Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

East London NHS Foundation Trust; Bedford; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A community health services provider in England is seeking a Clinical Psychologist to deliver specialist psychological assessments and work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team. The role involves evaluating evidence-based assessments and contributing to service development. Ideal candidates should have a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and experience with trauma and autism assessments. Competitive benefits including relocation support are offered.

Benefits

Relocation support up to £10,000

Flexible working arrangements

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• Must have experience with psychological assessments and formulations.
• Experience with trauma and mental health issues is essential.
• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary model.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychological assessments of service users.
• Collaborate in a multidisciplinary team for effective assessments.
• Evaluate ongoing support options based on complex histories.

Skills

Communication skills

Analytical skills

Empathy

Supervision skills

Education

Three year Postgraduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

Tools

ADOS

ADI-R

Job description

ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Job overview

To provide specialist psychological assessments for adults living in BLMK. The post holder will provide highly specialist psychological autism assessments for a diverse population of people with a wide range of differential diagnostic characteristics. As a multidisciplinary modelled service, the post holder will work collaboratively with expansive knowledge of different clinical disciplines. There will be opportunities to provide consultation work.

The post holder would be expected to work autonomously within professional guidelines and within the overall framework of Trust policies and procedures. In addition, the post holder would be supported to utilise research skills for audit and service development & research.

This is a particularly exciting time to join our team. We are driving our service proactively to match contemporary theoretical and evidence-based understanding of autism to guide our practice for autistic people. We are dedicated to including the autistic population to work with our clinicians to lead innovative and evolving change. We value the insight of everyone in our team and would include the post holder to contribute to service development.

To provide clinical supervision and psychological formulation skills to other members of the team.

Main duties of the job

To provide specialist psychological assessments of service users referred to the 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, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, family members and others involved in the person's care as part of the diagnostic pathway.

As a team we are supporting new staff to undertake autism assessment training using tools such as ADOS, ADI-R, ACIA and DISCO

Working for our organisation

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

You will join a multidisciplinary team which consists of Nurses from learning disabilities, mental health and adult general nursing, A clinical lead consultant psychologist, a clinical psychologist, three assistant psychologists, two support workers, an occupational therapist and two admin/ clerical staff. You will contribute to psychology provision through supervision, MDT meetings as well as undertaking assessments and formulation. There is significant oppportunity for specialist expertise development under the supervision of the clinical lead. We would enable opportunities to be involved or lead quality improvement and research. We invite all staff to proactively contribute to the aspiration of the service: to enable thriving, not just surviving. We are a reflective team and encourage all staff to demonstrate a reflexive understanding of internalised bias and cultural injustice to ensure that our service evolves to enable access for a heterogeneous population.

You will have some experience of working with people with trauma and other mental health issues, it is likely that even if you have never worked within an autism service, you will have worked with autistic people. We are seeking a creative, dedicated person who is interested in autism assessment, using neuroaffirming psychoeducation to facilitate autonomy for people receiving a diagnostic assessment.

To evaluate, and make decisions, about options of ongoing support taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

Outcome Data to be collated for individuals to provide assurance that appropriate assessment and treatment has been provided.

To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment and discharge of people accessing the service.

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service user's and to provide 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 multi-disciplinary care.

Person specification

Training Qualification

Essential criteria

• Three year Postgraduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, covering all care groups. Training in at least two therapeutic approaches and basic neuropsychological training.

Desirable criteria

• Relevant specialist training or demonstrable experience in CBT, Child Neuropsychology or Systemic Work.
• Clinical supervision training for Doctoral trainees.

Experience

Essential criteria

• At least one year post-qualification experience as a Clinical Psychologist which includes relevant experience in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
• Experience of providing a direct clinical service with adults who require specialist differential assessment, psychological formulation and psycho education.
• Willingness to train or experienced to use a range of assessments such as ADI-R, ADOS.
• Experience of developing and delivering specialist training programmes and/or supervision of other staff groups.
• Experience of participating in audit, evaluation and quality improvement.
• Experience of contributing to policy and service development.
• Additional relevant clinical knowledge and skills acquired through formal training, long or short courses, formal supervision (individual and/or group), structured self study or experience (or a combination of these) to an appropriate level demonstrated by certification, documented supervision logs, management appraisal documentation and/or assessment at interview. This will include supervision training.
• Experience in applying Leadership skills to drive forward individual clinical care plans and service projects (for example quality initiatives, service development plans)
• Working in a multidisciplinary model.
• Critically analysing differential diagnoses using professional curiosity and formulation

Desirable criteria

• Work in a multi-cultural setting, including working with interpreters.
• Experience in clinically supervising junior psychologists.
• Experience of delivering psychoeducation to those receiving a diagnosis.

