Clinical Psychologist - Developmental

Job responsibilities

As a Clinical Psychologist responsible for assessment and treatment of own specialist caseload of clients seeking, or with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder and potentially co-occurring of complex issues including mental ill-health, behaviours that challenge, personality difficulties, and neurological problems. This particularly includes their families and paid carers in a wide range of independent sector provision.

As a clinical Psychologists, responsible for providing, developing and managing specialist psychological interventions to clients and for communicating psychological formulations and treatment plans to carers and professional colleagues.

Responsible for planning, organising and auditing and developing policy and strategies for the delivery of a specialist psychology service within the multidisciplinary PASSAT and CMHS.

The post holder would be expected to develop specialist responsibilities and provide leadership from a psychological perspective on a specific area of expertise that balances their experience, interests, and needs of the service.

Responsible for providing professional support, guidance and clinical supervision to other clinical psychology staff (clinical psychologists, assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists, undergraduate placement students) in the CLDT and in other parts of the service as required by their level of experience.

Responsible for the planning, delivery and clinical supervision of a specialist clinical training placement for trainees on the postgraduate Doctoral Courses in Clinical Psychology from the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter.

Responsible for providing specialist consultation, advice and clinical supervision to other non-psychology staff within the CLDT, on psychological understanding, interventions and evaluations.

Responsible for developing and delivering teaching on psychological work and care for trainee clinical psychologists and qualified members of clinical psychology and other professions in Livewell Southwest.

Responsible for initiating and maintaining research and development projects relevant to furthering both clinical knowledge and service evaluation and delivery.

Responsible for working within the Guidelines for Professional Practice of the Health & Care Professions Council and the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology, and for adhering to policies and procedures of Livewell Southwest.

Responsible for participating in an annual appraisal with Psychology Lead plus a group manager.

Responsible for continuing professional development (CPD) in line with the annual appraisal Professional Development Plan PDP, the Knowledge and Skills Framework KSF and the British Psychological Societys requirements for CPD Logs and Practicing Certificate.

Responsible for keeping aware of and being knowledgeable about current developments within the profession of clinical psychology.

Responsible for keeping up to date with legislation, national directives, policies and NICE guidelines in relation to the work.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

Clinical Skills

Clinical Skills

Clinical Skills

To possess and practice a high level of communication and relationship skills in situations where emotional distress, and risk of self-harm and of life-threatening behaviour can be expected.

Responsible for overcoming a variety of barriers to communication when working with clients who are fearful of others, unable to articulate their problems or who think within a very different frame of reference, requiring imaginative and sensitive approaches towards engagement.

To be able to identify and manage the need for more complex reformulation of the clients difficulties and to promote a realistic treatment plan.

To identify and be able to complete formal psychometric assessments with ones own clients and those of other team members, where this is appropriate.

To be able to communicate, by talking and by writing, psychological formulations and treatment plans to the client and to appropriate professional colleagues and to family members and carers, as appropriate.

To be able to prepare and provide complex medico-legal reports and reports for child protection and vulnerable adults meetings.

To have knowledge of and skill within several psychological models of understanding and managing clinical problems.

To be able to add both an understanding of psychosocial factors and an appropriate intervention to the planning of treatment for clients referred to the service but not on psychologists caseload.

To be able to manage an appropriate caseload whilst also being able to negotiate and manage the need for waiting lists for assessment and treatment so that there is steady movement of clients through the stages of referral, assessment, treatment and discharge.

To be able to develop highly specialised individual treatment plans or packages of care for clients with complex psychological problems such as autistic spectrum disorder, severe challenging behaviour, offending profiles, dementia, the long-term effects of childhood trauma, personality disorders, severe and chronic depression, and other mental illnesses.

To be able to manage the emotional impact of working, often one-to-one, with people who can be in crisis and who can show high levels of arousal and can be actively self-harming or threatening to others.

To be able to analyse complex situations and think through an appropriate pattern or sequence of strategies to respond therapeutically.

To ensure receipt of clinical and personal supervision in accordance with good practice guidelines for all clinical psychologists.

Human Resource

To be responsible for providing clinical supervision and professional support and guidance as required to Clinical Psychologists within the service who are less experienced.

To be responsible for providing clinical supervision to non clinical psychology members of the service as appropriate.

To be responsible for supervising qualified clinical psychologists from other specialties, as required, in relation to their work with clients who may have learning disabilities.

