Consultant Psychotherapist / Consultant Practitioner Psychologist

Job responsibilities

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

To plan, organise and ensure the delivery of psychological and psycho-social substance use interventions in the mental health and substance use inpatient rehab service (MHSIR).

To plan and organise the integrated delivery of the service with other agencies and service providers and within the rehabilitation wards.

To ensure robust governance arrangements are in place to ensure this integrated offer.

To provide highly specialist psychological therapy assessments, formulations and interventions focused on supporting the recovery of clients with substance use problems on the rehabilitation wards.

To provide culturally appropriate psycho-social interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.

To assess and monitor risk and co-produce appropriate risk management plans

To ensure that all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities which make up the families of and the patient population on the psychiatric rehabilitation wards.

KR 2 Responsibilities for team or service clinical functioning

To work with the leads/managers of SLaM, Oxleas and St Georges services and other agencies to plan and deliver joint services that are integrated, centred on the needs of service users on the rehabilitation wards and their family members.

To co-ordinate (and chair) team and service meetings to ensure effective functioning and review when appropriate.

To ensure the effective working of the team or service within a psychologically informed framework.

To take a lead in ensuring the team or services ability to deliver accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.

To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.

To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care and evidence-based psycho-social approaches with clients using substances.

To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients to develop and review care plans.

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

To liaise with the service/s MDT and other professionals.

KR 3 Policy and service development

To interpret policies and guidance for application in the service and be responsible for policy development and implementation

To initiate, implement and ensure appropriate service developments to improve the quality and delivery of services in the service and in partner services.

To ensure the consultation and engagement of service users and their families in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

To participate in, or lead when appropriate, Trust and Directorate (across SLaM, Oxleas and SWLSTGs), SLP strategic development and implementation of new initiatives (e.g. national guidelines), through membership of committees and/or working parties.

To be responsible for applying clinical governance standards within the service and ensure that these are maintained and improved.

To take a lead role in ensuring that services to clients are of a high quality and are managed efficiently, according to the overall requirements of the Trust, NHS and government guidance and standards.

KR 4 Care or management of resources

To be responsible for the management of team resources.

To ensure that the service has sufficient materials and equipment.

To be authorised signatory for testing materials for the service.

To ensure the cleanliness and safe functioning and use of equipment that will be used by clients or other persons.

To monitor and advise clients on the safe use of materials and processes.

To ensure adequate confidential and safe storage for artefacts produced during the therapy process in line with professional guidelines.

To be responsible for obtaining, storing and maintaining all necessary materials and equipment for the provision of therapy in work setting within budgetary constraints.

To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

KR 5 Management and supervision

To deputise when appropriate for the Professional Head of Psychology and Psychotherapy for Addictions.

To provide leadership to psychological practitioners and other professionals and staff in the service.

To ensure appropriate systems are in place for the clinical and professional supervision of psychological practitioners and other staff in the service.

To lead on recruitment of staff to the service.

To lead appraisals of, and personal development plans for psychological practitioners and other staff (in conjunction with their professional supervisors) in the service.

To be responsible for the management of the staff in the service, including allocation and review of work, supervision and any performance reviews.

To provide professional, clinical and management supervision to less senior psychological practitioners, assistants and trainees and the psychological work of other professions as appropriate and having completed the relevant training.

KR 6 Teaching and Training

To organise access to, and provide specialist clinical placements for trainee applied psychological practitioners and other staff as directed by the SLP

To be responsible for planning, organising and facilitating teaching and training of pre and post- qualification psychological practitioners and for other professions.

To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychological therapy and psycho-social interventions and by implementing knowledge gained in practice.

To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance

To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures, and associated Trusts (Oxleas and SWLSTGs)

To ensure the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry, in those parts of the service for which the post-holder has management or leadership responsibility.

KR 8 Research and development

To ensure the planning, initiation and completion of research, service evaluation and audits relevant to the service and the directorate research agenda and evaluation of the IMHSIRS for the South London Partnership.

To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.

KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

To participate in regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychological practitioner according to professional and Trust guidelines.

To maintain own Continuing Professional Development in line with registered body and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the Standards for Continuing Professional Development.

To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.

To comply with the registered body Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics/Standards of Proficiency.

To ensure that all psychological practitioners for whom the post-holder has leadership or management responsibility, maintain professional standards and continuing professional development.

KR10 General

To travel to the rehabilitation wards and sites across the South London Partnership as appropriate and across the Trust when required.

To be aware of risk relating to behaviour in clients which can be challenging and follow trust policies relating to its management.

To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations; challenging behaviour from patients as well as disclosure of distressing life events and to support others involved in such situations.

To work flexibly within the overall Job Plan to fulfil the needs of the wards.

To work closely with Corporate Psychology and Psychotherapy to ensure consistent and timely delivery of staff support within their area across all disciplines. Contributing to the development of the staff support offer in line with relevant quality improvement projects.

Qualifications

Essential

• Entry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy in mental health and addiction and demonstrable practice in this field (Professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level with post-qualification supervised practice and additional training) that has been accepted for the purposes of professional registration
• Additional training beyond entry-level qualification in a specialised area of psychological practice relevant to addictions through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses and/an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning in the specialist area of addictions, assessed by a registered body and/or an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma or higher
• Completed training course in clinical supervision and/or accredited to supervise qualified psychological practitioners in relevant discipline
• Registered with professional body as appropriate to discipline HCPC
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC

Desirable

• Training in Motivational Interviewing and Open Dialogue or Family Interventions in Psychosis

Experience

Essential

• Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision in Addictions and / or Psychosis
• Experience of undertaking leadership roles
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature associated with mental health and co-occurring substance misuse
• Experience of supervising assistants and trainees having completed the relevant training
• Post-qualification experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities

Desirable

• Experience of working in a specialist addictions service or in a role with a specific focus on working with clients with co-occurring mental health and substance use issues

Knowledge

Essential

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of management and leadership
• Advanced theoretical knowledge of psychological models and the evidence base for the relevant treatments for people with co-occurring mental health and substance use problems
• Advanced knowledge of the theory of psychological practice/processes in addictions and their therapeutic application in the psychiatric patient population
• Awareness of assessment and clinical psychometrics
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities

Desirable

• Knowledge of commissioning systems across mental health and addictions services and the different performance and clinical demands upon these services

Skills

Essential

• To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information
• To plan and schedule assessment and interventions for individual clients and groups and carers (and for meetings such as CPA and case reviews where appropriate)
• To plan allocation of tasks to assistants/trainees as appropriates
• Well-developed IT skills
• Skills in providing teaching and training to other professional groups

Desirable

• Skills in setting up programmes and training staff in substance use specific interventions including Motivational Interviewing, Contingency Management and use of node-link mapping tools

Abilities

Essential

• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and defining/developing team roles
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings
• Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions, and to deal with unexpected interruptions or changes during these
• Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with survivors of abuse or trauma and with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive behaviour

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).