Are you passionate about the needs of autistic people? Are you looking for a new challenge which enables you to work flexibly and autonomously?

We are seeking a highly motivated and committed individual to join our Autism Assessment Team. We are able to offer part time opportunities and an agile approach to working.

Delivering high quality assessments to adults with signs of autism, you will part of an expanding neurodevelopmental MDT which includes Psychologists, a Psychology Assistant, Peer Support Worker and Occupational Therapists.

Working across the London Boroughs of Merton and Sutton, you will deliver a highly specialist assessment service and also provide advice and consultation to other clinical staff. There will be opportunities to lead in service development and in shaping service innovations such as the Autism Post Diagnostic Support pilot.

As a Clinical Psychologist who shares our passion for autism, you will be self-motivated and able to work autonomously at pace be effective in managing your time, workload and motivated by your drive to deliver the highest quality care.

Main duties of the job

You will have excellent written and spoken communication skills, an ability to work sensitively and thoughtfully with individuals and their carers often around challenging and complex presentations. You will:

Undertake screening assessments, specialist psychological assessment and providingpsychological consultation, advice and expertise to other clinical staff

Produce high quality assessment reports with recommendations and identify onward referral to appropriate services.

Use and disseminate research skills to carry out audits, service evaluations and research activities relevant to the service.

Contribute to policy and service development changes within the area served by the team.

Contribute to the effective running of the service, advising on the delivery of, high quality care and ensuring consistently high standards of practice.

Be responsible for clinically supervising and managing the workload of assistant psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists within the service. To act as research supervisor to trainee clinical psychologists if required.

Flexible working:

We are proud to offer agile and flexible working opportunities as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to talk flexible and agile working at the interview stage.

About us

We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.

This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a variety ofbenefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.

Job description

Job responsibilities

1. To provide highly specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the team 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.

2. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

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

4. To evaluate and make 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.

5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.

6. To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.

7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.

8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

9. 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 progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

Person Specification

TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS

Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, as accredited by the BPS.
• Required to be registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the HPC.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.

Desirable

• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist over a minimum of 18 months, or an alternative agreed by the Director of Psychology and Psychotherapies.

Desirable

• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Knowledge of and skills in the delivery of psychological treatments based on NICE guidelines for core mental health disorders within a secondary Mental Health service
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to people with learning disabilities and mental health problems and/or challenging behaviour.

Employer details

Employer name

South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust

Address

Jubilee Health Centre

6 Stanley Park Rd

Wallington

SM6 0EX

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

294-MHCA-6584535-JB