Job summary
hours per week
The CLDT covers the vibrant city of Plymouth. As an 8a psychologist, you'll work in a highly skilled, multi-disciplinary service, connecting providers who offer residential, day, and respite care. You'll also work closely with Adult Social Care services to make an impact on people and their families.
From complex capacity, risk, and neuropsychological assessments to tackling a broad spectrum of mental health challenges in individuals with learning disabilities, you'll play a role in enhancing the lives of people and the systems that support them.
1. Use your skills to assess and support individuals with learning disabilities, helping them lead more fulfilling lives.
2. Dive deep into complex cases, from neuropsychological assessments to capacity assessments and more, ensuring no two days are the same.
3. Bring your compassionate leadership to guide and inspire both the CLDT and provider teams, while delivering psychological advice that transforms care.
4. Your creativity will be valued as you help shape tailored interventions and innovative care plans for service users.
Please note that Livewell may close the job adverts earlier than the specified deadline if a high number of applications are submitted. We recommend you submit your application at the earliest opportunity.
All Livewell staff are expected to be able and willing to work across a 7-day service.
Job Share(s) Considered
Please note that this role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route.
Main duties of the job
The post-holder will work as part of an MDT across a wide range ofsettings. They will provide a specialist Clinical Psychology service to serviceusers aged 18 and over with a Learning Disability who are accepted into theCommunity Learning Disability Team.
The post holder will be responsible for the assessment and treatment oftheir own caseload of clients with variety of complex problems including mentalill-health, behaviours that challenge, personality difficulties, autismspectrum disorders and neurological problems. This particularly includesfamilies and paid carers in a wide range of independent sector provision.
They will offer highly specialist psychological interventions,formulations and treatment plans to carers and professional colleagues, provideleadership from a psychological perspective to the MDT, and provideprofessional support, guidance and clinical supervision to clinical psychologystaff (including trainee's and undergraduate placementstudents)and non-psychology staff within the CLDT.
They will be expected to develop specialist responsibilities on aspecific area of expertise that balances their experience, interests, and needsof the service.
They will support planning, organising, auditing and developing policyand strategies for the delivery of a specialist psychology service within themultidisciplinary CLDT. The post holder will also contribute to teachingand initiating and maintaining research and development projects.
About us
Livewell Southwest is an independent, award-winning social enterprise providing integrated health & social care services for people across Plymouth, South Hams & West Devon, as well as some specialist services for people living in parts of Devon & Cornwall. With teams in community hospitals, GP practices, sports centres, health & wellbeing hubs.
As an organisation with a strong social conscience, we always value being kind, respectful, inclusive, ambitious, responsible and collaborative. Transforming services to make them sustainable, ensuring that we value, support & empower each other.
We are committed to involving the people we care for, families & carers in everything that we do, working towards co-production where we can. Helping us to deliver the right care for people, in the right place & at the right time. By putting people at the centre of what we do, we ensure to support people to lead, healthy independent lives & be the very best at helping people to live well.
Valuing our employees making an investment in their development a priority. We offer:
Protected CPD time for registered staff
Various development pathways and ongoing regular training packages for all staff
Leadership & mentoring programmes
Access & funding for training including Care Certificate, Assistant Practitioners Course & Scholarship Into Nurse Training
A Robust Preceptorship
A bespoke induction programme
Existing members of the NHS Pension Scheme can continue their membership when they join the organisation.
Job description
Job responsibilities
As a lead specialist,responsible for assessment and treatment of own specialist caseload of clientswith variety of complex problems including mental ill-health, behaviours thatchallenge, personality difficulties, autism spectrum disorders and neurologicalproblems. This particularly includes their families and paid carers in a widerange of independent sector provision.
As a lead specialist,responsible for providing, developing and managing highly specialistpsychological interventions to clients and for communicating psychologicalformulations and treatment plans to carers and professional colleagues.
Responsible for planning,organising and auditing and developing policy and strategies for the deliveryof a specialist psychology service within the multidisciplinary CLDT.
The postholder would beexpected to develop specialist responsibilities and provide leadership from apsychological perspective on a specific area of expertise that balances theirexperience, interests, and needs of the service.
Responsible for providingprofessional support, guidance and clinical supervision to other clinical psychologystaff (clinical psychologists, assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists,undergraduate placement students) in the CLDT and in other parts of the serviceas required by their level of experience.
