Due to expansion of our services we are in a position to offer the opportunity to join our existing Talking Therapies Services within Mersey Care.

Positions are available in our Halton, Knowsley, St Helens and Liverpool services. Please indicate on your application which location you would prefer

The post holder will be required to possess an appropriate qualification to provide high intensity psychological therapies at step 3, to individuals with anxiety and depression in accordance with NICE guidelines.

The service actively fosters a friendly and supportive working / learning culture. You will benefit from regular Continuing Professional Development (CPD), training events, Clinical Supervision and Managerial Supervision.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages using interpreters when necessary and should be committed to equal opportunities.

The post holder will demonstrate an attitude which respects and values service users' and their carers.

The post holder will provide IAPT approved high intensity treatment with service users and work within an IAPT approved supervision framework.

About us

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 11 million people.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Job description

Job responsibilities

CLINICAL:

Accept referrals via agreed protocols within the service.

Assess clients for suitability for psychological interventions.

Make decisions on suitability of new referrals, adhering to the departments referral protocols, and refer unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referral agent as necessary.

Formulate, implement and evaluate therapy programmes for clients.

Use highly developed communication skills in working with people to understand their personal and often very sensitive difficulties.

To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment and treatment of clients in line with the service.

Educate and involve family members and others in treatment as necessary, conveying CBT and other psychological formulations with sensitivity in easily understood language.

Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the 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.

Keep coherent records of all clinical activity in line with service protocols.

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.

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

Carry out clinical audits of service performance, including service user surveys and evaluations, and help to collate and disseminate the results for feedback.

Liaise with other health and social care staff from a range of agencies in the care provided clients.

Provide specialist advice and consultation to other professionals/ individuals/ groups/ committees across Mental Health Trusts, Primary Care Trusts and other voluntary agencies regarding service matters related to the practice and delivery of specific agreed therapeutic modalities and service provision.

TRAINING AND SUPERVISION:

Attend and fulfil all the requirements of the IAPT approved supervision training.

Contribute to the teaching and training of mental health professionals and other staff working in the service.

After completion of supervision training, supervise staff in the service.

PROFESSIONAL:

Ensure the maintenance of standards of practice according to the employer and any regulating, professional and accrediting bodies (e.g. BPS, UKCP, BABCP), and keep up to date on new recommendations/ guidelines set by the Department of Health (e.g. NHS plan, National Service Framework, National Institute for Clinical Excellence).

Ensure that client confidentiality is protected at all times.

Be aware of, and keep up to date with advances in the spheres of CBT and other psychological therapies.

Ensure clear professional objectives are identified, discussed and reviewed with senior therapists on a regular basis as part of continuing professional development (CPD).

Attend clinical/managerial supervision on a regular basis as agreed with Manager.

Participate in individual performance review and respond to agreed objectives.

Keep up to date all records in relation to CPD and ensure personal development plan maintains up to date specialist knowledge of latest theoretical and service delivery models/ developments.

Attend relevant conferences/ workshops in line with identified professional objectives.

Participate in service improvement by highlighting issues and implementing changes in practice.

Please see attached Job Description for full list of duties and responsibilities.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Post Graduate Diploma, or equivalent Post Graduate level CBT Training certificate which confers eligibility for BABCP accreditation or other IAPT approved accreditable body. AND Has BABCP or other IAPT approved accreditable body accreditation or able to achieve Provisional Accreditation within one year.
• Significant experience working as a psychological therapy practitioner and can demonstrates the competences as required.

Knowledge/ Experience

Essential

• Demonstrable experience of working in mental health services.
• Ability to meet agreed/specified service targets.
• Ability to manage own caseload and time.
• Demonstrates high standards in written communication
• Able to write clear reports and letters to referrers.
• Experience with routine outcome monitoring.
• Experience of teaching and liaising with other professional groups.
• Demonstrates an understanding of anxiety and depression and how it may present in Primary Care.
• Demonstrates knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health/ benefits & employment systems.
• Knowledge of medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems.
• Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post.
• Knowledge of child protection issues and other relevant legislation.
• Able to attend supervision training if not already trained, and other training as the post develops.
• Good record of Continuing Professional Development and willingness to continue this.

Values

Essential

• Continuous Improvement
• Accountability
• Respectfulness
• Enthusiasm
• Support
• High professional standards
• Responsive to service users
• Engaging leadership style
• Strong customer service belief
• Transparency and honesty
• Discreet
• Change oriented

Skills

Essential

• Full range of skills and competencies as laid out in the competence framework for CBT (Roth and Pilling 2007).
• Computer literate.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Has received training (either formal of through experience) and carried out risk assessments within scope of practice.
• Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients.
• High level of enthusiasm and motivation.
• Advanced communication skills.
• Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships.
• Ability to use clinical supervision and personal development positively and effectively.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality.
• Ability to be self reflective, whilst working with service users, & in own personal and professional development and in supervision.
• The ability and skills to act as an advocate for a new service, to engage and foster good professional relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of this service with the wider health care system.

Employer details

Employer name

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

V7 Building

Kings Business Park

Prescot

L34 1NJ

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

350-COM5558413