This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and dedicated Clinical Psychologist/Advanced Clinical Practitioner to be part of our friendly Autism Spectrum Condition service. The service assesses adults aged 18+ in Liverpool and Sefton. It is an exciting time to be joining the team as we develop our services alongside nationally changing perceptions and awareness of Autism and collaborate with our colleagues within our trust as we aim to reshape how autism is understood and supported.

We welcome and will consider applications from applicants who are registered with the Health Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist and have Post-graduate doctoral level training in the field of applied psychology accredited by the BPS, or its approved equivalent.

Main duties of the job

You will work as part of a multidisciplinary team including, Nurses, Occupational therapists, social workers speech and language therapist and other Psychologists, all of whom have a wealth of knowledge and experience. You will work as an autonomous highly skilled practitioner carry out specialised assessments of Autism. The team has clinicians trained in ADI-R, ADOS and DISCO. You will provide advice and consultation to other clinical staff within the team and with our colleagues within other Trust services.You will contribute and lead formulations taking into account where additional complexities such as mental health, attachment, mild learning disability, or other neurodevelopmental conditions are present.You will provide advice and consultation to locally provided community mental health teams, inpatient services, community learning disability teams, social care providers and the criminal justice agencies.You will work alongside the senior Clinical Psychologist to be involved in ongoing service development and in shaping service innovations.We offer placements to trainees from local universities on a regular basis and the post holder would be expected to clinically supervise and manage the workloads of assistant psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists within the service as required.You will contribute towards the continuing professional development, training, research, advising and supporting the Multi-disciplinary team as appropriate.

About us

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

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.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be responsible for the undertaking psychological work with service users referred to the team. This is likely to be varied going from individual work with service users to liaising and working with other members of the team, other services and partner agencies. Your work will be consistently person centred and involve the delivery of services to autistic people. The post holder will report directly to the Consultant Clinical Psychologist.

The team sits within the Community Care Division of Merseycare NHS trust its remit is to deliver safe and effective services across Merseyside.

This post is advertised as a band 8a we would be willing to accept application from newly qualified Psychologists, if successful they would be appointed at band 7 with a programme of competencies they had to achieve to reach the level required for the 8a post.

We are also accepting applications from registered Advanced Clinical Practitioners.

The successful candidate will demonstrate excellent organisation and communication skills and be motivated to ensure high standards of proficiency and professional practise.

You will demonstrate an ability to apply strategy to practice and have a clear commitment to person centred practices, demonstrating this in your work with individuals, families and other professionals.The post holder will report directly to the Consultant Clinical Psychologist.

This post is advertised as a band 8a, we would be willing to accept application from newly qualified Psychologists, if successful they would be appointed at band 7 with a programme of competencies they had to achieve to reach the level required for the 8a post.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• A First or Upper Second honours degree in psychology OR a lower class with a post-graduate qualification, (e.g.: Master's degree)
• ECDL or demonstrable proficiency with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Publisher and SPSS
• Post-graduate doctoral level training in Clinical Psychology as accredited by the BPS. Registration with HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist

Desirable

• Further training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice, autism, personality disorder and/or research design and analysis
• Post-doctoral training in additional specialised areas of psychological practice such as risk assessment autism personality disorder substance use and/or specific therapeutic modalities

Experience and Knowledge

Essential

• Assessed experience of work for a minimum of six months within the field of learning disability or mental health, which included working with neurodivergent clients
• Post-qualification experience of working with individuals with histories of problems of complex, multi-factorial origin
• Experience of working with a variety of client groups, across the whole life course and a full range of care settings, maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and threats of physical abuse
• Experience of exercising clinical for service user's psychological care and treatment, both as a profession and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan
• Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision
• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology in relation to learning disabled offenders
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology
• Knowledge of legislation and the implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health issues in general

Desirable

• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team/experience of working alongside staff from other disciplines
• Experience of multi - professional management of teams and/or services within autism services
• Experience of representing the profession in local policy fora
• Experience of the application of psychological theories within different cultural contexts
• Personal experience of mental health problems

Skills

Essential

• Skills in the use of methods of psychological assessment & formulation
• An excellent ability to communicate, both orally and in writing, complex, technical and clinically sensitive information, to service users, their families and a wide range of professionals within and outside of the NHS
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non professionals groups
• Ability to identify, provide, and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations
• Ability to identify and employ where appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviours
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media material for presentations to the public, professionals and academic settings
• Ability and willingness to travel across North West region for work
• Willingness to be part of the on-call duty rota system in place during evenings and weekends (frequency to be specified)

Desirable

• An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge within the context of autism
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological interventions in specific, difficult to treat groups (e.g. autism, personality disorder, dual diagnosis issues, additional disabilities and drug/alcohol issues etc.)
• Record of having published in either peer reviewed academic or professional journals and/or books
• Ability to articulate and interpret the role of the profession of clinical psychology based upon an understanding of the framework of government and national professional policy

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

Other

Essential

• Positive attitudes towards neurodivergent people
• Professional interest in a broad range of psychological phenomena, an interest in models of service delivery, and an ability to articulate the value added by clinical psychology services in the context of multi-disciplinary services

Employer details

Employer name

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Hartley Hospital

1b Curzon Road

Southport

PR8 6PL

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

350-CC6460042