Registered Practitioner Psychologist

Job responsibilities

Clinical duties

To provide specialist psychological assessments of service users referred to the clinical service based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structuredinterviews with service users , family members and others involved in the patients care.

To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a patients psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy.

To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses where appropriate.

To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account relevant theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical, developmental and systemic processes that have shaped the individual, family or group. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically basedstandard care plans. To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals and/or carers, contributing directly to service users formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans.

To ensure that all members of the clinical team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of service users, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users and to provide both general and specialist advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of service users under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni and multidisciplinary care.

To provide expertise, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the team

Teaching, Training and Supervision

To provide post-qualification training (CPD) and clinical professional supervision to recently qualified HCPC registered psychologists attached to the team, where appropriate.

To provide advice, consultation, training and clinical supervision to other members of the team for the provision of psychologically based interventions to help improve service users functioning.

To provide pre- and post-qualification teaching of psychologists and/or other psychological services staff, and other disciplines as appropriate.

To develop and maintain skills in the area of professional pre- and post-graduate training.

To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the service user group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.

To receive regular professional supervision from a senior psychologist in the team and where appropriate other senior colleagues.

To continue to gain wider post-qualification experience of psychology in line with HCPC, and where appropriate BPS, requirements.

To provide professional and clinical supervision to assistant psychologists and, as appropriate, supervise Doctoral level.

To contribute to the pre and post-qualification teaching of all relevant staff, as appropriate.

Management, Recruitment and Service Development

To participate as appropriate in staff recruitment, both in the short-listing process and as a member of interview panels for assistant, trainees and qualified psychologists.

To participate as a senior clinician in the development of a high quality responsive and accessible service, including proposing and implementing changes within the psychological service.

To exercise delegated responsibility for managing psychology staff based within the psychology service.Research and Service Evaluation

To contribute and where appropriate take a lead role, in the evaluation, monitoring and development of of service evaluation and audit

To Incorporate psychological frameworks for understanding and provision of high-quality care and the improvement of services for service users and their families.

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

To undertake appropriate research as agreed with the line manager and Lead Consultant Clinical Psychologist and provide research advice to team colleagues undertaking research.

To undertake a defined role in Service Governance structures if/when agreed with theservice lead

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training (or equivalent) in a professional area of psychology conferring HCPC registration as a practitioner psychologist.
• Current HCPC registration

Desirable

• Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
• Chartered registration with the BPS

knowledge and experience

Essential

• Demonstrated clinical experience of working as a registered psychologist with the service user group accessing the service in which this post is based
• Demonstrated experience working as part of a multidisciplinary team and/or liaison with multidisciplinary clinicians and/or stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience in undertaking specialist assessment, formulation, care planning and interventions.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of service user groups, experiencing complex needs and presenting problems
• Experience of working with presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity
• Experience of maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, v e r b a l abuse and the threats of physical abuse.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently on own initiative. While utilizing clinical supervision systems to maintain safe and effective practice.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for service users psychological care and treatment, within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
• Formal training in clinical supervision and experience of supervision of junior psychological staff and/or other disciplines.
• Experience of teaching, and training.
• Experience of engagement with leadership and/or management in service development
• Knowledge and skills development to meet factor 2 level 8 requirements

Desirable

• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Knowledge of organisational dynamics and institutional factors relevant to the delivery and effectiveness of secure inpatient mental health and PD services. Research/publications on relevant issues

values

Essential

• continuous improvement
• accountability
• respectfulness
• enthusiasm
• support
• high professional standards
• responsive to service users
• engaging leadership style
• strong customer service belief
• transparency and honesty
• discreet
• change orientated

Skills

Essential

• Well-developed skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment incorporating a range of methodologies, e.g. clinical interview, psychometrics, structured clinical tools.
• Well developed clinical intervention skills. Including at least one modality- specific clinical training to a standard eligible for accreditation.
• Ability to assimilate complex information from a range of sources to complete psychological formulation and clinical risk assessment in order to develop effective treatment plans for service users with complex needs
• Experience of delivering psychological intervention in a range of formats to service users with complex needs.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively engage service users who may present with significant clinical obstacles to engagement.
• Demonstrated Ability to maintain clear and appropriate personal and professional boundaries and to recognise own limitations
• Demsintrated Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non professional groups.
• Knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practised within the field of applied psychology
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the service user group and area of service delivery.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC/BPS.
• Evidence of recognised Formal training in supervision of other psychologists
• Well developed ability to utilise IT systems such as MS Office.

Desirable

• Completion of training in specialist clinical and risk assessment tools in the area of specialisme.g. HCR-20, START, SCID, IPDE, PCL-R, WAIS, AIDOS.
• Well developed knowledge of the theory and practice of assessment and specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat populations relevant to the post.
• Previous training and experience of delivering a range of recognised specialised therapies e.g. CBT, DBT, Schema therapy
• Evidence of training and experience with regard to the development of Management and leadership skills.

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.

UK Registration

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