Responsible for theplanning, delivery and clinical supervision of a specialist clinical trainingplacement for trainees on the postgraduate Doctoral Courses in ClinicalPsychology from the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter.
Responsible for providingspecialist consultation, advice and clinical supervision to othernon-psychology staff within the CLDT, on psychological understanding,interventions and evaluations.
Responsible for developingand delivering teaching on psychological work and care for trainee clinical psychologistsand qualified members of clinical psychology and other professions in LivewellSouthwest.
Responsible for initiatingand maintaining research and development projects relevant to furthering bothclinical knowledge and service evaluation and delivery.
Responsible for workingwithin the Guidelines for Professional Practice of the Health & CareProfessions Council and the British Psychological Society Division of ClinicalPsychology, and for adhering to policies and procedures of Livewell Southwest.
Responsible forparticipating in an annual appraisal with Psychology Lead plus a group manager.
Responsible for continuingprofessional development (CPD) in line with the annual appraisal ProfessionalDevelopment Plan PDP, the Knowledge and Skills Framework KSF and theBritish Psychological Societys requirements for CPD Logs and PracticingCertificate.
Responsible for keepingaware of and being knowledgeable about current developments within theprofession of clinical psychology.
Responsible for keeping upto date with legislation, national directives, policies and NICE guidelines inrelation to the work.
KeyTasks and Responsibilities
ClinicalSkills
To possess and practice ahigh level of communication and relationship skills in situations whereemotional distress, and risk of self-harm and of life-threatening behaviour canbe expected.
Responsible for overcominga variety of barriers to communication when working with clients who arefearful of others, unable to articulate their problems or who think within avery different frame of reference, requiring imaginative and sensitiveapproaches towards engagement.
To be able to identify andmanage the need for more complex reformulation of the clients difficulties andto promote a realistic treatment plan.
To identify and be able tocomplete formal psychometric assessments with ones own clients and those ofother team members, where this is appropriate.
To be able to communicate,by talking and by writing, psychological formulations and treatment plans tothe client and to appropriate professional colleagues and to family members andcarers, as appropriate.
To be able to prepare andprovide complex medico-legal reports and reports for child protection andvulnerable adults meetings.
To have knowledge of andskill within several psychological models of understanding and managingclinical problems.
To be able to add both anunderstanding of psychosocial factors and an appropriate intervention to theplanning of treatment for clients referred to the service but not onpsychologists caseload.
To be able to manage anappropriate caseload whilst also being able to negotiate and manage the needfor waiting lists for assessment and treatment so that there is steady movementof clients through the stages of referral, assessment, treatment and discharge.
To be able to develophighly specialised individual treatment plans or packages of care for clientswith complex psychological problems such as autistic spectrum disorder, severechallenging behaviour, offending profiles, dementia, the long-term effects ofchildhood trauma, personality disorders, severe and chronic depression, andother mental illnesses.
To be able to manage theemotional impact of working, often one-to-one, with people who can be in crisisand who can show high levels of arousal and can be actively self-harming orthreatening to others.
To be able to analysecomplex situations and think through an appropriate pattern or sequence ofstrategies to respond therapeutically.
To ensure receipt ofclinical and personal supervision in accordance with good practice guidelinesfor all clinical psychologists.
Policyand Service Development
To be responsible forpromoting the need to plan and develop specialist psychology services withinthe CLDT.
Through membership of thepsychology specialty, to be responsible for contributing to the planning anddevelopment of specialist psychology services across the service.
As a member of the CLDT tobe responsible for promoting the need to plan and develop the multidisciplinaryresponse to clinical demands and expectations on it.
To attend thePsychology meetings and other relevant meetings regularly.
HumanResources
To be responsible forproviding clinical supervision and professional support and guidance asrequired to Clinical Psychologists within the service who are less experienced.
To be responsible forproviding clinical supervision to non clinical psychology members of theservice as appropriate.
To be responsible forsupervising qualified clinical psychologists from other specialties, asrequired, in relation to their work with clients who may have learningdisabilities.
To be responsible forplanning and supervising the work of undergraduate psychology students on yearlong and short term placements.
To be responsible for thesupervision of the work of Assistant Psychologist/s.
To be responsible forplanning and providing a clinical training placement to trainees on thepostgraduate Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology of the Universities ofPlymouth and Exeter. This clinicalplacement requires liaison with Human Resources to arrange appropriate DBSchecks, honorary contracts and IT access as well as completion of LivewellSouthwest and service inductions. Italso requires a sensitive awareness to the impact on trainees of induction tobeing members of a large and complex organisation as the context for learningand practising their professional skills.
