We are looking for a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to provde specialist psychological input to Older Peoples Mental Health Services in the Central and South Bedfordshire area. This role will include 2 days a week in South Bedfordshire Older Peoples CMHT based in Dunstable and 3 days a week in the Mid Bedfordshire Older Peoples CMHT and Memory Assessment Service based in Biggleswade. Two part-time posts would also be considered.

This role includes provision of psychological and neuropsychological assessments, psychological formulations and delivery of highly specialist psychological interventions to service users in community, residential and inpatient settings. Service users seen by the post holder will include people who have experienced high levels of distress and complex mental health difficulties, and people presenting with distressed behavior associated with neurodegenerative disorders. Service users may present with a high level of risk to both themselves and sometimes to other people.

Newly qualified psychologists are encouraged to apply - the post could be offered at a Band 7 initially, with a development plan to work towards the 8a role.

Main duties of the job

The role is varied and includes consultation to the multi-disciplinary community team and Memory Assessment Services in Bedfordshire and support in the development of care plans for service users. Supervision to Assistant and Trainee Psychologists forms an important part of the post. Contribution to service development initiatives, audit and research are expected as a senior clinician in the team. With guidance from the Older Peoples Psychology Lead, the successful candidate will liaise closely with psychologists working in other Older Peoples teams in Luton and Bedfordshire to develop and maintain a high standard of professional practice across the service.

The post holder will also provide consultation to the multi-disciplinary community team and Memory Assessment Services in Bedfordshire and support in the development of care plans for service users. Supervision to Assistant and Trainee psychologists forms an important part of the post. Contribution to service development initiatives, audit and research are expected as a senior clinician in the team. With guidance from the Older People's Psychology Lead, the postholder will liaise closely with psychologists working in other Older People's teams in Luton and Bedfordshire to develop and maintain a high standard of professional practice across the service.

About us

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Job description Job responsibilities

Please kindly refer to the job description and person specification attached to this vacancy for more information.

Person Specification Qualifications Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalence and able to demonstrate eligibility for BPS CPsychol (Chartered Psychologist) .
• HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist.

Experience Essential

• 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 range of care settings, including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the treat of physical abuse.
• Experience in providing psychological assessment and intervention for older people presenting with complex mental health difficulties.
• Experience in providing neuropsychological assessment for suspected or known neurodegenerative disorders
• Experience of providing teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Experience in working in multidisciplinary settings and representing a psychological perspective in teams and services.

Knowledge and Skills Essential

• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, psychometrics and neuropsychology.
• Able to draw upon a broad theoretical knowledge base in the analysis of highly complex facts and situations, requiring sustained and intense concentration, to arrive at appropriate formulation and compare and select from a range of treatment options. Skills in two or more distinct psychological therapies. An in depth knowledge and skills in applying clinical risk assessment and management in own and others' clinical caseload.
• Able to use highly specialist skills of empathy to overcome barriers to understanding and acceptance
• Able to communicate at a high level verbally and in writing highly complex, technical and sensitive information to clients, families, carers, and a range of professionals and lay people within and outside the NHS.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by BPS/ HCPC.
• Organisational/Management: Able to plan, organise and prioritise own workload in the face of periods of competing demands
• Able to plan, support and guide the workload of staff under supervisory responsibility.
• Must be capable of accountability for own work, of autonomous clinical practice, of being guided by precedent and of working towards defined results.
• Research & Evaluation: Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis. Able to use skills and knowledge to design and implement service evaluations.
• Up to date knowledge of psychological research and national guidance relevant to the delivery of older people's mental health services and memory clinic.
• Legislative: Knowledge of relevant legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in older people's mental health services and memory clinic.
• Cultural awareness: Aware of the potential impact of discrimination & disadvantage on mental health.
• Flexibility: Able to be flexible and adapt approach according to need.
• Information Technology: Competence in use of IT equipment and software packages for the purposes of clinical record keeping, electronic communication, creating organisational documentation, data entry and analysis, research, and multimedia presenting and teaching.

Other Essential

• Enthusiasm for 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 within the context of multi-disciplinary mental health services.
• Able to contain and work with organisational stress and able to hold the stress of others.
• Physical effort: Able to sit in constrained positions for a substantial proportion of working time.
• Mental effort: Able to concentrate intensely for a substantial proportion of working time, during client contact, teaching/supervision sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc.
• Emotional effort: Able to manage effectively frequent exposure to highly distressing/highly emotional circumstances and exposure to traumatic circumstances.
• Working conditions: Able to manage effectively verbal aggression from service users, families, etc and the risk of physical aggression.
• Values: Respectful approach to service users, families, carers, colleagues and other professionals. Willing to negotiate and can handle confrontation effectively and professionally.
• Able to work to professional guidelines and Trust policy
• Able to travel between work sites and to community settings for the delivery of services.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

363-LUT11010-A