Practitioner Psychologist, Psychotherapist & Psychological Therapist

Job summary

This post forms part of an expansion and development of mental health liaison services across Trusts. This expansion is referred to as CORE 24. The primary aims to address the integration of mental and physical healthcare.

There is clear recognition in the service of the benefits that integrated psychology can bring, including expertise in constructing formulations encompassing patients' medical, psychological and social needs, and their health-related beliefs. Such formulations can then be used to inform direct psychological intervention, such as treating anxiety related to medical procedures, cultivating the development of coping skills, and supporting emotional processing of illness and medical care. They can also be used to guide clinical teams to work more effectively with patients who have complex physical and mental health needs. The need for such input has been demonstrated by recent audits, which identified issues such as poor adherence to treatment regimens, worries about going home, and difficulty trusting healthcare professionals.

Main duties of the job

With support from senior colleagues in liaison services, the post-holder will develop a psychology service integrated with acute medical care, thus supporting rapid access to direct psychological intervention, and to training, consultation and case discussion, and will evaluate the impact of the service and disseminate what is learned from it.

Each post is supported by a growing 'ageless' multidisciplinary liaison psychiatry team, with specialisms in general adult and older adult liaison psychiatry. More broadly, they would also have support from a team of psychological staff, working across the acute, crisis and complex care pathway. This includes opportunities to support the development of psychological provision across the pathway.

The postholder will take the lead on developing services to support the Emergency Department to manage the needs of frequent attenders more effectively. They would work alongside other frequent attenders services, within SlaM and in Croydon University Hospital

About us

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM) is committed to innovation, effective interventions and improved service user outcomes. The Trust has a broad range of staff in all disciplines with the widest range of skills and interests that provides many opportunities to thrive and develop. It provides mental health services to the people of Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Croydon, and specialist services to people from across the UK.

The Trust has 4,500 staff and operates from a total of 181 sites. It has close links in education and research with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) and King's College London School of Medicine, both of which are part of King's College London. This close collaboration involves working to ensure that developments and research feed directly into clinical practice. Its academic links with King's College London, which also include the Nightingale Institute and South Bank University, enables us to ensure that our health care staff receive high quality clinical training at both pre-qualification (or registration) stage and in specialist skills (post qualification).

Croydon University Hospital is the main CHS hospital site, based just north of Croydon town centre.

Job responsibilities

To provide a highly specialist psychological interventions according to discipline including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.

To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.

To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate, functioning as a lead specialist.

To promote service evaluation, audit and research.

To work as an autonomous professional within registration body guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by principles and policies or procedures of the service, taking responsibility for interpreting policies within defined parameters.

To agree outcomes/results with clinical/professional lead and to decide how they are best achieved.

To be active in the provision of staff support within their area, including but not limited to Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve. To participate, as a recipient, in staff support work when appropriate.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• oEntry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy and demonstrable practice in this field (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level/supervised practice/additional training) that has been accepted for the purposes of professional registration. (A/I)
• oAdditional training beyond entry-level qualification in a specialised area of psychological practice through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses and/an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice, assessed by a registered body and/or an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma or higher. (A/I/R)
• oRegistered with professional body as appropriate to discipline HCPC/APC/BPC/UKCP/BACP/BABCP/ADMP-UK. (A/I)
• oEvidence of continuing professional development as required by the professional body. (A/I)
• oCompleted training course in clinical supervision and/or accredited to supervised qualified psychological practitioners in relevant discipline. (A/I/R)

Desirable

• Additional training with Self harm / suicide
• Additional training in working with substance misuse / dual diagnosis.

Experience

Essential

• Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist in Crisis / acute service under supervision. (A/I)
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature. (A/I)
• Advanced knowledge of the theory of psychological therapy and it's therapeutic application. Associated awareness of assessment and clinical psychometrics. (A/I/R)
• oPost-qualification experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities. (A/I)

Desirable

• Experience with neuropsychology assessment (A/I)
• o Experience with functional assessment of autism spectrum disorder and corresponding care planning. (A/I)
• oExperience of working with repeat users of crisis services

knowleadge

Essential

• oAdvanced knowledge of the theory of psychological therapy and it's therapeutic application. Associated awareness of assessment and clinical psychometrics. (A/I/R)
• oKnowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities. (A/I/R)
• oTo deliver psychological/psychotherapeutic therapy across cultural and other differences. (A/I/R)
• oTo select and administer specialist psychological assessments, interpreting and integrating complex data that require analysis, interpretation and comparison, drawn from several sources. (A/I/R)
• oKnowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological assessments and interventions. (A/I/R)

Desirable

• Knowledge of psychological skills related to crisis interventions, such as DBT, CBT etc

Skills

Essential

• oTo communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information. (A/I/R)
• oWell-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data. (A/I/R)
• oSkills in providing teaching and training to other professional groups. (A/I/R)
• oConsultation skills to work with the multi-professional team or other professional groups and sensitively managing, a number of people's needs simultaneously within the context of therapeutic work/consultation. (A/I/R)
• oSpecialist practitioner skills in discipline (A/I/R/E)

Abilities

Essential

• oAbility to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles. (A/I/R)
• oAbility to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate. (A/I/R)
• oAbility to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings (A/I/R)
• oAbility to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments