Job Summary
This is an exciting opportunity for a full-time Band 8A Lead Clinician within the Talking Therapies Liverpool service.

Talking Therapies Liverpool is an NHS IAPT Talking Therapies service for those aged over 16yrs in Liverpool. The service is delivered by Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust, and offers a variety of support and psychological therapies to the community of Liverpool. Our interventions are diverse and evidence based, ranging from guided self-help and face-to-face or video therapy, telephone support to workshop courses.

We know that we can only achieve a high-quality clinical service by maximising the efforts of our team and by creating an environment where colleagues are valued and involved in developing the service. We believe in investing in people, keeping true to the values and behaviours of Merseycare NHS Trust and the NHS and looking after the wellbeing of all team members. We work closely with other services and service user groups to refine and improve the service that we offer.

Main duties of the job
The post holder will be an experienced clinical or counselling psychologist, or from a counselling, nursing, social work background with a nationally recognised qualification and experience to deliver psychological therapies who will be responsible for the systematic provision of primary care psychology services to adults with mental health problems in the Liverpool area, including GPs surgeries and other community venues.

This is to incorporate complex assessments leading to psychological formulations of distress, interpretation, under professional supervision, of assessment instruments and forming judgements for treatment options.

About us
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Job responsibilities

• To be part of an IAPT type primary care psychology service and deliver step 3 treatment interventions as well as acting as an expert resource across the 3 steps covered by the service.
• To provide primary care services within the field of adult mental health to adults covered by the team. In doing so will be responsible for adhering to relevant Trust policies and professional ethics and standards. Will be accountable for professional and clinical actions.
• As a clinician with specialist post-qualification training, the post holder will participate in taking responsibility for development of training, supervision and governance aspects of the specific therapeutic model.
• To ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist therapeutic service, to clients of the service team, across all aspects of care.
• To supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment.
• To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team.
• To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research. To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the team/ service.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Honours degree or equivalent experience
• Post-graduate qualification in Clinical Psychology, Counselling or CBT
• Training in one or more NICE recommended treatment modalities for Anxiety or Depression in Talking Therapies
• Accreditation with appropriate regulatory body

Desirable

• Other related academic qualifications to Masters or Doctorate level
• Training in Supervision
• Training in the delivery of other NICE recommended psychological interventions e.g. EMDR, Counselling for Depression, DIT, or IPT
• Leadership qualification - such as Thrive or equivalent

Skills
Essential

• High level of verbal communication skills in highly emotive situations, being able to overcome psychological resistances to threatening issues
• High level of analytical and judgemental skills in being able to assess, formulate and deliver psychological care, from referral through to discharge
• Specialist skills in CBT or other NICE recommended psychological interventions e.g., EMDR, Counselling for Depression, DIT, or IPT
• High level of literacy skills, being competent in report writing
• Able to work autonomously in planning and organising skills, being responsible for own work timetable - scheduling clients' care, CPD, meetings, supervision, etc
• Shows capacity and flexibility for lone working
• Risk management skills to cope with hostile, aggressive or self-harm situations
• Capacity for reflection and learning from experience
• Demonstrates capacity to organise own work autonomously
• Able to tolerate highly emotive client issues, distressed clients, and able to access appropriate clinical supervision in handling client material safely
• Able to form therapeutic alliances with difficult to engage people
• Able to carry a caseload with clients at risk of self-harm, and to be able to cope with crises calmly without undue stress on self
• Able to maintain high levels of concentration for extended periods of time
• Able to build good relationships with other disciplines and to contribute to the team in a consultative role, on all psychological issues including those relating to patient care and the function of the team
• Demonstrates assertiveness and diplomacy
• Works to Professional Guidelines
• Must be aware of and adhere to all Trust policies and procedures

Desirable

• Maintains a positive, energetic approach that provides a good model for others
• To be flexible in the face of change
• To be able to work well as a team, and hold multiple perspectives at once

Experience
Essential

• Experience/ knowledge of specialist area e.g., anxiety/ depression/
• Experience of delivering NICE recommended psychological interventions e.g., EMDR, Counselling for Depression, DIT, or IPT
• Able to provide clinical supervision to various professional groups
• Experience of delivering Clinical Supervision

Desirable

• Experience of delivering modality specific supervision within IAPT
• Trained in the administration, evaluation and reporting of psychological tests
• Experiencing of conducting teaching / training to both psychological colleagues as well as other multidisciplinary colleagues
• Experience of developing pathways of care through the system in partnership with other providers

Knowledge
Essential

• Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Understanding of appraisal system and able to recognise/ identify personal development training needs
• Able to contribute to teaching of professional groups through planning, creating and delivering training and lectures

Desirable

• Working knowledge in the theory and application of leadership models
• IT skills required in accessing/ updating recording systems

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.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.