Job responsibilities
KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:Clinical Responsibilities
To provide specialist advice and support to Autistic Adults with forensic needs who have been (or at risk of being) placed out of area for treatment as a result of their complex needs and those who need specialist advice and support to facilitate their discharge home.
To work with third sector colleagues in the local Autism Hubs.
To work with service users and other professionals in community settings, including local hospitals, mental health resource centres, Social Services and Probation Offices as required.
To work with service users and staff in prisons, special hospitals and other secure facilities as required.
To routinely work with service users who have been perpetrators and/or victims of serious offences and/or who show severely challenging behaviour. This includes violent and sexual offenders.
To provide highly specialist psychological assessments for Autistic Adults in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin 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 service users, family members and others involved in the service users care.
To make recommendations regarding the reasonable adjustments required for Autistic Adults to be able to access mainstream services and to support with specialist advice and training re these adjustments where necessary.
To formulate and make recommendations regarding the psychological inputs required for formal psychological treatment and/or behavioural support needs. Including the support required in respect of their mental health needs and/or offending behaviour, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the service users problems, and employing methods of proven efficacy.
To be responsible for undertaking a detailed analysis of the range of psychological interventions identified as required for Autistic Adults, carers, families and groups in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin; and to develop proposals regarding how any unmet psychological needs can be addressed in the future.
To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options considering both theoretical and therapeutic models and 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 outpatients whose problems are managed by psychologically based care plans as appropriate.
To provide assessment and treatment recommendations to inpatients as agreed with the relevant Consultant Clinical Psychologist.
To manage a specialist caseload.
To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to service users formulation, diagnosis, treatment and management plan. To work with the Consultant Clinical Psychologists/Professional Lead to ensure all members of the clinical team have access to psychologically based frameworks for understanding and informing the care of service users through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory.
To attend multi-disciplinary team meetings, including those associated with the Dynamic Support register (DSR) as required.
To assess and manage on a day-to-day basis the risk of serious harm to the post-holder, the service user, and to others. This will include the risk of serious violent and sexual offending. The requirements to work with external agencies and within the public arena, where the cost of errors is high, places particular demands on the post-holders professional judgements, decision-making and clinical skills.
To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users, providing formal reports and consultation/advice to multi-disciplinary teams and external agencies. Where necessary, to undertake weekly, daily, or more frequent assessment of the risk a service user poses to himself/herself, the post-holder and others.
To provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
To act as Key worker for Autistic Adults and forensic needs where appropriate, ensuring the provision of a care package appropriate for the service users needs, co-ordinating the work of others involved with care, taking responsibility for arranging reviews as required and communicating effectively with the service user, his/her family and all others involved in the network of care, and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions.
To provide expertise, advice, support and supervision to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the clinical team.
To undertake person-centred diagnostic assessments for people querying an ASD diagnosis in Telford and Wrekin.
Systems and Equipment
The post requires a range of general skills including driving, assembly and operation of complex test equipment, high level keyboard and computer skills for data analysis, analysis and interpretation of psychological tests, presentations and communication.
The administration of neuropsychological tests requires high levels of concentration, skilled manipulation of test materials, excellent hand-eye co-ordination and accuracy under timed conditions. Scoring and interpretation of psychological and neuropsychological tests requires analytical skills, technical and statistical knowledge and the use of computer-based packages in some cases.
To utilise IT skills and equipment to input, analyse and report clinical data, including psychometric assessment data.
Utilise appropriate systems and equipment as per Trust policies and procedures.
Responsible for updating service user records and inputting data onto clinical information systems (e.g. RiO).
Responsible for personally inputting and statistically analysing data for the purposes of research, audit and clinical assessment.
Responsible for producing reports relating to service users, service developments and research papers.
To utilise high-level professional skills in reporting and communicating, using word-processing, email, PowerPoint and other appropriate technologies.
Decisions and Judgements
To make high level specialist clinical decisions and clinical judgements about service users care.
To advise the Clinical and Professional Leads for the Adult Autism & Learning Disability Psychological Service, Operational Pathway Leads, team members and others on service development and/or aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters in respect of people with ASD in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin need addressing.
Will be expected to work independently within organisational and professional guidelines and policies, referring to supervisor/manager as necessary.
Will be expected to manage own diary and workload.
Communication and Relationships
Communicates in a way which recognises difference and ensures that people feel included and that their individual communication needs are met.
To maintain a high level of professionalism despite regular exposure to highly emotive, distressing and disturbing material including first- and second-hand accounts of serious offences and physical and verbal aggression.
Communicates highly complex, highly sensitive and highly contentious information to service users and others during the course of psychological therapy where the atmosphere may be highly emotive, there may be barriers to understanding or the client may react in an antagonistic or hostile manner.
To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment/management plans of service users under their care and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
Promote and maintain effective relationships with all staff involved in the care of service users including the multi-disciplinary team, other agencies, relatives and carers in order to deliver a high-quality service to service users.
Communicate clinical and non-clinical information throughout the Directorate, Trust and other relevant agencies using effective verbal, written and IT skills.
Prepare reports for service user reviews and Care Coordination.
To consult with appropriate governance groups and relevant staff.
To maintain and promulgate 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 professional codes of practice of the HCPC, the British Psychological Society and Trust policies and procedures.
To use clinical expertise and knowledge of professional and legal frameworks to balance confidentiality and disclosure of highly sensitive information pertaining to risk.
