Job summary
We are excited to offer an innovative post for an applied (Clinical or Counselling) Psychologist to work into our Young Onset Dementia and Memory Team services. The post is full time but applications from those wishing to work part time will also be considered. It is an 8a post and we are in the position to recruit someone who already has the competence and experience relevant to an 8a position, or someone who meets the qualification, training and competence for a band 7 applied psychology post. In the case of the latter, we are able to offer a professional knowledge and skills based development programme that will provide you with the opportunity to acquire the appropriate skills, competencies and development to support you in the post.
You will be joining a well established and highly motivated Older Adult Speciality for psychology services, working closely with other practitioner psychologists. The Older Adult speciality provides services into a number of physical and mental health settings, including Mental Health Services for Older People, and Medical Rehabilitation. The Speciality is part of a large and progressive Health Board wide Directorate of Psychology and Psychological Therapies. We encourage and support continued professional development and offer excellent opportunities for professional development, consultation and supervision.
The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; English and/or Welsh speakers are equally welcome to apply.
Main duties of the job
The successful post-holder will help to provide a practitioner psychology service to the Young Onset Dementia team and to the community Memory Team service for Cardiff and the Vale. This post contributes to all parts of the dementia pathway and includes the provision of neuropsychological assessments for people presenting to the Memory Team with concerns about their cognition, through to post diagnostic psychological therapy and supporting care partners. Working collaboratively and closely with your MDT colleagues, as well as with people living with dementia and their care partners. The post holder will join a welcoming, innovative and enthusiastic group of psychology practitioners in the service. Value is placed on reflective practice and learning from one another and good links exist with the local DClinPsy training course. You will be encouraged and supported to join the local and national networks of psychology practitioners working with older people as well as dementia networks. A range of psychological models are valued and welcomed and we have practitioners with interests and expertise in both CBT and third wave approaches and in Narrative Therapy and Open Dialogue. In addition to direct clinical work, there will be opportunities for staff and MDT consultation and supervision, innovation, service/systems improvement work, staff skills training, research and audit and team formulations, with the support of the Consultant Clinical Psychologist.
About us
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is one of the largest Integrated Health Boards in the UK, employing over 17,000 staff, providing over 100 specialist services. Working across 6 hospital sites, we have a diverse range of career opportunities to offer. Serving over 500,000 people living in Cardiff and the Vale, we are focussed on the health and care needs of our local population whilst working with our partners to develop regional services. Together we are committed to improving health outcomes for everyone, delivering excellent care and support.
Our mission is "Living Well, Caring Well, Working Together", and our vision is that every person's chance of leading a healthy life should be equal. Our 10-year transformation and improvement strategy, Shaping Our Future Wellbeing, is our chance to work collaboratively with the public and our workforce to make our health board more sustainable for the future.
Job description
Job responsibilities
We have a well-established framework for reflective, caseload and peer supervision, as well as access to model-specific supervision for people using EMDR, IPT or facilitating our DBT groups. We have accredited BABCP practitioners who can supervise and support people who are themselves looking for full CBT accreditation. There are good in-house opportunities for CPD including substantive training in Interpersonal Therapy and Open Dialogue Approach. C&V UHB is fortunate to have a number of services focussed on specific issues (for example, Eating Disorders service) and, for people in full-time posts, there may be opportunities to pursue CPD time in these services. We also have active links with our local doctoral training courses (clinical & counselling) and there are opportunities to provide supervision, research, consultancy and training.
Full clinical and management professional support and supervision will be available and we support and encourage research and audit opportunities.
Our CMHT psychologists work collaboratively across each locality to more flexibly meet the needs of service users- and this also allows for greater peer support, and more opportunities to develop specialist skills and interests. We are looking for people who can further add to our skills mix, and contribute to our active programme of service development, including group interventions and training for CMHT staff in psychosocial approaches.
You will be able to find a full Job description and Person Specification attached within the supporting documents or please click Apply now to view in Trac
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
1. Good Honours degree in Psychology with eligibility for Graduate Basis for Chartership (GBC) with the BPS.
2. Post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology accredited by the HCPC (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 as accredited by the BPS) OR (for trainees) doctorate to be completed by October 2024
3. HCPC registration as a practitioner psychologist OR (for trainees) eligible by October 2024
Desirable
4. 8a Practitioner Psychologist: Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialist areas of psychological practice.
Experience
Essential
5. Experience in applying clinical/counselling psychology in the NHS, including cognitive and structured assessment, formulation, intervention, research and service development.
6. Experience of effective multi-disciplinary team working in NHS or equivalent.
Desirable
7. Experience of working with people with mental health/psychological problems in a medical setting; problems presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings and maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems.
8. Experience of teaching/training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
9. Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan.
Skills
Essential
10. Ability to make clinical and service-related judgments involving complex facts requiring analysis, interpretation and comparison of several options.
11. Ability to contribute to the development of, and to implement, agreed policies and strategic long-term service developments.
12. Ability to use the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills to convey and receive highly complex/sensitive information effectively, requiring empathy and reassurance, in a highly emotive atmosphere and the ability to overcome psychological resistance to potentially threatening information, whilst maintaining a high degree of professionalism at all times.
Desirable
13. Experience of the development and implementation of policies and strategic long-term service developments.
Special knowledge
Essential
14. Practitioner Psychologist: Doctoral level knowledge of clinical/counselling psychology theory and practice, assessment, psychological therapies and their application.
15. Practitioner Psychologist: Participation with CPD as recommended by the BPS.
Desirable
16. 8a Practitioner Psychologist: Post-doctoral training in relevant specialist areas of psychological practice ( assessment of autism; working with psychosis; specific psychosocial approaches).