Job summary
18.75 hours per week.
We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Clinical Psychologist (Band 8a) to join us at Atkinson Secure Children's Home in Exeter. We are a multi-disciplinary team focused on improving the lives of young people with complex trauma histories.
We are looking for someone with the skills, experience and the passion to work with young people with complex social, emotional, neurodevelopmental and mental health needs, who can present with behaviours that challenge.
We use a model of trauma recovery and therapeutic parenting. The Senior Clinical Psychologist has a key role in supporting this across the home, embedding the approach as a core member of the multi-disciplinary team, working closely with education and care colleagues as well as multi-agency partners.
The post holder will use their extensive skills and experience to undertake complex psychological assessments, formulation and provide high quality care. They will provide consultation and supervision to support colleagues across the home in delivering trauma informed care and to promote emotional wellbeing. Using evidence-based practice and routine outcome measures, you will use a strength-based approach to work collaboratively with young people.
This role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route.
Please note that we may close the job advertisement earlier than the specified deadline.
All staff are expected to be able and willing to work across a 7 day service.
Main duties of the job
You will be a qualified and experienced Clinical
Psychologist ready to move into a more senior role. You will have the knowledge
and skills to deliver evidence-based, outcome monitored psychological therapies
and will also be able to demonstrate your competence as a reflective
practitioner with a passion for working successfully in multi-disciplinary and
multi-agency teams. You will have developed skills in supervising other
clinicians.
The ability to adapt your communication and intervention
style to meet individual needs is important and you will have knowledge of
child development and safeguarding procedures.
Managing risk and being able to assess mental health presentations,
including complex trauma, is a core part of this role, responding to both
urgent and routine, planned and unplanned need.
Above all you will be able to demonstrate a commitment to
service user participation and to collaborative working with children, young
people and families. You will be developing as a clinical leader and will
bring a positive approach to quality improvement and service development with
skills in audit and service evaluation.
You will have regular clinical supervision and be supported in
developing your breadth of skills alongside time for research and CPD/training
opportunities.
If you would like to learn more about the post and/or
visit the Atkinson, please contact Karen Cloute, Principal Clinical
Psychologist, or Maddie Mills, Operations Manager, on 01392 457999.
About us
Livewell Southwest is an independent, award-winning social
enterprise delivering integrated health and social care services across
Plymouth, South Hams, and West Devon, with specialist services in parts of
Devon and Cornwall. Our teams work in community hospitals, GP practices, sports
centres, and health hubs.
As an organisation with a strong social conscience we are guided by our values,kindness, respect, inclusivity, ambition, responsibility, and
collaboration. We focus on transforming services to ensure sustainability, while
empowering staff and those we serve.
We involve the people we care for, along with their families and carers, in
shaping the care they receive, striving to deliver the right care at the right
time and place. Centering our work on individual needs helps people lead
healthy, independent lives.
We prioritise employees' development, offering protected CPD time, training
pathways, leadership programs, and funding for qualifications like the Care
Certificate and Nurse Training Scholarships. Our induction and preceptorship
programs ensure a smooth transition into our organisation.
Livewell Southwest values diversity and encourages applications from all
sections of the community, including those with armed forces experience, lived experience of mental
health, neuro-diverse conditions and learning disabilities. If you need assistance or reasonable adjustments during the
application process, contact the Recruiting Manager listed in the job advert.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Job Summary
- Responsible for assessment, formulation and intervention
of own specialist caseload of children and young people with variety of
complex problems including developmental and acute trauma, mental ill-health,
behaviours that challenge and pose a risk to self and others, and complex
neurodiversity, needing specialist secure care. This particularly includes
working with their families and social care teams.
- Responsible for providing, developing and managing
highly specialist psychological interventions to children and young people
and for communicating psychological formulations and treatment plans to
carers and professional colleagues. She/he will also ensure information is
shared appropriately with other professionals by convening and chairing
multi-disciplinary/agency network meetings.
- Responsible for planning, organising and auditing and
developing policy and strategies for the delivery of a specialist psychology
service within the secure service.
- The postholder 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 (newly
qualified clinical psychologists, assistant psychologists, trainee
psychologists, undergraduate placement students) at Atkinson SCH 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 Atkinson SCH,
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 or ACP-UK, and for
adhering to policies and procedures of Livewell Southwest.
- Responsible for participating in an annual appraisal
with the 8b Clinical psychologist plus a service manager or modern matron.
- Responsible for continuing professional development
(CPD) in line with the annual appraisal Professional Development Plan PDP,
the Knowledge and Skills Framework KSF and the HCPC requirements for CPD.
- 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 of the Post- To possess and practice a very 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.
- To engage young people with complex presentations in a
therapeutic alliance and maintain this through periods of doubt and relapse.
- To evaluate and make decisions about therapeutic
approaches for young people in Atkinson SCH taking into account theoretical and
therapeutic models, highly complex factors concerning historical and
developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group and
available resources.
- To formulate and implement therapeutic plans for the care
of young people in Atkinson SCH .
- To be able to complete the most appropriate formal
psychometric assessments with complex young people at Atkinson SCH.
- To be able to communicate complex psychological
formulations and therapeutic plans to the children and young people and to
professional colleagues and to family members or carers, as appropriate, so
that they are understood.
- To develop a psychological formulation of a clients
problems that enables a healthy, holistic discussion of their therapeutic care
plan.
- To prepare and provide reports for social services,
when requested or appropriate to the psychology work.
- To have knowledge of and skill within several
psychological models of understanding and managing behaviour, including, for
example, Diadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Dialectic Behavioural Therapy
and Systemic Therapies.
- Through consultation or case discussion with MDT
colleagues, to be able to add both an understanding of psychosocial factors
and offer advice as to an appropriate intervention for all children and young
people admitted to the home.
- To be able to manage the emotional impact of working,
often one-to-one, with children and young people who are often in crisis and
who can show high levels of arousal and can be actively self-harming or
suicidal.
- To ensure receipt of clinical and personal supervision
in accordance with good practice guidelines for all clinical psychologists.
Policy and
Service Development- To be responsible for promoting the need to plan and
develop specialist psychology services within Atkinson SCH.
- Through membership of the psychology specialty, to be
responsible for contributing to the planning and development of specialist
psychology services across the secure service.
- As a member of Atkinson SCH to be responsible for
promoting the need to plan and develop the multidisciplinary response to
clinical demands and expectations on it.
- To attend clinical multi-disciplinary and multi-agency meetings
regularly.
Human Resources- To be responsible for providing clinical supervision
and professional support and guidance as required to newly qualified Clinical
Psychologists, CAPs, and trainee 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 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 University of 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 University 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
children and young people needing secure provision.
- To contribute to/take a lead on evaluations, audits,
research and service developments.
- To collaborate with University of Exeter and Plymouth
in setting up and conducting Doctoral level long-term research projects on childhood
trauma 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 at Atkinson SCH.
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 Atkinson
SCH.
- To ensure that SystmOne computer data bases are kept up
to date.
PLEASE REFER TO ATTACHED JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Job Summary
- Responsible for assessment, formulation and intervention
of own specialist caseload of children and young people with variety of
complex problems including developmental and acute trauma, mental ill-health,
behaviours that challenge and pose a risk to self and others, and complex
neurodiversity, needing specialist secure care. This particularly includes
working with their families and social care teams.
- Responsible for providing, developing and managing
highly specialist psychological interventions to children and young people
and for communicating psychological formulations and treatment plans to
carers and professional colleagues. She/he will also ensure information is
shared appropriately with other professionals by convening and chairing
multi-disciplinary/agency network meetings.
- Responsible for planning, organising and auditing and
developing policy and strategies for the delivery of a specialist psychology
service within the secure service.
- The postholder 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 (newly
qualified clinical psychologists, assistant psychologists, trainee
psychologists, undergraduate placement students) at Atkinson SCH 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 Atkinson SCH,
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 or ACP-UK, and for
adhering to policies and procedures of Livewell Southwest.
- Responsible for participating in an annual appraisal
with the 8b Clinical psychologist plus a service manager or modern matron.
- Responsible for continuing professional development
(CPD) in line with the annual appraisal Professional Development Plan PDP,
the Knowledge and Skills Framework KSF and the HCPC requirements for CPD.
- 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 of the Post- To possess and practice a very 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.
- To engage young people with complex presentations in a
therapeutic alliance and maintain this through periods of doubt and relapse.
- To evaluate and make decisions about therapeutic
approaches for young people in Atkinson SCH taking into account theoretical and
therapeutic models, highly complex factors concerning historical and
developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group and
available resources.
- To formulate and implement therapeutic plans for the care
of young people in Atkinson SCH .
- To be able to complete the most appropriate formal
psychometric assessments with complex young people at Atkinson SCH.
