Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust; Radlett; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS Foundation Trust in the UK is seeking a Specialist Clinical Psychologist to join their team focusing on eating disorders. The role involves providing psychological assessments, therapy, and supervision in a multidisciplinary setting. Candidates should have a doctorate in clinical psychology and relevant experience in eating disorders. The Trust is known for its exceptional care and supportive working environment.

Benefits

Professional development opportunities

Supportive work-life balance

Qualifications

• At least two years experience of specialist assessment and treatment.
• Experience in neuropsychological assessment.
• Skills in providing consultation to professional groups.
• Ability to work at high level of professional autonomy.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for delivering high-quality psychological interventions.
• Provide clinical/professional supervision to team members.
• Conduct assessments and formulate treatment plans.
• Participate in service development, research, and audits.

Skills

Clinical assessment

Psychological treatment

Team collaboration

Communication skills

Research and service evaluation

Education

Post-graduate doctorate in clinical psychology

Training in clinical supervision

Job description

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Specialist Clinical Psychologist to join our service. The successful candidate will have professional qualification and registration and be able to demonstrate extensive knowledge and experience of providing evidence-based treatment for eating disorders in a CYP MDT environment. The successful candidate will work as an influential and integral member of a diverse multi-disciplinary team offering specialist assessment and treatment for young people and their families suffering with an eating disorder. This post involves clinical work, supporting team members with their clinical practice including a supervisory role and some clinical and management responsibilities. The post holder will offer specialist direct psychological assessment and therapy, and work with the MDT/QLT providing consultations and formulations, supervisions, and training via the Team's weekly Development Slot. The post holder will work closely with the MDT and Lead for Specialist Psychological Services in CYP and other senior leads and operational managers to ensure the quality, efficiency and outcomes of the Therapy provision within the CYP Eating Disorder Service, within the context of the principles of CYP-IAPT, evidence based treatment (NICE Guidelines) and CPA approach as appropriate. Main duties of the job · The post-holder will be autonomously responsible for assessing and delivering a high standard of psychological interventions to children and adolescents with a range of highly complex emotional, psychological and behavioural problems. · The post holder will provide specialist psychological assessment, therapy, interventions and consultation to clients with moderate to severe eating disorders · The post-holder will work within professional guidelines and under the clinical/professional supervision of senior clinicians of own core profession, and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the CYP Eating Disorders Team. · The post-holder will provide clinical/professional supervision, consultation and support to assistant psychologists, clinical associate psychologists (CAPs), trainee psychologists, · The post holder will provide placements to trainee clinical psychologists. · The post holder will support, where appropriate, with the proposal and implementation of policy and service development, research, service evaluation and audit for their own team/service and contribute to the training of assistant psychologists, clinical associate psychologists (CAP) and trainee psychologists., · To be responsible for a caseload and to work autonomously as part of a multidisciplinary team to provide assessments and consultations for children and adolescents with eating disorders. · To provide specialist psychological assessments and support with multidisciplinary assessments of clients referred to the CYP Eating Disorders Team, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation, and integration of complex data from a variety of sources, including psychological tests, self-report measures, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client's care. · To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client's complex mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client's problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings. · To be responsible for implementing a range of evidence based psychological interventions including CBT for individuals, carers, families and groups, employed individually and in synthesis, co-working with other team members/disciplines as appropriate, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses. · To make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about treatment options 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. This evidence-based approach includes monitoring outcomes, modifying and adapting interventions drawn from a range of theoretical models. · To exercise autonomous professional responsibility within HCPC guidelines for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans, ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation and interventions, communicating with referrers and others involved with the care on a regular basis.

