We are recruiting a Lead Psychologist for the Liverpool and Sefton / Kirkby Step Forward psychological intervention services. The successful candidate will be responsible for the provision of clinical psychological leadership for Step Forward services within Merseycare's Mental Health Care division.

The post holder will ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist clinical psychology service to clients of the Step Forward service.

The post holder will be responsible in ensuring that systems are in place and working effectively for the clinical and professional supervision and support of all psychological services staff within the Step Forward service, including clear systems for effective recruitment, professional appraisal, and the identification of CPD needs.

The post holder will be responsible for audit, policy and service development and research activities and/or programmes as required by the Step Forward service.

The post holder will propose and implement policy and service development changes within the area served. The successful candidate will lead a passionate service who provide community-based psychological assessments, therapies and interventions to clients and carers aged 18 upwards with a range of difficulties. Prior experience of working at 8C level would be helpful.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will lead on the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist clinical psychology service to Step Forward service users across the community. The post holder will advise, supervise and support the assessment and treatment provided by clinical members of the teams who provide psychologically based care and treatment within the Step Forward service.

The post holder will work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service. The post holder will utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research, and propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the service.

The post holder will be responsible for supporting CPD planning and demand and capacity work within Step Forward. The post holder will be responsible for developing job descriptions, standardising job plans and advising on psychological workforce issues within the Step Forward service line.

The post holder will be responsible for standardising and overseeing psychology KPI reporting processes and monitoring and reporting performance against KPIs across the Step Forward service line. The post holder will also where appropriate offer line management / clinical supervision to psychology staff as required, and provide input into the PACE process and to manage performance and grievance issues.

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

Clinical:

To provide highly developed specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the service, 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 clients, family members and others involved in the clients care.

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

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

To 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 full responsibility and autonomy for the psychological treatment of and discharge of clients whose problems are managed as a psychologically based care plan, ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation and interventions, communicating with the referral agent and others involved with the care on a regular basis.

To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals, contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan in an appropriate specialist area.

To ensure that all relevant staff have access to a psychologically based framework for the understanding and care of clients of the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological knowledge, research and theory in an appropriate specialist area.

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for relevant individual clients and to provide both general and specialist advice for psychologists and other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management.

To act as care co-ordinator, only where it is clearly appropriate for this role to be undertaken by a psychologist, in which case, ensuring the provision of a care package appropriate for the clients needs, co-ordinating the work of others involved with care, taking responsibility for arranging clients CPA reviews as required and communicating effectively with the client, his/her family and all others involved in care and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions.

To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

To provide expertise and advice to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all relevant staff.

To provide consultation about the psychological care of the client group to staff and agencies outside the CBU and Trust in an appropriate specialist area.

Teaching, training and supervision:

To ensure appropriate systems for the clinical and professional supervision of qualified and unqualified psychological services staff across the service.

To provide clinical and professional supervision to qualified and assistantpsychological services staff working in the service.

To provide specialist clinical placements for trainee clinical psychologists and/or other trainee professionals from psychological services where appropriate.

To provide specialist advice, consultation and training and clinical supervision to other members of staff for their provision of psychologically based interventions to help improve clients functioning.

To provide pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical psychologist and/or other trainee professionals from psychological services as appropriate.

To continue to develop expertise in the area of professional pre- and post-graduate training and clinical supervision.

Management, recruitment, policy and service development:

To take specific line management responsibility for all psychological services staff within the service as determined by the Head of Psychological Services. This will include recruitment, PDPs and implementing service governance principles and Trust policies as applied to staff management.

As line manager, to attend relevant meetings as determined by the Head of Psychological Services.

To participate as a lead clinician in the development of a high quality, responsive and accessible service for clients, their carers and families within the service.

To exercise delegated responsibility for managing the psychological resources available to the service both in terms of psychological staff and psychological materials employed in clinical assessment and treatment.

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

To initiate and implement service developments and projects within the service.

IT Responsibilities:

To use e mail and local electronic patient information systems, in accordance with Department and Trust requirements adhering to confidentiality guidelines, to enable affective communication, recording and data collection.

Research and service governance:

To take the lead in planning and implementing systems for the evaluation, monitoring and development of the service.

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

To undertake research as appropriate and as agreed with the Head of Psychological Service.

To initiate and implement 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 CBU 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 CPD training and development programmes and to provide evidence of CPD undertaken, e.g., in form of CPD logbook.

To ensure the development and articulation of best practice in psychological services within the service area.

To ensure the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self[1]governance and/or in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society, other professional bodies and Trust policies and procedures.

To contribute with other consultant psychologists and other consultant staff and heads of service to the development and articulation of best practice in psychological services across the Division / Trust.

To ensure that all psychological services staff within the service maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and the area of clinical specialty.

To perform other duties of a similar kind appropriate to the grade, which may be required by the Head of Psychological Services.

Person Specification

Knowledge/Experience

Essential

• Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist for a significant period , including post qualification experience within the designated specialty where the post is located.
• Substantial demonstrable experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of working with Psychosis and complex Mental health difficulties.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of providing consultation, supervision and training to multidisciplinary staff

Desirable

• Experience of professional management of qualified and prequalified clinical psychologists.
• Experience of multi-professional management of teams or services within the designated specialty.
• Experience of representing the profession in local policy fora.

Skills

Essential

• Doctoral level knowledge of applied psychology including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, and two or more distinct psychological therapies
• Expertise in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment formulations intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
• Well developed and efficient communication skills, oral and written, to communicate complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
• Doctoral level (or equivalent) knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology
• Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS
• Formal training in supervision of psy
  Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.
  
  350-MHC6503198