Senior Clinical

Job summary

To provide a qualified psychological service primarily to Older Adults with complex and enduring mental health problems living within the London Borough of Harrow; providing highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy in the contexts of a multidisciplinary inpatient Ellington ward. To offer advice and consultation on clients' psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other, non professional carers. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures. To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development, and research within the area served by the team.

Main duties of the job

Clinical:

To provide specialist quality psychological practice for older adults, their families and associated services within the Harrow Memory Service and the Harrow Older Adult Home Treatment Team. (Should be Ellington ward)

Working for your organisation

CNWL has a strong culture of support and CPD within our OA Psychological Professions community.

There's a place for you at CNWL:We're passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient's own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do.Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people.

We're always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee we're hoping to find our future leaders and we'll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more - whatever stage of your career you're at, there's always a place for you at CNWL.

About us

CNWL has a strong culture of support and CPD within our OA Psychology community.

There's a place for you at CNWL:We're passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient's own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do.Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people.

We're always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee we're hoping to find our future leaders and we'll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more - whatever stage of your career you're at, there's always a place for you at CNWL.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical:

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 cognitive 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 formulate and implement 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, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, 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 exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically 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 according to Trust Policy To act as care coordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans under CPA 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 To ensure that all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the clients of diverse community backgrounds.

Teaching, training, and supervision

To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues To gain additional highly specialist experience and skills relevant to clinical psychology and/or the service as agreed with the professional psychology manager 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 assistant/graduate psychologists and, as appropriate, to contribute to the supervision of individual cases for trainee clinical psychologists To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical and/or counselling 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 valuation 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 the workloads of assistant 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

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 complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision To familiarise themselves with, and to comply with, the Trusts requirements on research governance.

IT responsibilities (other than those used for research)

The post holder will input and maintain, appropriate computer and manual statistical data and provide this to the service manager/Head of speciality when necessary.

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 and service manager(s) 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 HPC standards, 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.

To be noted:

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 servicerequirements and any such changes will be discussed with the post holder The post holder is expected to comply with all relevant Trust policies, proceduresand guidelines, including those relating to Equal Opportunities, Health and Safetyand Confidentiality of Information, clinical governance including research governance Person Specification

Training and Qualifications

Essential

Doctoral level training in clinical Psychology, or BPS Chartered Status for counselling psychologists, including specifically models of psychopathology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, as accredited by the BPS; or equivalent psychotherapy training. To hold current registration with the HPC as a practitioner psychologist or psychotherapist.

Desirable

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

Experience

Essential

Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients in inpatient settings Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical 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.

Desirable

Experience of working with people in later life and the challenges presented to them. Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts. Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration. Well 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. Skills in providing consultation to other professional and nonprofessional groups. Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology. Evidence 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. High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.

Other

Essential

Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multimedia materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings. Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour Experience of working within a multicultural framework

Desirable

Hold a current full driving license and have access to a car or other suitable transport for use at work.

Attitude, Aptitudes and Personal Characteristics

Essential

Ability to treat service users with respect and dignity at all times, adopting a culturally sensitive approach, which considers the needs of the whole person. Able to build constructive relationships and warmth and empathy, using good communication skills Ability to identify and articulate own training needs Self-motivated with ability to work independently and influence others Excellent Team Player with proven ability to work well in a team Ability to make decisions and problem solve when dealing in both routine and complex situations Ability to organise own work and caseload Ability to work in a stressful environment and concentrate in conditions requiring emotional demands Ability to recognise own limitations and have a willingness to share and learn skills from others Ability to prioritise own and others caseloads Demonstrates positive attitude and behaviours Excellent Time Management skills Ability to communicate effectively with people with complex difficulties and in difficult situations Recognises own limitations and have willingness to share and learn from others Ability to concentrate and work in conditions requiring emotional demands Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multimedia materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings. Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and behaviour that challenges.

Desirable

Understanding of particular needs of older adults Experience of working within a multicultural framework

---