Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist, Neurodevelopmental Lead - Community Rehabilitation Service - Ealing, West London.

This is an exciting opportunity for a psychologist with a keen interest in psychosis, ASD and neurodevelopmental difficulties who is seeking to develop their clinical and leadership expertise.

The psychology team includes extensive Consultant and Principal Psychologist support and you would have access to Trustwide networks of expertise related to ASD and neurodevelopmental difficulties. Alongside a full MDT and third sector partners, you would contribute to a comprehensive psychology service and would take a lead role in developing service-wide expertise in supporting service users with ASD, neurodevelopmental and neuropsychological difficulties in addition to psychosis.

You would be supported through specialist training and supervision to grow your skills in the specialist area. We are seeking a creative psychologist who enjoys multidisciplinary team working, with a genuine commitment to community recovery for psychosis.

Main duties of the job

This post is based in our Community Rehabilitation Teams, which have a vision to support people with the highest levels of need and with complex psychosis to live fulfilling lives, as independently as possible, within their local communities. You would work closely with a Principal Clinical Psychologist and alongside a full multidisciplinary team to provide a comprehensive psychology service to support service users and their families, carers and housing providers.

This will include individual, family and group interventions, and expert training and consultation with an emphasis on supporting clients with ASD, neurodevelopmental and/or neuropsychological difficulties.

About us

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse providers of mental health, community and social care in the UK.

Our 3,982 staff care for people in hospital and in the community, helping them to recover and go on to lead full and productive lives. We aim to be the best organisation of our kind in the country.

We provide care and treatment for more than 800,000 people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow, delivering services in the community (at home, in GP surgeries and care homes), hospital, specialist clinics and forensic (secure) units.

We'rerated good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Together, we're committed to promoting hope and wellbeing, working with patients, service users, carers, families and partners across the communities we serve.

We are keen to ensure that our workforce reflects the community it serves, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, LGBTQ+ and experience of mental illness.

The regulations mandating vaccination for in-scope roles in the NHS have now been removed. The Trust does however continue to encourage and support staff to be vaccinated as this remains the best line of defence against COVID19. Vaccination data will be collected by our recruitment team during your on-boarding if you are happy to provide a copy of your COVID pass.

Job description Job responsibilities

As a Highly Specialist Clinical/ Counselling Psychologist you will be joining a service that was established in 2020 with a remit to develop psychologically skilled, innovative and inclusive support to service users with the highest levels of need.

You would be joining a growing team of Specialist Psychosis Psychologists in our Community & Recovery Services, with strong opportunities to network and share practice with others in the field, and good access to further training in areas including CBTp, family interventions for psychosis, EMDR and trauma-focused approaches, and a network of specialists in ASD, neurodevelopmental and neuropsychological difficulties.

You would be joining a supportive network of CARMHS psychologists with a senior team who are committed to retaining you and providing leadership opportunities to support your career progression towards 8b and beyond.

Person Specification Qualifications Essential

• Good honours degree (2:1 minimum) in Psychology.
• Eligibility for graduate membership of BPS
• Post-graduate doctorate in clinical or counselling 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

• Training in clinical supervision for doctoral, and equivalent, trainees
• Other related academic qualifications
• Evidence of post-doctoral training in systemic approaches; working with ASD and neurodevelopmental difficulties; or in neuropsychological assessment.

Experience Essential

• Experience of working as a qualified (specialist) psychologist with clients with psychosis and complex needs.
• Experience of working with clients with ASD or neurodevelopmental difficulties, and/or learning disabilities, and/or dementia, brain illness or injury.
• Experience of having facilitated/co-facilitated psychological therapy groups
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of administration, scoring and written interpretation of psychometric / neuropsychological tests
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Experience of co-producing and/or co-delivering services with service users and/or 3rd sector partners.

Knowledge Essential

• Advanced specialist knowledge, both theoretical and practical, of psychology applied to clinical practice

Desirable

• Specialist theoretical and practical knowledge of the assessment and intervention of complex mental health difficulties, neurodevelopmental and/or neuropsychological difficulties.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation and its implications for work in the current setting

Skills Essential

• 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.
• Able to make judgements involving highly complex facts or situations, which require the evaluation of a range of options (e.g. the assessment of specialist clinical conditions and the determination of treatment options), Where expert opinions may differ
• 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
• Able to use database, word processing and test administration/scoring software
• Able to sit for lengthy periods of time while demonstrating active listening skills
• Able to maintain intense concentration frequently and for prolonged periods
• Able to function in highly emotionally distressing circumstances on a frequent basis (e.g. in dealing with service users with serious mental illness, histories of homicide and serious violence, self-harm, sexual abuse)

Desirable

• Working knowledge of SPSS

Other Requirements Essential

• Demonstrable enthusiasm for and commitment to working with service users with highly complex levels of need.
• Demonstrable enthusiasm for and commitment to partnership working with MDT colleagues and community and 3rd sector partners.
• Demonstrable commitment to improving outcomes for clients with ASD and/or neurodevelopmental difficulties; and/or learning disabilities; and/or dementia, brain illness or injury.
• Knowledge of the professional code of conduct of the BPS
• Must be capable of being guided by precedent, clearly defined policies, procedures and codes of conduct

Desirable

• Able to reflect on own professional practice
• Willing to participate actively in CPD in line with BPS guidelines
• 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 behaviour.
• 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 within a multicultural framework
• Willingness to undertake further training as required in the ADOS; and/or other training relevant to supporting clients with ASD; and/or other training in neuropsychological assessment.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

222-LS-CARMHS-182-A