Job overview
This post offers the exciting opportunity to join the Acute Mental Health Services psychology team in West London NHS Trust. The post offers the successful candidate the opportunity to work as a senior clinician in acute care working with service users experiencing a mental health crisis, working with the MDT to hold a psychological formulation about a service user and working in a leadership role. The post will be based in Hammersmith & Fulham Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team.
The post-holder will work collaboratively and proactively with the multi-disciplinary team to manage risk robustly and to provide a psychological perspective to the care provided. Along with providing assessment, formulation and brief interventions to service users and their families.
The post holder will be part of the AMHS psychology team, team members are clinical psychologists, counselling psychologists and psychotherapists, clinical associates in psychology and assistant psychologists. The team also offers placements for trainee clinical psychologists. The psychology team are situated in each borough’s Crisis Assessment and Treatment Teams, and in the inpatient mental units (Hammersmith and Fulham Mental Health Unit / Lakeside Mental Health Unit).
Main duties of the job
1. Providing a full and comprehensive psychology service providing direct care to service users and their families offering assessment, formulation, risk assessment and brief evidence based interventions when indicated
2. Offer indirect work ensuring that all members of the multidisciplinary team have access to a psychological framework for understanding the service user’s needs. This will be provided by giving psychological advice, consultation, contributing in clinical meetings and team formulation.
3. Developing a knowledge and skills for the MDT to utilise a psychological framework through teaching, training and supervision. Along with facilitating team formulation, offering consultation and sharing psychological research and theory.
4. Work as a clinical member of a multi-disciplinary team, which will include responsibility for ensuring the systematic provision and governance of a high quality specialist clinical psychology service
5. Utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the team/service
6. Participate as a senior clinician and be an integral part of the leadership team involved in the development and delivery of a high quality service
7. Function as an autonomous practitioner he/she will be responsible for their own work working within their professional guidelines and the overall framework of the service’s policies and procedures
Working for our organisation
West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.
Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ 4,500 staff, of whom 56% are BME. Our turnover for 2023-24 is £426m.
The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.
The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Hammersmith & Fulham Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team provides a service for adult service users experiencing mental health crisis requiring intensive home based support and treatment. The service aims to prevent service users requiring a hospital admission. Therefore, the post holder will be required to travel to service users’ homes.
Person specification
Training and Qualifications
Essential criteria
8. Doctoral level training in clinical or counselling psychology or its equivalent, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
9. Professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council.
10. Training in clinical supervision for doctoral, and equivalent, trainees
Desirable criteria
11. Evidence of post-doctoral training in psychological therapies relevant to severe and enduring mental health difficulties including for example DBT/ CBT-P/ Systemic Practice.
12. Training in the supervision of psychological therapies.
Experience
Essential criteria
13. Post qualification experience of working in mental health settings delivering specialist psychological assessment, formulation and interventions across a range of settings including community, primary care, inpatient, crisis services.
14. Experience of working with a wide range of client groups across the whole life course presenting with a range of psychological problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity.
15. Experience of providing clinical supervision to assistant/trainee or qualified psychologists, and/or other professionals.
16. Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts including working with interpreters.
Desirable criteria
17. Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
18. Experience of working in acute mental health services (inpatient wards, HTT, crisis intervention services, psychiatric liaison).
19. Experience of having facilitated/co-facilitated psychological therapy groups
20. Experience of facilitating reflective practice to teams.
21. Experience of providing clinical supervision to junior psychologists and other non-psychology colleagues.
22. Post qualification experience and/or training in working with adults affected by psychological trauma.
23. Experience of service development/change leadership.
Knowledge and Skills
Essential criteria
24. Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention and management requiring sustained and intense concentration.
25. Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to service users, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
26. Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
27. Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
28. Knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
29. Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific psychological problems ( personality disorder, dual diagnosis, autism spectrum disorder).
30. Knowledge and awareness of the trauma informed approach.
31. Advanced specialist knowledge, both theoretical and practical, of psychology applied to clinical practice
32. Able to provide and receive highly complex, highly sensitive or highly contentious information, where there are significant barriers to acceptance which need to be overcome using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills such as would be required when communicating in a hostile, antagonistic or highly emotive atmosphere
33. Able to make judgements involving highly complex facts or situations, which require the evaluation of a range of options ( the assessment of specialist clinical conditions and the determination of treatment options), Where expert opinions may differ
34. Able to plan, prioritise and organise own service user caseload, treatment programmes (individual or group) involving other staff, and other aspects of the work such as research activity
35. Comprehensive IT skills
36. Skills in administering psychological tests and standardised assessments.
Desirable criteria
37. Knowledge of quality improvement methodology.
38. Knowledge of the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act.
39. Knowledge of the NHS Leadership Framework and Positive Leadership Models.