• Post-graduate doctorate in clinical psychology (or equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS or fully completed training as a counselling psychologist
• At least two years full-time post-registration experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment with clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature, including eating disorders.
• Full registration with the Health Professionals Council
• Experience in neuropsychological assessment
• Related academic qualifications to masters or doctorate level
• Training in clinical supervision
• Experience of research, service development and/or audit
• Assessed experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of children/adolescents with a wide range of presentations of varying severity, including eating disorders. Typically, this would involve a minimum of 2 years at specialist level, or its equivalent demonstrated through CV and interview
• Experience of working with moderate to severe mental health problems with a wide range of client groups across the whole life course with presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
• Demonstrate further specialist clinical experience and training within Child and Adolescent Mental Health, through a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a clinical / counselling psychologist over a minimum of 18 months, or an agreed alternative
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client's psychological care and treatment both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision, including supervision of psychology trainees
• Experience working within a multi-disciplinary team and inter-agency collaboration
• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical/counselling psychology including highly developed knowledge of developmental psychology, models of care
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management with clients with eating disorders & complex problems including specialised psychological interventions for difficult to treat groups (eg multiple mental health and/or physical health problems
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and HCPC
• Well -developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively and well, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non -professional groups
• Able to work at a high level of professional autonomy and responsibility, in a collaborative multi-disciplinary environment.
• Able to plan own workload and co-ordinate with other relevant staff in the delivery of clinical service
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical / counselling psychology
• Knowledge of relevant legislation and its implications for clinical practice in relation to children/adolescents & eating disorders
• Experience of working within a multi -cultural framework
• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in eating disorders & difficult to treat groups within CAMHS
• Good presentation and teaching skills and ability to use multi -media materials for formal presentations to large groups
• Familiarity with computing technology, including keyboard skills, and use of word - processing, e -mail, and internet software
• Experience and knowledge of CYP-IAPT
• Ability to work with children and young people whose behavior is personally challenging
• Ability to work and communicate highly sensitive, contentious information effectively in a highly emotive or hostile atmosphere, and to overcome barriers to acceptance/psychological resistance to information
• Ability to establish and maintain professional relationships and boundaries with young people
• Ability to provide a therapeutic environment which contributes to young people's healthy development
• Ability to think clearly and express self
• Ability to assess reports and clinical information and provide clear and concise information tailored for different audiences
• Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations
• Able to work at a high level of professional autonomy and responsibility, in a collaborative multi-disciplinary environment and also as a lone worker in circumstances where there may be exposure to verbal and sometimes physical aggression.
• Able to prioritize work, to operate a waiting list, meet short deadlines and an unpredictable work pattern which requires regular revision of plans
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
• Car driver (unless you have a disability as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995)
• IT skills; include use of Microsoft Office and Outlook
• Ability to remain calm under pressure
• Ability to travel and work flexibly across Hertfordshire CAMHS sites
• Able to sustain the intense concentration necessary for client assessment and formulation, group and individual therapy sessions, interviews
• Regular requirement to deal with distressing or emotionally charged situations
• Ability to recognise signs of stress and seek the appropriate support
• Ability to work in highly emotive situations
• Ability to work towards goals agreed at Individual Appraisal with the Service Manager
• Ability to comply with relevant professional standards and current developments
• Ability to assess clinical information and provide clear and concise information tailored for different audiences; report writing skills
• Flexible and positive approach to changing circumstances
• Desire for self-development

Desirable criteria

• Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice including CBT
• Experience of having published in either peer reviewed academic or professional journals and/or books, Candidates who require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the United Kingdom can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for this position by assessing their circumstances against the criteria specified on the Check if you need a UK visa - GOV.UK website. We would encourage all applicants to review the criteria carefully to understand their eligibility for sponsorship., You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

Candidates who require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the United Kingdom can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for this position by assessing their circumstances against the criteria specified on the Check if you need a UK visa - GOV.UK website. We would encourage all applicants to review the criteria carefully to understand their eligibility for sponsorship., You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of ‘Outstanding’ from the Care Quality Commission. Our family of over 4,500 members of staff provide health and social care for people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. Everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout, Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is rated by the Care Quality Commission as an Outstanding provider of mental health and learning disability services. In 2021, we won the prestigious Health Service Journal award for Mental Health Trust of the Year, with the judges saying they were "blown away" by our people's achievements and that everything they saw "sings and hums". This year, our staff rated us the 4^th best mental health and learning disability trust to work for out of all 52 trusts in the country. Our staff tell us that they are proud to be part of the HPFT team, proud of the standard of care we provide and proud that service users are our top priority. Our people tell us they feel supported through a great development, wellbeing and work-life balance offer and a highly compassionate, values-driven culture. We are equally proud of our staff, who live our values of being welcoming, kind, positive, respectful and professional.