Knowledge & Skills

Essential criteria

• Able to supervise trainee and assistant psychologists and members of other staff groups.
• Communication & Relationship skills: Able to provide & receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information in a highly emotive and sometimes hostile atmosphere, in a range of relationships and settings. Able to use highly specialist skills of empathy to overcome barriers to understanding and acceptance.
• Analytical & judgemental skills: Able to draw upon a broad theoretical knowledge base in the analysis of highly complex facts or situations to arrive at appropriate formulations. Able to compare and select from a range of treatment options, based on formulation.
• Planning and organisational skills: Able to plan, organise and prioritise own workload.
• Physical skills: Basic keyboard skills.
• Able to record and report on as required clinical information. Competent in use of basic IT packages - word processing, e-mail and internet.
• Research & Guidance: Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis. Up to date knowledge of psychological research and national guidance relevant to the client groups. Knowledge of legislation and its implications for clinical practice with the client groups.
• Cultural awareness: Aware of the potential impact of discrimination & disadvantage on mental health.
• Flexibility: Able to be flexible and adapt approach according to need. Capacity to work effectively as a member of a multi-disciplinary team.

Desirable criteria

• Physical skills: Driving.
• Information resources: Competent use of other IT packages e.g. PowerPoint, Excel and Access.
• Cultural competence: Able to provide a cultural competent service.
• Flexibility: Able to innovate on the basis of theoretical knowledge.

personal

Essential criteria

• Able to contain and work with organisational stress and able to hold the stress of others.
• Able to apply reflective skills during exposure to distressing and highly emotional situations, in order to contain and support the wider team whilst agreeing immediate and longer-term care plans.
• Physical effort: Able to sit in constrained positions for a substantial proportion of working time. Mental effort: Able to concentrate intensely for a substantial proportion of working time, during client contact, teaching/supervision sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc. Emotional effort: Able to manage effectively frequent exposure to highly distressing/highly emotional circumstances and exposure to traumatic circumstances. Values: Respectful approach to service users, families, carers, colleagues and other professionals. Willing to negotiate and can handle confrontation effectively and professionally.

other

Essential criteria

• Able to work to professional guidelines. Must be capable of accountability for own work, of autonomous clinical practice, of being guided by precedent and of working towards defined results.

Making Things Better

Quality Improvement is a key part of our work to improve our services and refine how we do things. We have a global reputation for our quality improvement work and we don't stand still! So we offer a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn, lead and contribute towards improving our services.

We launched our Five Year Strategy in April 2018, which identified four main strategic outcomes to improve: population health outcomes, experience of care, staff experience and improve value. This complements the NHS Long Term Strategy and sets out our direction of travel.

Our Community

We provide a wide range of community health and mental health inpatient services to children, young people, adults of working age, and older adults in The City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. We also provide psychological therapy services to the London Borough of Richmond, and provide Forensic services to the whole of North East London. We provide services in urban and rural settings, sometimes in our inpatient units, but mostly in the community close to where people live. Integrated care is key in making the best use of resources and providing effective care.

Aiming High

We were rated 'Outstanding' by the CQC in 2016, were proud to be rated 'Outstanding' again in 2018 and continue to be rate 'Outstanding' in 2021.. We were named in the HSJ's Top 10 best places to work in healthcare and were voted Provider Trust of the Year in 2018.

Staff and Service Users United

We strive to ensure that staff feel valued by the Trust and as they are truly pivotal in delivering better outcomes for our patients and service users. Our aspiration is to help to make ELFT the best place to work. This Trust is clinician-led and provides the highest possible level of clinical expertise throughout its services. We pride ourselves on our service user involvement. A service user will be on your assessment centre and interview panel if you are invited to meet us.

We especially welcome people with lived experience of health difficulties, with insight and understanding of different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles in our population as we believe that this will equip staff to deliver a high standard of care to our service users and patients.

Diversity

ELFT Is committed to being a diverse organisation and our workforce is reflective of the population and communities we serve. We believe that having colleagues with a range of backgrounds and life experiences enriches and adds value to the outcomes we have set out to achieve. Having partnered and endorsed by organisations who are representative and experts in various areas of equality and diversity, we can ensure we are meeting the pre-set standards all the way from recruitment stage throughout the career journey of our employees by being accessible, having fair inclusive practices and a host of staff networks to support, nurture and celebrate our valued staff in the workplace.

Other reasons to apply

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that's job share, part time or another flexible pattern.

As part of the relocation scheme we presently have, the Trust could support you with offering up to £10,000 for removal and associated expenses. This is subject to change and terms and conditions apply.

What Next?

If you like the sound of ELFT, don't waste a moment. We sometimes close adverts early if there is a high response, so apply now!

As part of our recruitment process we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS. We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same..

If you do not hear from us within four weeks of the closing date, please consider that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion. You must provide professional email addresses for all referees as we will contact them as soon as an offer has been made. Please note we do not request references prior to interviews. All applications made through NHS Jobs account will be processed by TRAC System. Please note that some emails may go to your spam/junk mailbox so make sure you check this regularly.

Find us online at www.elft.nhs.uk | Find us on Facebook | Follow us on @NHS_ELFT

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• JD & PS (PDF, 328.6KB)
• ELFT at a glance (PDF, 151.0KB)
• Staff Benefits (PDF, 7.1MB)
• ELFT Strategy (PDF, 153.5KB)
• Trust Demographic Information (PDF, 1.5MB)