To be responsible for planning and supervising the work of undergraduate psychology students on year long and short term placements.

To be responsible for the supervision of the work of Assistant Psychologist/s.

To be responsible for planning and providing a clinical training placement to trainees on the postgraduate Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology of the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter. This clinical placement requires liaison with Human Resources to arrange appropriate DBS checks, honorary contracts and IT access as well as completion of Livewell Southwest and service inductions. It also requires a sensitive awareness to the impact on trainees of induction to being members of a large and complex organisation as the context for learning and practising their professional skills.

To teach on the postgraduate Doctoral Courses in Clinical Psychology at the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter if required and on pre and post qualification professional courses for other disciplines represented within Livewell Southwest as required.

To ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external Continuing Professional Development - CPD training and development programmes and courses.

Research and Development

To conduct and supervise research and audit and evaluation relevant to the provision of specialist psychological services for people with learning disabilities..

To initiate and implement project management techniques and tools in order to achieve completion of evaluations, audits, research and service developments.

To collaborate with Universities of Plymouth and Exeter in setting up and conducting Doctoral level long-term research projects on learning disability issues, and providing teaching.

To use SPSS and other packages in the analysis of data and to write up the information in a meaningful format that is accessible and understood by the target audience.

To prepare and present information from audits, evaluations and research to professional audiences within and outside the organisation.

To prepare papers for publication based on audit, evaluation, research and development work.

To utilise theory, evidence based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with team members in the CLDT and Clinical Psychology.

Information Technology

To be responsible for the maintenance and development of office systems and procedures within the clinical psychology service.

To be able to use a range of software packages including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and SPSS.

To be responsible for maintaining appropriate service statistics and records of work within the requirement of policies covering the CLDT including where applicable the Care Programme Approach.

To ensure that SystmOne computer data bases are kept up to date.

Qualifications

Essential

• Post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS.
• Registered as a clinical psychologist with the HCPC
• Fully competent as a clinical psychologist supplemented by short specialist courses and further specialist training

Desirable

• - Other related academic qualifications to Masters or Doctoral level.
• Chartered Status within the BPS.
• Group work skills
• Advanced keyboard skills.
• Specialist skills in a specific therapeutic approach.
• Clinical supervision training for doctoral trainees

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working as a psychologist with adults with learning disabilities and their care networks or other dependent/vulnerable/
• disenfranchised client groups (e.g. people with severe mental health problems)
• Experience of teaching, training and providing professional and/or clinical supervision.
• Experience of assessing and treating clients in the full range of care settings.
• Experience of working within multidisciplinary services for clients with learning disabilities or other dependent/disenfranchised client group
• Experience of offering consultation and advice to staff groups supporting vulnerable clients.

Desirable

• Post-qualification experience of two years or more.
• Record of having published in peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books
• Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist with adults with learning disabilities in a range of settings
• Experience of working with clients with challenging behaviour
• Post qualification training in Neuropsychology

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Ability to analyse and interpret highly complex situations involving a range of options to make a decision about an appropriate course of action or solution to a problem.
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management in adult with learning disabilities and/or other dependent/vulnerable/ disenfranchised groups.
• Skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families and professionals both within and outside the NHS.
• Doctoral level of research design and methodology as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies for complex problems (e.g. personality disorder, behaviours that challenge).

Desirable

• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists
• Skills in the psychological assessment and management of neurological problems inc dementia.
• Knowledge of legislation and national standards and guidelines that relate this client group.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of adapted psychological therapies used with adults with learning disabilities

Personal

Essential

• Enthusiasm for working with people with learning disabilities.
• Ability to work under pressure and set priorities.
• Ability to deal with patients and carers who may be distressed, angry, confrontational or violent.
• Ability to work within teams and motivate others.
• Ability to sit for prolonged periods during assessments, patient interviews, case conferences.
• Ability to cope with frequent exposure to highly distressing and emotional situations.
• Warmth, empathy & integrity.
• Ability to work autonomously & as part of a team.
• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to hold the stress of others.

Desirable

• Personal experience of
• supporting/living with a person with disabilities
• Ability to identify, provide appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.

Other

Essential

• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentation in public, professional and academic settings.
• Works to professional guidelines.
• Is accountable for own professional actions and capable of interpreting broad occupational policies

Desirable

• Driving licence and car owner.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).