This in an exciting developmental opportunity for a Clinical Psychologist to work as part of the regional leadership multi-disciplinary team at the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service, with a key role in the leadership and implementation of the service perinatal inequalities work programme. The Cheshire and Merseyside Specialist Perinatal and Maternal Mental Health Services (SPMMHS) are committed to tackling health inequalities which are defined here as avoidable, unfair and systematic differences in health between different groups of people.

We are looking for a creative, dynamic and tenacious caring leader who aspires to or has experience of working in a leadership position with women and their families during the perinatal period. The post holder will have a robust understanding of the impact of social inequalities on maternal mental health and are passionate about improving outcomes around health inequality for mothers, babies, families and communities.

The successful candidate will have experience of working collaboratively with families and 'experts by experience' in support of co-production methodologies to inform service models and will also have a strong research background. The ideal candidate will have great relationship skills and energy for driving change programmes.

Main duties of the job

To work as part of the multi-disciplinary team at the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service, providing a qualified specialist clinical psychology service to women and birthing people. The post holder will have a key role in the development and implementation of the service perinatal inequalities work programme.The post holder will apply and maintain those skills acquired through further specialist training and experience to monitor and ensure the systematic provision of highly specialised psychological services. To provide a service to clients and their families in the perinatal period referred to the perinatal service, across all sectors of care, within an equality and human rights framework and the team philosophy of care.The post holder will supervise and support the highly specialised psychological assessment and therapy provided by other psychologists and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment. To exercise delegated management responsibilities where appropriate. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the designated service area. To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research. To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the designated service area.

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:

To provide specialist psychological assessments of service users referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, family members and others involved in the service users care.

To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a service users psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the service users problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy.

To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

To evaluate, monitor progress and make highly skilled evaluations and 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 exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.

To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to service users formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans.

To ensure that all members of the clinical team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of service users, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory.

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users and to provide both general and specialist advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, highly complex information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of service users under their care where there may be conflicting views, high emotion and significant barriers to understanding and change, and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

To provide expertise, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the treatment team.Teaching, Training and Supervision:

To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior clinical psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.

To provide clinical placements for trainee clinical and/or counselling psychologists, ensuring that trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to good mental health care and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.

To provide post-qualification training (CPD) and clinical professional supervision to qualified clinical psychologists and other psychological services staff.

To provide advice, consultation and training and clinical supervision to other members of the team for their provision of psychologically based interventions to help improve service users functioning.

To provide pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical psychologists and/or other psychological services staff as appropriate.

To maintain and develop skills in the area of professional pre- and post-graduate training and clinical supervision.Management, Recruitment, Policy and Service Development:

To manage the workloads of Assistants, Trainees and recently qualified psychological services staff, where appropriate, within the framework of the Clinical Business Units and teams/services service policies and procedures.

To participate as a senior clinician in the development of a high quality, responsive and accessible service including advising both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

To exercise delegated responsibility for managing the psychological resources available to a team, whether in the form of additional qualified and unqualified graduate psychology staff, or in the form of psychological materials employed in the assessment and treatment of patients.

To exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the team.

To participate as appropriate in staff recruitment, both in the short-listing process and as a member of interview panels, for assistants, trainees and recently qualified psychological services staff.

To act up for line manager as appropriate.

The post holder will be expected to make full use of IT packages available within the work area, for example, Microsoft office, email, internet and statistical packages. Reasonable adjustments will be made for employees who ate unable to comply due to sensory impairment.Service Governance:

To assist, as a senior clinician, in the evaluation, monitoring and development of the teams operational policies, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit and ensuring incorporation of psychological frameworks for understanding and provision of high-quality care.

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

To undertake appropriate research as agreed with Operational and Professional managers and provide research advice to team colleagues undertaking research.

To initiate project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within and across the service to help develop and improve services to clients and their families.

To undertake a defined role in local Service Governance structures as agreed.General:

To ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external and external CPD training and development programmes and to provide evidence of CPD undertaken, e.g., in the form of CPD logbook.

To ensure the development and articulation of best practice in psychology within the team and contribute across the service by exercising the skills of a reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of clinical psychology and related disciplines.

To maintain and promulgate the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society, Health Professions Council, Clinical Business Unit and Trust policies and procedures.

To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and mental health.

To perform other duties of a similar kind appropriate to the grade, which may be required by their operational manager after consultation, if necessary with professional manager.WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

The office base for this post will be provided within the designated service area, although some sessions may involve working in other geographical areas covered by the local services. Service users are seen in a wide variety of community settings, which may include the team base, GP surgeries, health centres, youth agencies and voluntary agencies, as well as within acute admissions units and the service users own home. Travel is an integral part of the post.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology accredited by the BPS or its approved equivalent
• Registration with Health and Care Professions Council as Practitioner Psychologist

Desirable

• Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

• Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist at a specialist level for a significant period.
• Significant experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
• Expertise in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention and management, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPSFormal training in supervision of other psychologists.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical psychology.
• Knowledge of IT systems including word processing, email and local electronic patient information syste
  Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.
  
  350-COM5637142