The Adult Autism team is seeking a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist with experience in multidisciplinary collaboration, assessment, differential diagnosis, and intervention. Key responsibilities include triaging new referrals, conducting neuropsychological assessments, and managing adult patients on the Neurodevelopmental pathway. The ideal candidate should understand cognitive impacts on daily activities and vocational/educational performance. Working independently within HCPC and BPS guidelines, they will participate in joint schedules, supervise colleagues, and contribute to defined outcomes. Essential skills include clinical assessment, risk management, psychological interventions, and the ability to manage a caseload and provide team consultations.

Main duties of the job

ASD Assessment & Intervention: Provide specialized assessments and interventions for individuals, families, and groups in line with evidence-based practice for those with suspected ASD.

Caseload Management: Manage a clinical caseload, performing autonomous assessments, making recommendations, and coordinating treatments and discharges within service policies.

Risk Management: Conduct risk assessments and offer guidance on psychological aspects of risk management to other professionals.

Clinical Decision-Making: Use analytical skills to make clinical decisions, particularly in complex cases.

Supervision & Mentorship: Receive supervision from senior psychologists and oversee assistant psychologists and trainees within ASD services.

Training & Education: Provide teaching, training, and clinical supervision to ASD team members and offer support and training to carers, residential staff, and families.

About us

Starting with NELFTNELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focusing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).High Cost Area Supplement - London

This post attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (minimum payment of £4,551 and a maximum payment of £5,735 per annum pro rata).

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points based system.

Job description

Job responsibilities

If you come and work as part of the NELFT Adult Autism team, your knowledge and skills will be valued. Come join NELFT named in 2021 as a Working Families Top Ten Employer and Winner at the RIDI Awards for Making a Difference Public Sector.

Benefits to the postholder joining the BHR Adult Autism service and NELFT will be the offer of the following:

- Structured annual education, training, and development package through several funded clinical and non-clinical courses to support you through own career development and progression in your own career path

- Opportunity to learn and apply the latest research evidence in the field of autism

- Leadership, coaching and mentoring opportunities

- Flexible and Agile working

- Family friendly policies and procedures

- Substantial number of staff benefits

- Resources and support to your own health, emotion and wellbeing

Job Description and main responsibilities:

To provide a qualified, high-quality specialist autism assessment and intervention to individuals, carers, families and groups, in line with best, evidence-based practice and trust care pathways for clients with suspected autism.

To be responsible for holding and managing a clinical caseload to clients referred to the Autism service and utilising planning and organisational skills, to exercise autonomous assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, within the parameters of the service operational policy and professional responsibility for the planning and prioritising of own workload

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

Under supervision, to employ analytical and judgment skills and be responsible for taking clinical management decisions in complex clinical issues.

To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a senior clinical/counselling psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues specialising in specific disorders or therapeutic modalities.

To clinically supervise assistant psychologists and trainee Psychologist working in Autism Services

To when appropriate, manage, assistant psychologists and allocated Trainee Psychologists working in Autism Services

To plan, organise and provide teaching, training, consultation and as appropriate, clinical supervision to other professionals and disciplines within the Autism team in the psychological aspects of their work.

To plan and organise education, training and support for carers groups, staff of residential settings and family members in connection with autism clients identified needs.

To provide advice, consultation and training on the psychological aspects of autism, to a range of agencies working with the autism client group.

Working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the teams policies and procedures, to provide consultation and advice about autism issues to other professionals working with service users.

Working within the agreed policies and procedures, to facilitate the access of people with autism to appropriate mental health services through:

o Teaching and training front line mental health practitioners on the identification of Autism

o With mental health practitioners, developing reasonable adjustments to the service protocols to enable access for Autism clients to other mental health service.

o Providing consultation and advice to mental health practitioners working with Autism clients to assist in assessment and treatment within their own services

o Providing consultation and advice to mental health service on how and when to refer onward to specialist Autism service or another appropriate pathway.

To contribute as directed by the professional lead, to audit policy and service developments within the area served by the Autism service.

To identify and implement service improvements in areas of Autism service where there is need for development and to contribute to service developments in policy, procedure and practice as agreed by the professional lead

To utilise research skills to undertake service evaluation and clinically relevant research as agreed under the supervision of the professional lead and to disseminate the results across the Autism service, NELFT and where appropriate, nationally.

To work autonomously within professional guidelines and to exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team.

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training (or equivalent) in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and two or more distinct psychological therapies, and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist
• Eligible for Chartered status as a clinical psychologist with the BPS

Desirable

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

Experience

Essential

• Experience in the assessment and treatment of ASD clients
• 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.
• Knowledge, understanding and experience of working with service users from diverse ethnic, economic and cultural backgrounds.

Desirable

• Experience of teaching or training.
• Experience of delivering specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients, including service delivery across a range of care settings, including outpatient, community and in patient settings.

Knowledge

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological assessments and therapies used with learning disabled clients, as well as other difficult to treat groups
• High-level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies

Desirable

• Knowledge of legislation and current national guidelines in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Doctoral (or equivalent) level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.

Employer details

Employer name

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust

Address

Broad Street Health Centre

Morland road

Dagenham

RM10 9HU

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

395-BD164-24