Specialist Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Job summary

The SLaM Staff Support Team and the Counselling and Wellbeing Service are collaborating with a Kings College London Research Team to deliver a Step 2 Low Intensity CBT protocol to support SLaM staff experiencing occupational burnout. Occupational burnout affects between 11% and 30% of healthcare professionals and is associated with staff sickness, job turnover and poorer quality of care. This project provides an exciting opportunity to be involved in developing an innovative treatment intervention for staff experiencing occupational burnout in SLaM.

We are looking for a qualified psychological wellbeing practitioner who is enthusiastic, motivated and interested in developing their step 2 skills and knowledge within a staff support setting and contributing to the setting up and roll out of the Step 2 CBT Burnout pathway. An interest in, and experience of, supporting staff would be an advantage.

Main duties of the job

This post is funded for half a day per week (3.75 hours) over a 2-year fixed term period, in alignment with the duration of the Burnout Project. Experience of working in a Talking Therapies service, including experience of supporting Step 2 Low Intensity CBT, is essential. Training and Supervision in the Burnout Protocol will be provided.

About us

This post will work across the Staff Counselling and Wellbeing Service and the Staff Support Team within Corporate Psychology and Psychotherapy.

Job responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

Clinical and Client Care

- Accept referrals via agreed protocols within the service and develop programmes of care.

- Provide assessment and a range of information and support for evidence-based low-intensity psychological treatments with particular focus on providing step 2 low intensity intervention for burnout. This work may be face to face, telephone or via other media.

- Assess and integrate issues surrounding work and employment into the overall therapy process.

- Make decisions on suitability of new referrals, adhering to the service's referral protocols, referring unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referral agent as necessary, or stepping up the person's treatment to high intensity psychological therapy. Work closely with other members of the team ensuring appropriate step-up and step-down arrangements are in place to maintain a stepped care approach.

- Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the overall number of client contacts offered, and clinical sessions carried out per week in order to minimise waiting times and ensure treatment delivery remains accessible and convenient.

- Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or clients in treatment, where appropriate.

- Complete all requirements relating to data collection within the service. To keep up to date, coherent and accurate records of all clinical activity in line with service protocols and use these records and clinical outcome data in clinical decision making.

- Prepare and present clinical information for all clients on their caseload to clinical/case management supervisors within the service on an agreed and scheduled basis, in order to ensure safe practice and the clinical governance obligations of the worker, supervisor and service are delivered.

- Respond to and implement supervision suggestions by supervisors in clinical practice.

Professional

- Be aware of and keep up to date with advances in low intensity treatment of common mental health problems.

- Engage in and respond to personal development supervision to improve competencies and clinical practice.

General

- To work on site at the Maudsley and Bethlem hospitals and to work flexibly.

- To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations (such as challenging behaviour, abuse etc) and to support others involved in such situations through Trust-wide approaches including Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualification from PWP training course (e.g. Post Graduate Diploma in Low Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Interventions

Desirable

• BABCP / BPS PWP accreditation

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working as a PWP to treat common mental health problems in adults
• Experience of collecting and recording patient reported outcome measures to monitor progress
• Experience of carrying out psychological assessment including assessment of risk

Desirable

• Working in an NHS TALKING THERAPIES stepped care framework
• Experience working within Staff Support Setting
• Working with Health and Social Care workers within the NHS TALKING THERAPIES or other services

Knowledge/Skills

Essential

• Good knowledge of CBT as applied to common mental health problems in adults
• Familiarity with the NHS TALKING THERAPIES stepped care framework for treatment of depression and anxiety disorders
• Ability to meet agreed service targets and manage own caseload
• High standards of communication skills, including written communication
• To plan and schedule assessment and interventions for individual clients with consideration for the needs of staff working within SLAM.

Desirable

• Knowledge of Occupational Health stressors