- To be able to communicate complex psychological
formulations and therapeutic plans to the children and young people and to
professional colleagues and to family members or carers, as appropriate, so
that they are understood.
- To develop a psychological formulation of a clients
problems that enables a healthy, holistic discussion of their therapeutic care
plan.
- To prepare and provide reports for social services,
when requested or appropriate to the psychology work.
- To have knowledge of and skill within several
psychological models of understanding and managing behaviour, including, for
example, Diadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Dialectic Behavioural Therapy
and Systemic Therapies.
- Through consultation or case discussion with MDT
colleagues, to be able to add both an understanding of psychosocial factors
and offer advice as to an appropriate intervention for all children and young
people admitted to the home.
- To be able to manage the emotional impact of working,
often one-to-one, with children and young people who are often in crisis and
who can show high levels of arousal and can be actively self-harming or
suicidal.
- To ensure receipt of clinical and personal supervision
in accordance with good practice guidelines for all clinical psychologists.
Policy and
Service Development- To be responsible for promoting the need to plan and
develop specialist psychology services within Atkinson SCH.
- Through membership of the psychology specialty, to be
responsible for contributing to the planning and development of specialist
psychology services across the secure service.
- As a member of Atkinson SCH to be responsible for
promoting the need to plan and develop the multidisciplinary response to
clinical demands and expectations on it.
- To attend clinical multi-disciplinary and multi-agency meetings
regularly.
Human Resources- To be responsible for providing clinical supervision
and professional support and guidance as required to newly qualified Clinical
Psychologists, CAPs, and trainee 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 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 University of 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 University 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
children and young people needing secure provision.
- To contribute to/take a lead on evaluations, audits,
research and service developments.
- To collaborate with University of Exeter and Plymouth
in setting up and conducting Doctoral level long-term research projects on childhood
trauma 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 at Atkinson SCH.
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 Atkinson
SCH.
- To ensure that SystmOne computer data bases are kept up
to date.
PLEASE REFER TO ATTACHED JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
Person Specification
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.
- Membership of the ACP-UK.
- Group work skills.
- Advanced keyboard skills.
- Specialist skills in a specific therapeutic approach.
- Clinical supervision training for doctoral trainees.
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, formulation, intervention and management with children and young people.
- 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 in children e.g. emerging psychosis and personality difficulties, behaviours that challenge.
Desirable
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
- Skills in the psychological assessment and management of complex neurodiversity in children and young people.
- Knowledge of legislation and national standards and guidelines that relate this client group.
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working as a psychologist with children and young people with complex and severe social, emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties.
- 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 children and young people.
- Experience of offering consultation and advice to staff groups supporting vulnerable children and young people.
Desirable
- Relevant post-qualification experience.
- Record of having published in peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books.
- Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist in CAMHS.
- Experience of working with clients with complex trauma histories.
- Post qualification training in DDP, DBT, tfCBT, EMDR or Systemic Therapy.
PERSONAL
Essential
- Kindness.
- Enthusiasm for working in a secure setting.
- Ability to work under pressure and set priorities.
- Ability to deal with children and young people 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 and as part of a team.
- Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to hold the stress of others.
Desirable
- Lived experience of mental health difficulties
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.
Person Specification
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.
- Membership of the ACP-UK.
- Group work skills.
- Advanced keyboard skills.
- Specialist skills in a specific therapeutic approach.
- Clinical supervision training for doctoral trainees.
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, formulation, intervention and management with children and young people.
- 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 in children e.g. emerging psychosis and personality difficulties, behaviours that challenge.
Desirable
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
- Skills in the psychological assessment and management of complex neurodiversity in children and young people.
- Knowledge of legislation and national standards and guidelines that relate this client group.
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working as a psychologist with children and young people with complex and severe social, emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties.
- 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 children and young people.
- Experience of offering consultation and advice to staff groups supporting vulnerable children and young people.
Desirable
- Relevant post-qualification experience.
- Record of having published in peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books.
- Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist in CAMHS.
- Experience of working with clients with complex trauma histories.
- Post qualification training in DDP, DBT, tfCBT, EMDR or Systemic Therapy.
PERSONAL
Essential
- Kindness.
- Enthusiasm for working in a secure setting.
- Ability to work under pressure and set priorities.
- Ability to deal with children and young people 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 and as part of a team.
- Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to hold the stress of others.
Desirable
- Lived experience of mental health difficulties
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.
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).
Additional information
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.
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).
