and short courses. as part of an agreed personal development plan oRegistration with the HPC as a Clinical Psychologist (or other relevant domain as agreed by the Director of Psychological Services)

Desirable

Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Experience

Essential

oExperience of specialist psychological assessment and therapeutic interventions with children and young people with psychological and mental health problems and their families in physical health settings. oExperience of working with a wide variety of child mental health problems across the full age range, reflecting all levels of severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse. oDemonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist over a minimum of 18 months, or an alternative agreed by the Director of Psychological Services oCommitment to multi-disciplinary team working - team player.

Desirable

Experience of working within paediatric physical health settings Experience of working into Burns and Neurosurgical pathways Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision. Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts

Knowledge

Essential

oSkills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration. oWell-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS. oSkills in providing consultation to other professional & non-professional groups. oDoctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology. oEvidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.

Desirable

Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups ( personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc). High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies. Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health. Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.

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