Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner - Central Duty Team

Job responsibilities

Communication and Working Relationship Skills

Co-ordinate and liaise between different staff groups including High Intensity Therapists, Case Managers, and Employment Workers.

Provide and receive information related to mental health and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques to individual or groups of service users, relatives, carers, members of the public and professionals.

Develop and maintain close professional therapeutic relationships with Service Users using Low Intensity CBT skills to bring about psychological change.

Communicate as appropriate with external agencies (including housing, police, local authority, employers, employment support workers etc.).

Proactively develop robust professional relationships with the Primary Care team (e.g. General Practice staff) supporting the active integration of low intensity CBT provision into primary care.

Develop and maintain good professional relationships with mental health workers in primary and secondary care.

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

Gather a range of facts and contexts, relevant to the Patients clinical care. Analyse and weigh the relative importance of the factors to form an understanding of the Service User(s) difficulties and relate these to the range of treatment options available, under supervision and case management of a senior therapist, form a judgement between the relative utilities of the treatment options and the Patients preferences.

To collate clinical data from Patients on your caseload, within the overall framework of the required data output of the service with the intention of: (a) identifying and minimising risk, (b) optimising clinical effectiveness, (c) optimising service efficiency. .

Contribute to the clinical governance framework of the Service by identifying and acting on areas of concern, liaising and supporting senior clinicians who are taking the lead in designated areas of responsibility.

Planning and Organisational Skills

Responsibility for achieving agreed clinical activity relating to the number of therapy contact hours per week.

To be responsible for organising and delivering caseload supervision in line with IAPT guidance.

Co-ordinate the activities of yourself to balance the conflicting: needs of Patients, demands of the different areas of service provision (e.g. the different GP surgeries), your own continuing professional development, and central service provision of the service. This will involve sudden changes in plans to respond to clinical emergencies on a frequent but not regular basis.

Responsibility for recording case notes in a timely way.

Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy

Ensure that client confidentiality is protected at all times.

To offer rapid screening and assessment, informed by knowledge of the spectrum of mental health needs and risk factors.

Provide assessment and Low intensity interventions e.g. Group work interventions, Guided Self Help, to patients registered with GP practices/health centres drawing from CBT theories and techniques.

Provide a service that is comprehensive and accessible to a broad range of patients who have commonplace mental health problems and who are over 18 years of age.

To provide a service that is equitable and non-discriminatory in terms of age, gender, ethnicity and disability.

Support GPs and other primary care workers in making appropriate referrals and in carrying out the mental health aspects of their own roles.

Make appropriate referrals to other service providers in the statutory and voluntary sectors and redirect patients to other sources of appropriate support within the local community as required.

Develop a local knowledge of the locality and its services and facilities, particularly in relation to mental health issues.

Educate and involve family members and others in treatment as necessary, conveying Low intensity CBT formulations with sensitivity in easily understood language.

Provide a service that is flexible as far as possible in terms of clinic hours, enabling, where possible, at least one clinic to be run outside normal working hours.

Liaise as appropriate with secondary care mental health services and social service departments.

Conduct risk assessments, prepare risk management plans and initiate appropriate action where indicated.

Exercise personal responsibility for the systematic clinical governance of your own professional practice.

To develop an area of interest, to the level whereby the post-holder could become a resource of information for the whole service.

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development Implementation

Implement policies for your own work area under supervision, identify procedural areas of difficulty within your own work, and propose improvements thus contributing to policy or service changes in line with clinical governance and service objectives.

Conduct audits of your work against agreed standards and make recommendations for improvements within the service.

To make an active contribution to pursue the aims, objectives and overall strategy of the service thereby contributing to the development of clinical services provided.

Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources

Observe personal duty of care in relation to equipment and resources used in course of work.

Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g. Supervision, Training, HR Advice and Management

Undertake appropriate clinical supervision on a regular basis in accordance with the relevant professional guidelines and policies.

Provide clinical supervision to Psychological Well Being Practitioners and Psychological Wellbeing Trainees in the IAPT team.

Attend locally organised and national training appropriate to the work role.

To provide delegated line management working closely with the Clinical Team Manager.

Responsibility for Information Resources and Administrative Duties

Using computer for data entry systems, record clinical input and outcome data.

Maintain appropriate clinical records in keeping with service operational policy.

Ensure IAPTus diary is up to date.

Monitor own caseload through caseload management.

Responsibility for Research and Development

Under the supervision of senior members of the department participate in and contribute to the audit and service evaluation processes as necessary to contribute to the Clinical Governance framework.

Freedom to Act

Under supervision and within professional and therapeutic guidelines to deliver high quality care, training and supervision.

Any Other Specific Tasks Required

To contribute to Trust projects as appropriate.

To undertake training on the IAPTus System and to maintain an up-to-date understanding of the data that is stored within, to enable the accurate analysis and interpretation of information.

From time to time there may be a requirement to work in other teams across the locality.

Knowledge

Essential

• Knowledge of Patient Case Management systems.
• Knowledge of IAPT data requirements.
• Demonstrates an understanding of anxiety and depression and how it may present in Primary Care.
• Demonstrates a knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health.
• Knowledge of medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems.
• Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post.
• Computer literate.
• Ability to use clinical supervision and personal development positively and effectively.
• Knowledge of the principles of Psychological Well Being Practitioner caseload management.

Desirable

• Knowledge and skills in the practical applications of all MS Office products.
• Knowledge of mandatory NHS reporting requirements.
• Knowledge of HR policies.

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

Essential

• Ability to evaluate and put in place the effect of training.
• Ability to integrate information; make evaluations, formulations and decisions.
• Ability to advise support and supervise Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners.
• Ability to escalate issues to team manager as appropriate.

Planning and Organisational Skills

Essential

• Organisation and time management skills.
• Ability to manage own caseload and time.
• Small -scale project management.
• Ability to support others with organising caseload and time.
• Ability to work independently within defined occupational procedures and use initiative within a service.

Physical Skills

Desirable

• Ability and willingness to travel to locations throughout the organisation.

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualification from PWP Training Course (Post Graduate Certificate or Level 3 undergraduate course) or recognised PWP top up training.
• Membership, and once eligible, Registration with either the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP), or the British Psychological Society (BPS).
• Risk Management Training.
• IT skills.

Desirable

• Training in nursing, social work, occupational therapy, or within a psychological therapy.
• Psychology or other health related undergraduate degree.

Experience

Essential

• Evidence of working with people who have experienced a mental health problem.
• Experience of working in Primary Care Services.
• Worked in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes.
• Ability to be self-reflective, whilst working with service users, in own personal and professional development and in supervision.
• Evidence of conducting caseload management and supervision.

Desirable

• Evidence of working in the local community.
• Evidence of line management responsibilities.

Communication and Working Relationship Skills

Essential

• Excellent verbal, nonverbal and written communication skills, including telephone skills.
• Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients.
• Received training (either formal of through experience) and carried out risk assessments within scope of practice.
• Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships.
• Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality.
• Ability to carry out robust caseload management.
• Ability to work as a member of a clinical team.
• Ability to tolerate ambiguity, and maintain own morale and motivation in challenging service delivery contexts.

Desirable

• Fluent in languages other than English.
• Ability to carry out line management responsibilities.

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).