Senior Practitioner Psychologist

Job summary

Are you a practitioner psychologist seeking to grow you career in CAMHS? Come and work for us We are delighted to be able to offer a Band 8A or 7 to 8A preceptorship post to a dynamic and caring psychologist with a passion for working with children and families. This is a full time, permanent post based in the Fareham and Gosport CAMHS team. We are a warm and lively multi-disciplinary team who are united in the commitment to provide the highest quality care to the children, young people and families using our Hampshire CAMHS we follow a Stepped Care Model including, MHST, Single Point of Access, Early Help, Digital Teams and Community Teams alongside specialist CAMHS services including forensic, eating disorders, crisis, closer to home and inpatient. We have well developed assessment and treatment pathways to ensure an evidence based and consistent service across CAMHS. You will have scope to develop your own areas of interest either in relation to specific presentations or therapy this is taken up as a preceptorship post, you will have a career development plan that sets out required competencies for the transition to an 8A role. A senior psychologist will be closely supporting you through regular supervision and you will have opportunities to link in with other child psychologists across the Trust. There are many opportunities to access further training and we have an excellent record in developing our workforce.

Main duties of the job

To provide quality driven assessments, psychological formulations and interventions to children and young people experiencing a wide range of complex and severe mental health problems. Delivering a variety of interventions (individual and group) to families and young people in line with their needs and goals.

To be part of the Neurodevelopmental Team by contributing to neurodevelopmental assessments and team discussions.

Working together with other agencies and services to develop and implement interventions and care plans and ensure successful transitions between services.

To be an integral part in developing and delivering clinical care pathways.

Form part of the MDT providing consultation and supervision and developing psychological knowledge within the MDT.

Being part of the leadership team at Fareham and Gosport CAMHS supporting the development of innovative and effective ways of working and participating in systematic clinical governance.

Supervising and supporting the development of other psychologists and psychological therapists in the team, including trainee clinical psychologists on placement from the University of Southampton.

To utilise research skills for audit, service development and research within the area served by the team/service.

About us

Southern Health is one of the largest NHS Foundation Trusts in the UK, specialising in mental health and learning disabilities, as well as offering physical health community-based services.

As a Trust, our footprint spans more than 200 sites across Hampshire, wholeheartedly committed to providing the best possible healthcare, reaching a range of diverse communities.

- We function as a unified team, placing patients and staff at the forefront of all our endeavours.

- Our 7,000+ workforce is skilled and diverse, with a deep commitment to ongoing staff development. We offer customised training, leadership pathways, and a plethora of career opportunities.

- We respect and listen to your thoughts, ideas, and concerns via well-established network of staff groups to increase awareness and appreciation of equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Building on all this, we are currently working closely with other local NHS Trusts to integrate all our collective community, mental health, and learning disability services across Hampshire and Isle of Wight. Our new organisation is set to launch in April 2024 and will incorporate Southern Health, Solent, Isle of Wight and Sussex Partnership Trusts.

While the new Trust will be substantially bigger, it will continue to cater to the unique needs of different communities, streamlining services and making healthcare across the county more accessible.

Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare in Hampshire.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Outline

Providing quality driven assessments, psychological formulations and interventions to young people and their families experiencing a wide range of complex and severe mental health problems. Delivering a variety of interventions (individual and group) to families and young people in line with their needs and goals. To care co-ordinate cases as appropriate.

Being part of the Neurodevelopmental Team by contributing to neurodevelopmental assessments and team discussions.

Being an integral part in developing and delivering clinical care pathways.

Being part of the MDT providing consultation, supervision and developing psychological knowledge within the MDT.

Being part of the leadership team at Fareham and Gosport CAMHS supporting the development of innovative and effective ways of working and participating in systematic clinical governance.

Supervising and supporting the development of other psychologists and psychological therapists in the team, including trainee clinical psychologists on placement from the University of Southampton.

To utilise research skills for audit, service development and research within the area served by the team/service.

Scope & Authority

To provide a qualified, high-quality specialist psychology service to individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams, in line with best, evidence-based practice and trust care pathways.

To be responsible for holding and managing a clinical caseload and to exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the planning and prioritising of own workload and the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, within the bounds of the service operational policy.

To use analytical and judgment skills and be responsible for taking clinical management decisions in complex clinical issues.

To clinically supervise assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists and junior psychologists, psychological therapists or counsellors and other staff as appropriate.

To professionally supervise and, when appropriate, manage, assistant psychologists and trainee psychologists

To provide consultation, mentorship, supervision and advice about psychological issues to other members of the team/service and other professionals working with service users, across a range of agencies/ settings as appropriate.

To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team.

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, and to advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

To utilise research skills to undertake service evaluation, audit and research as appropriate and disseminate the results in the service and nationally.

To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the service.

Clinical

To carry out specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the service, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological 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, in order to reach a psychological formulation of the client's difficulties.

To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of clients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, and to practice within the context of evidence based approaches and the overall therapeutic approach/ philosophy of the service.

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

To provide specialist assessments of clients presenting with cognitive impairment due to a variety of causes or organic conditions, including pre-assessment counselling and neuropsychological and functional assessments, and to be able to adjust psychological interventions to work effectively with people presenting with complex needs due to cognitive impairment and organic disorders.

To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options for clients 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 contributing directly to clients' formulations, diagnoses and treatment plans.

To ensure that all members of the team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of clients of the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory.

To undertake risk assessment, formulation and management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment, formulation and management, in order to contribute to effective and therapeutic management of risk.

To attend multi-disciplinary CPA and other reviews and, where appropriate, act as a care co-ordinator, for specified clients and their families in order to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions. To liaise with clients, their relatives / carers and other health care providers, other departments and community providers to ensure continuity of care for service users.

To communicate information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients in a skilled and sensitive manner in order to promote effective multi-disciplinary working and therapeutic outcomes for clients.

To promote and participate in multi-disciplinary team working, development and liaison.

To promote actively, user and carer involvement in care planning and service development.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained before 1996 or outside the UK*] as approved by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology. Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HCPC).

Desirable

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

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