Job responsibilities
The post holder will work as part of the team in the continued development and delivery of the regional Forensic CAMHS Service for the South West of England.
A large part of the post holder's work will specifically involve the day-to-day oversight of Good Clinical Practice in terms of the services engagement in a National RCT on MBT, alongside monitoring, documenting and reporting on adherence to the research protocol.
The regional Forensic CAMHS team provides a service for young people with complex presentations, including a combination of mental health, neurodevelopmental and forensic needs. The team has links with the Somerset Forensic Liaison Team to support forensic supervision as required, and the National FCAMHS team to ensure alignment with national thinking, best practice and training to drive ongoing development.
This highly specialised service provides comprehensive evidence-based advice, consultation assessment, treatment and training. The post holder will be responsible for delivering these aspects of the service as part of the dedicated regional Forensic CAMHS team across the Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
For some young people, this work may involve supporting young people and their families/ carers transition out of secure settings. The team operates from a psychologically informed, multi-disciplinary approach with mental health practitioners, psychology, and psychiatry contributing to provide care plans and manage risk.
The post holder will have the responsibility to work as part of a team undertaking the following tasks:
To provide a psychologically informed service to the for the FCAMHS service, across the south west.
To develop and undertake specialist assessments, formulations and interventions with this client group.
To advise on packages of care.
To develop the local engagement with a large-scale RCT MBT trial.
To support the recruitment of participants to be involved in the RCT.
To train in and deliver MBT as part of the RCT therapies delivery team.
To monitor, document and adhere to the research trial protocol, alongside supporting others to do so.
To supervise and oversee the RCT's assistant psychologist.
To provide consultation and supervision to other professionals working with the FCAMHS cohort of young people in other settings.
To provide specialist supervision to other FCAMHS professionals.
To liaise closely with others psychologists and professionals working in specialist services.
To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service
Planning and Organisation
Service development responsibilities
To work with the FCAMHS management team and regarding service priorities and effective implementation of best practice guidelines and propose changes for policy or service development as necessary.
Contribute to strategic planning and proposing changes to service delivery in order to ensure / promote effective service delivery
To develop or co-ordinate provision of specialist services/ care/ care packages or an aspect of the service, as appropriate
Responsibility for Patient / Client Care, Treatment & Therapy
Clinical Responsibilities
To provide comprehensive specialist assessment of children with mental health difficulties, who may also have additional physical, sensory or learning difficulties and/or challenging/forensic behaviour.
To conduct and work with personality and risk assessment, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the care of young people.
Establishing, maintaining and ending purposeful, therapeutic relationships with children, young people and their families. Practice will be creative and underpinned by specialist knowledge of, and skills in evidence based and psychosocial interventions.
Providing time-limited specialize intervention. Identifying appropriate discharge goals and working positively with risk using own professional judgement and team processes.
To be responsible for providing a specialist perspective in the multi-disciplinary assessment of children and in the formulation of appropriate therapeutic intervention plans.
To act as care coordinator, where appropriate, ensuring the provision of a care package appropriate for the client's needs, coordinating the work of others involved with care, arranging client's reviews as required and communicating effectively with the client, his/her family and all others involved in care; and to monitor progress during the course of multidisciplinary interventions.
To undertake risk assessment and risk management for relevant clients and provide advice on risk to the multi-disciplinary team, including understanding and responding to safeguarding issues.
To consult with, and provide specialist mental health and psychological guidance to families, school staff and other relevant professionals directly involved with the care of the young people.
To communicate verbally and in writing highly complex and sensitive information in a manner appropriate to a range of settings and audiences, including complex, highly emotive situations and people with impaired communication capacities.
To promote equality of outcome for clients that reflect their mental health needs and those of ethnicity, gender, culture physical health and age.
To promote social inclusion and physical and mental well-being using evidence based practice. This is underpinned by the principles of hope and recovery, health promotion and relapse prevention.
To independently manage a clinical caseload of clients with complex mental health needs, taking on the role of case coordinator.
To make accurate observations and recordings, using Rio (electronic patient recording system).
To exercise independent clinical professional judgement in complex clinical cases and difficult clinical situations, referring to team members when necessary.
To monitor, evaluate and record progress during the course of intervention, assessing and re-evaluating as necessary, within the framework of the Care Programme Approach (CPA) including outcome measures.
To have an increased awareness of, and be supportive to others of complex interactions that may include communicating issues regarding capacity.
To work collaboratively within the National Forensic team and services and undertake a range of procedures and practices underpinned by theoretical knowledge or relevant practice.
To be responsible for maintaining and influencing professional standards in relation to government policy, frameworks and Trust directives.
To manage their own diary, balancing competing priorities and demands
To follow safeguarding protocols and processes as part of their daily practice.
Policy, Service, Research & Development Responsibility
Clinical Governance
To promote the use of effective psychological interventions in the service.
To participate in and promote clinical audit within FCAMHS, alongside discussion with the clinical lead.
To liaise with other disciplines and agencies, as appropriate, to ensure best practice is shared.
To liaise with other disciplines & agencies to ensure that best practice is shared.
Research & Development
To develop the local engagement with a large-scale RCT therapies trial (MBT).
To support the recruitment of participants to be involved in the RCT.
To train in and deliver MBT as part of the RCT therapies delivery team.
To monitor, document and adhere to the research trial protocol, alongside supporting others to do so.
To supervise and oversee the RCT's assistant psychologist.
To regularly participate in relevant areas of research & evaluation and undertake service evaluation as agreed with the FCAMHS clinical lead -- and / or supervise the research of others.
To encourage a culture of evidence based practice in all parts of the service.
Responsibility for Supervision, Leadership & Management
Clinical Supervision, Teaching & Training
To provide specialist clinical supervision to less experienced clinical psychologists, trainees in psychology and other professionals, as appropriate.
Responsibility for organising and undertaking teaching and training in relevant psychological skills as agreed with both professional and operational managers.
To develop a personal professional development plan in collaboration with the clinical lead for FCAMHS, to be updated annually, and to participate in annual review process. To fully observe the BPS (2021) Code of Ethics and Conduct and DCP (1995) professional practice guidelines
To participate in FCAMHS business and professional meetings, and psychology meetings as appropriate, and in discussion with the FCAMHS clinical lead.
To maintain and further develop high standards of clinical psychology practice through co-operative work with other clinical psychologists through audit and supervision.
To be aware of, adhere to Trust and FCAMHS and psychology team policies and procedures.
To receive regular clinical and management supervision in an agreed and appropriate format, as provided by FCAMHS and the wider psychology team.
To keep abreast of developments in the practice of clinical psychology, as agreed with the FCAMHS clinical lead and the psychology service.
Any Other Specific Tasks Required
To undertake any other duties at a comparable level of responsibility as may be allocated or deemed appropriate by your line manager
