Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust are looking to recruit a Clinical Psychologist to work with older people with complex mental health difficulties.
Within this role, you will be working within the community mental health team. The service provides care to older people with mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, personality disorder and psychosis, as well as for people with dementia and their carers. The two days in the in-patient unit will include assessment and therapy and also assisting in an exciting training initiative to upskill the inpatient staff team.
Main duties of the job
The responsibilities will include the provision of psychological assessment (including neuropsychology) and therapy to older people and their carers in community, clinic and an inpatient setting, to be a source of advice to the multi-disciplinary team on psychological issues and to offer consultation and advice to other mental health and physical health professionals. Supervision of a clinical psychology trainee and contribution to service development will also be required for candidates at 8a level. Candidates who have an interest in neuropsychology will have an opportunity to develop these skills further.
Job responsibilities
To provide comprehensive highly specialist psychological assessments and treatments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of highly complex, contentious and/or sensitive data from a variety of sources including neuropsychological tests, psychometric 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. The post-holder will also be required to administer a wide range of highly complex neuropsychological tests that require the manipulation of materials at a high level of speed and accuracy. These procedures require long periods of highly focused concentration with narrow margins for error.
To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
To formulate and implement highly complex plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client's mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework (i.e. psychological formulation) of the client's problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of older peoples care settings. Where appropriate providing the role of lead professional and all the duties this entails. The post-holder will monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
To be responsible for implementing a range of highly specialist psychological interventions for individual clients, carers, families and groups. This will be employed both within and across teams, individually and in synthesis. The post-holder will adjust and refine psychological formulations, drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
Clinical work will require the analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options, to develop complex formulations based upon a range of theoretical perspectives, which will allow the most effective evidence-based highly specialised programme of care (e.g. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Cognitive Analytical Therapy).
To work as an exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically-based care plans.
To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all multi-disciplinary teams, settings and other agencies serving the client group.
To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
The post-holder will be required to work with service users in situations that may be highly antagonistic, abusive and hostile. He/she will be required to communicate, in a skilled and sensitive manner, highly complex, highly sensitive and/or highly contentious information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care, where there are significant barriers to acceptance which need to be overcome using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills. This will include the writing of clinical reports, letters, and notes in line with Trust operational standards, and liaison with the Psychology Lead of Older Peoples Service.
Person Specification
Experience
* In depth experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
Qualifications
* DClinPsy or DCounsPsy including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS. HCPC Registration.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This 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.
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