Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust is seeking to appoint a Senior Clinical Psychologist to work as part of new multidisciplinary service offering assessments of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to those age 16 and older. This is a newly developed post in a growing adult assessment service, designed to ultimately meet the needs of young people and adults not previously diagnosed with ASD.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be co-leading on autism assessments for young people and adults, referred by their GP, alongside multidisciplinary colleagues from Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy.

This will involve, but is not restricted to, the gathering of comprehensive developmental histories through clinical interview with parent/carers, structured observational assessments using the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO) and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule - second edition (ADOS-2), psychometric assessments and use of various tools and measures. The service put great emphasis on effective post-diagnosis psychoeducation and support as well as developing and maintaining appropriate onward pathways of care and support with other services. The post holder will also supervise an Assistant Clinical Psychologist and contribute to ongoing professional and service development work around the assessment and post diagnostic support pathway as directed by the Consultant Clinical Psychologist.

The successful candidate will have knowledge of, and experience in working with, autistic young people and adults. They will ideally have experience of assessing autism, or similar complex assessments with children, young people and adults. They will also have experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

About us

We are a small, developing, friendly and highly valued multidisciplinary, joint Service working across the Social Care and Health services in Milton Keynes.

This is a new post in a joint service that sits within CNWL NHS FT's Milton Keynes psychology service, although the work will be within a developing autism assessment service that draws resource from and developing pathways of care across Adult Social Care, Adult Mental Health and the CCG.

The post holder will receive clinical supervision from the services Consultant Clinical Psychologist. The Trust has excellent working relationships with Oxford University doctoral training programme and there will be opportunities for supervising Trainee Clinical Psychologists.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users and we will therefore be seeking proof of vaccination or medical exemption during the recruitment process.As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Job description Job responsibilities

• To act as a senior clinician within the Milton Keynes Integrated Autism Service and to provide specialist assessments, diagnosis and post diagnosis psychoeducation to adults referred to the service for the purpose of diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder.
• To participate in multi-disciplinary working within the Integrated Autism service to meet statutory, core and commissioned service needs
• The post holder will work collaboratively with the members of the IAS multidisciplinary team in the co-ordination of the various assessments, outcome formulation and diagnosis with a strong emphasis on evaluation and audit of the effectiveness of the pathway.
• The post holder will be expected to be involved in the supervision of colleagues from other professional backgrounds, assistant psychologists, as well as junior psychologists and trainees where appropriate.
• Within IAS, assessment for autism relies on 2 semi-structured processes; the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-II). The post holder will be expected to be trained in one or both assessments and contribute effectively to brief post diagnosis psycho-education support.
• The post holder will be required to make evidence-based decisions regarding referring cases on to community services, if appropriate, for intervention and support post assessment. It is therefore expected of the post holder to develop and promote awareness and understanding of the unique needs of autistic adults and the structures and skills necessary for all mental health and social care support services to make reasonable adjustments as a core philosophy of treatment delivery.

Please contact the team via below details for any queries or informal visits.

Person Specification Essential Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology
• To be registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC)
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and formulation of complex mental health presentations

Desirable

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Experience of working psychologically with people who have complex mental health problems, including trauma and personality disorder.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

333-D-MK-MH-0823--A