Are you an innovative Clinical or Counselling Psychologist who enjoys working with older people? If so we are looking for a psychologist to work in the older people's in-patient services in Ealing. There are two wards, one which focuses on people with dementia, but also includes frail older people with functional mental health needs, and the other focusing on supporting people with dementia and behaviour that challenges.

The post holder will be a key part of the ward MDT, providing more complex formulations and promoting a psychological understanding of service users' presentation. They will also complete assessment and intervention with a focus on developing our discharge pathways to ensure seamless links to our community teams.

As part of this work we will also be working with the families of those people who are returning home and the staff in a variety of supported living environments for those who need greater support.

Main duties of the job

The West London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow are culturally highly diverse and there is a real commitment to meet the needs of the communities we serve. You will therefore be involved in ensuring psychology provision is appropriate and accessible for this diverse community.

The service supports people with a wide range of difficulties. Although the psychology team works with psychological therapies with a proven evidence base, we also understand that to truly meet client needs, flexibility of approach is essential. Our service users come from a wide variety of cultures and experiences, so there is a need to adapt any therapy to the needs of the client and creativity is therefore valued. There is also an emphasis on working with staff, through supervision, training and joint working to increase psychological thinking within the team and to maximize the potential for improving the psychological well-being of all patients and carers.

About us

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' overallby 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.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential

• Good honors degree (2:1 minimum) in Psychology. Eligibility for graduate membership of BPS.
• Post-graduate doctorate in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or those in lateral transfer) as accredited by the BPS.
• Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council.

Desirable

• Other related academic qualifications.
• Evidence of additional training in psychological therapy techniques.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with older people

Desirable

• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Experience of having facilitated/co-facilitated psychological therapy groups.
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.

Knowledge

Essential

• Specialist knowledge, both theoretical and practical, of psychology applied to clinical practice.
• Specialist theoretical and practical knowledge of the assessment and treatment of a range of mental health conditions.
• Able to provide and receive complex, sensitive or 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
• 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.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviours.
• Able to use database, word processing and test administration/scoring software.
• Evidence of continuing professional development

Desirable

• Specialist theoretical and practical knowledge of assessment and intervention with families.
• Able to speak other languages present in local communities such as Hindi, Punjabi or Polish.

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Able to adapt to rapidly changing service demands
• Able to maintain intense concentration frequently and for prolonged periods with unpredictable patients (e.g., in the assessment and treatment of patients with complex difficulties).
• Able to function in potentially traumatic circumstances and in highly emotionally distressing circumstances on a frequent basis (e.g., in dealing with patients with serious mental illness, violence, self- harm, sexual abuse).

Employer details

Employer name

West London NHS Trust

Address

Jubilee Ward

St Bernards

SOUTHALL

UB1 3EU

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

222-LS-OPMHS-143