Job summaryWe are seeking an enthusiastic psychologist passionate about improving the quality of care and support we deliver to people with mental health problems & Learning Disabilities. You will be thoughtful and resilient in the way you work in a multidisciplinary staff team within a busy learning disability health care setting with exciting challenges. You will be interested in working with external partners to develop supportive networks and have energy, drive and enthusiasm for working with complex and challenging cases which require clear communication across agencies.
You will be expected to provide psychological assessments and interventions with people who have a learning disability and mental health problems and/or behavioural difficulties, across a variety of community settings, with individuals, groups, families and staff teams.
You will be part of a service that strives for clinical excellence and aims to support its staff to feel valued, provides opportunities for training and development and encourages active participation relevant service developments.
Main duties of the job- To be responsible for providing a highly specialist clinical psychology service to adults with learning disabilities, including those with mental health needs and challenging behaviour, within the multidisciplinary team in Wandsworth.
- To work as an independent, autonomous practitioner with full responsibility for highly complex clinical work and to be accountable for all clinical decisions.
- To work autonomously within professional guidelines (including local Child and Adult Safeguarding policies), team and trust guidelines, policies and procedures.
- To adhere to guidelines and policies set out by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and HCPC, including those on ongoing clinical supervision.
- To provide specialist psychological assessment and therapy to clients. This will involve undertaking direct assessment and intervention with the client or indirect assessment, monitoring and intervention with staff or carers.
- To offer psychological consultation, advice and expertise to non-psychologist colleagues and to care staff or family carers.
The post holder will be required to contribute to the effective running of the Wandsworth Learning Disability Healthcare Team, delivering, or advising on the delivery of, high quality care and ensuring consistently high standards of practice. They will be required to contribute to effective multidisciplinary team working ensuring that care is delivered in a holistic way which involves service users and carers.
About usWe are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.
We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.
This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.
We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.
We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.
Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.
Job responsibilities- To work within the community service providing highly specialist psychological assessments of clients 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-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care, all in the context of multidisciplinary working.
- To work as an independent, autonomous practitioner with full responsibility for highly complex clinical work and to be accountable for all clinical decisions.
- To formulate and evaluate plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems and / or behaviour which challenges based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
- To be responsible for implementing a range of highly specialist psychological interventions, across outpatient, community and in-patient settings, for individuals, carers, families and groups, employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining several provisional hypotheses.
- To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical, developmental, and systemic processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
- To exercise full responsibility and autonomy for the treatment of and discharge of clients whose problems are managed as a psychologically based standard care plan, ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation and interventions, communicating with the referral agent and others involved with the care on a regular basis.
- To receive regular clinical supervision from a senior clinical psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.
- To lead on aspects of the development, evaluation and monitoring of the teams operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit and as agreed with psychology service lead.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in job applications
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Applications that rely heavily on AI-generated content can become generic and fail to accurately reflect an applicant's individual experience. Applications that clearly demonstrate your own voice, reflections and experiences are often the most effective and help us better understand your suitability for the role.
Please be aware that information provided in your application and supporting statement may be explored further during the selection process. It is important that all applications accurately represent your own knowledge, skills and experience.Person SpecificationTraining & QualificationsEssential- Doctoral level training in clinical/counselling psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, as accredited by the BPS
- Registration with the HCPC under the appropriate domain specific title. Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC
Desirable- Pre- or post- qualification training in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
ExperienceEssential- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of adults with learning disabilities across a range of care settings, for example outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course 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.
- Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist in learning disabilities over a minimum of 18 months, or an alternative agreed by the Lead Psychologist.
Desirable- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
- Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
Knowledge & SkillsEssential- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
- Well develop skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing complex, highly technical and / or clinically sensitive information to clients their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS. Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non professional groups.
OtherEssential- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings. 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.
Disclosure and Barring Service CheckThis 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.
Certificate of SponsorshipApplications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Apply through our website).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here (Apply through our website).
UK RegistrationApplicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