To teach on thepostgraduate Doctoral Courses in Clinical Psychology at the Universities ofPlymouth and Exeter if required and on pre and post qualification professionalcourses for other disciplines represented within Livewell Southwest asrequired.
Toensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highestprofessional standards of practice, through active participation in internaland external Continuing Professional Development - CPD training and developmentprogrammes and courses.
Researchand Development
To conduct and superviseresearch and audit and evaluation relevant to the provision of specialistpsychological services for people with learning disabilities..
To initiate and implementproject management techniques and tools in order to achieve completion ofevaluations, audits, research and service developments.
To collaborate withUniversities of Plymouth and Exeter in setting up and conducting Doctoral levellong-term research projects on learning disability issues, and providingteaching.
To use SPSS and otherpackages in the analysis of data and to write up the information in ameaningful format that is accessible and understood by the target audience.
To prepare and presentinformation from audits, evaluations and research to professional audienceswithin and outside the organisation.
To prepare papers forpublication based on audit, evaluation, research and development work.
To utilise theory,evidence based literature and research to support evidence based practice inindividual work and work with team members in the CLDT and Clinical Psychology.
InformationTechnology
To be responsible for themaintenance and development of office systems and procedures within theclinical psychology service.
To be able to use a rangeof software packages including Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint and SPSS.
To be responsible formaintaining appropriate service statistics and records of work within therequirement of policies covering the CLDT including where applicable the CareProgramme Approach.
To ensure that SystmOnecomputer data bases are kept up to date.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
5. Post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS.
6. Registered as a clinical psychologist with the HCPC
7. Fully competent as a clinical psychologist supplemented by short specialist courses and further specialist training
Desirable
8. - Other related academic qualifications to Masters or Doctoral level.
9. Chartered Status within the BPS.
10. Group work skills
11. Advanced keyboard skills.
12. Specialist skills in a specific therapeutic approach.
13. Clinical supervision training for doctoral trainees
Experience
Essential
14. Experience of working as a psychologist with adults with learning disabilities and their care networks or other dependent/vulnerable/
15. disenfranchised client groups ( people with severe mental health problems)
16. Experience of teaching, training and providing professional and/or clinical supervision.
17. Experience of assessing and treating clients in the full range of care settings.
18. Experience of working within multidisciplinary services for clients with learning disabilities or other dependent/disenfranchised client group
19. Experience of offering consultation and advice to staff groups supporting vulnerable clients.
Desirable
20. Post-qualification experience of two years or more.
21. Record of having published in peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books
22. Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist with adults with learning disabilities in a range of settings
23. Experience of working with clients with challenging behaviour
24. Post qualification training in Neuropsychology
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
25. Ability to analyse and interpret highly complex situations involving a range of options to make a decision about an appropriate course of action or solution to a problem.
26. Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management in adult with learning disabilities and/or other dependent/vulnerable/ disenfranchised groups.
27. Skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families and professionals both within and outside the NHS.
28. Doctoral level of research design and methodology as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.
29. Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies for complex problems ( personality disorder, behaviours that challenge).
Desirable
30. Formal training in supervision of other psychologists
31. Skills in the psychological assessment and management of neurological problems inc dementia.
32. Knowledge of legislation and national standards and guidelines that relate this client group.
33. Knowledge of the theory and practice of adapted psychological therapies used with adults with learning disabilities
Personal
Essential
34. Enthusiasm for working with people with learning disabilities.
35. Ability to work under pressure and set priorities.
36. Ability to deal with patients and carers who may be distressed, angry, confrontational or violent.
37. Ability to work within teams and motivate others.
38. Ability to sit for prolonged periods during assessments, patient interviews, case conferences.
39. Ability to cope with frequent exposure to highly distressing and emotional situations.
40. Warmth, empathy & integrity.
41. Ability to work autonomously & as part of a team.
42. Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to hold the stress of others.
Desirable
43. Personal experience of
44. supporting/living with a person with disabilities
45. Ability to identify, provide appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
Other
Essential
46. Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentation in public, professional and academic settings.
47. Works to professional guidelines.
48. Is accountable for own professional actions and capable of interpreting broad occupational policies
Desirable
49. Driving licence and car owner.