This is an exciting opportunity for either a newly qualified band 7 clinical psychologist looking for a post with potential career progression or for an established band 8a principal clinical psychologist to join our well established teams.

The Cognition and Mental Health in Ageing (CMHA) service line is responsible for delivering assessment and treatment services to people with dementia and older people with mental health problems. There are community services for older people in each of the 5 boroughs plus two inpatient wards providing mental health beds for older people across the trust.

The post is based in the Wandsworth Older Peoples' Community Mental Health Services. This comprises of the Recovery & Support Team, a Memory Assessment Service and two Behaviour and Communication Support Services (BACS and CBACS) offering both community and care home liaison which aim to support people with dementia and their carers to better understand and manage behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia using psychosocial approaches as the first line of treatment.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for an enthusiastic and committed HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist to join our well established multidisciplinary mental health and memory assessment services withinWandsworth Older Peoples' Mental Health Services at either band 7 or band 8a. We welcome applications from final year Trainee Clinical Psychologists who will be eligible to join HCPC, and from Psychologists with less than 18 months post qualification experience, who could progress from a Band 7 preceptorship to a Band 8a in this post. For preceptorship posts there is dedicated CPD time and the opportunity to work one day per week in a different service in the Trust (pro-rata for part-time posts), to further develop specialist clinical skills. Within the post you will be joining other established Clinical Psychologists and Assistant Psychologists based within the same services and a good network of psychologists across the Cognition and Mental Health (CMHA) service line. CMHA psychologists practice CBT, ACT, CFT, IPT and Systemic therapies. We have a psychologist with the Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology (QICN) and two others working towards the requirements of the Specialist Register of Clinical Neuropsychologists (SRCN). You will receive regular individual supervision and support with a senior psychologist within the service as well as opportunities to attend regular peer supervision groups and CPD events.

About us

We offer a number of excellent staff benefits and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance. Some of our benefits are highlighted here:

• Generous pay, pensions and leave, we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
• Work life balance, we support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working, job sharing, term-time working, compressed hours and working from home.
• Career development, There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
• Subsidised car parking - You can park at any of our sites at a reduced rate of £20/month.
• NHS discounts, with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website.

Other benefits include:

• Eye examinations
• Looking after your health
• Cycle to work scheme
• Car lease scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Childcare vouchers
• Staff restaurants
• Free gym membership

Job description Job responsibilities

The role is varied and will comprise:

• Providing specialist psychological assessment and therapy to clients with severe and enduring mental health problems.
• Offering advice and consultation on clients psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other, non professional carers.
• Providing complex assessment, including neuropsychological assessment of clients with suspected dementia.
• Providing biopsychosocial assessment, interventions and consultation to nursing and residential homes for people experiencing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia or within the context of mental health problems.
• Facilitating training for care home staff, to develop their skills and understanding in mental health and dementia care.
• Utilising research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the team/service.
• At 8a level, supervising Trainee Clinical Psychologists on placement with the service, through strong links with the University of Surrey Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) Training Scheme.

Person Specification Training and Qualifications Essential

• Doctoral level training in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS - including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology - or alternative training outside of the UK that is recognised by the Health & Care Professions Council leading to registration in the UK as a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist.
• Registration with the HCPC under the appropriate domain specific title.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC

Desirable

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

Experience Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of adults with learning disabilities across a range of care settings, for example 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.
• Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist in learning disabilities over a minimum of 18 months, or an alternative agreed by the Lead Psychologist.

Desirable

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

Knowledge and Skills Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment and intervention for adults with learning disabilities frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Well develop 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
• Ability to demonstrate excellence in NICE adherent psychological interventions especially CBT for psychological problems
• 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).
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

294-MHCA-4581306-JB-B