This is an exciting opportunity for a full-time Band 8B Clinical Lead / Principle Clinical Psychologist within the Talk Liverpool IAPT service.

Our IAPT service is undergoing an expansion of its workforce and there are significant opportunities for service development.

Talk Liverpool is an NHS IAPT Talking Therapies service for those aged over 16yrs in Liverpool. The service is delivered by Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust, and offers a variety of support and psychological therapies to the community of Liverpool. Our interventions are diverse and evidence based, ranging from guided self-help and face-to-face or video therapy, telephone support to workshop courses.

We know that we can only achieve a high-quality clinical service by maximising the efforts of our team and by creating an environment where colleagues are valued and involved in developing the service. We believe in investing in people, keeping true to the values and behaviours of Merseycare NHS Trust and the NHS and looking after the wellbeing of all team members. We work closely with other services and service user groups to refine and improve the service that we offer.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will join a supportive and friendly Clinical Leadership Team, of 3 B8a Lead Clinicians; a B8b Clinical Lead; and the IAPT Clinical Lead for Mersey Care. There will also be liaison with the Clinical Leadership Team across the other Mersey Care IAPT teams (Think Wellbeing Halton, Knowsley, and St Helens.)

The Clinical Lead / Principle Clinical Psychologist will also link in with the wider Senior Leadership Team for the service, including close liaison with the Operational Lead; Clinical Service Manager; as well as Team Managers/Leads.

The postholder will:

• Ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist clinical psychology service to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service users, across a community primary care setting.
• Advise, supervise and support the assessment and treatment provided by clinical members of the teams who provide psychologically based care and treatment within the IAPT service.
• Work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team.
• Utilize research skills for audit, policy and service development and research.
• Propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the service.
• Work in an effective partnership with the clinical service leadership including other IAPT team members and members of other agencies responsible for a client's care.

About us

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 11 million people.

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.

Job description Job responsibilities
Qualifications Essential

• Post-graduate 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.
• Registered with the Health Professions Council as a Clinical Psychologist.

Knowledge/Experience Essential

• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and 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 nonprofessional groups.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Knowledge of attachment theory.
• Formal training in IAPT compliant supervision of other psychological professionals including at least one IAPT approved therapeutic modality.
• Specialist experience in the area of complex trauma- related mental health.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients psychological care and treatment.
• Experience of planning and delivering ongoing training/CPD and supervision to clinical staff at steps two and three within a stepped care model.
• Ability to meet agreed/specified service targets.
• Expertise and knowledge across the spectrum of an IAPT service.
• Experience of working in Primary Care Services.
• Contributed to the developing IAPT programme and understanding of the national IAPT service and how it links to governmental objectives.

For more information please refer to the Job Description / Person Spec attached

Person Specification Qualifications Essential

• Post-graduate 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.
• Registered with the Health Professions Council as a Clinical Psychologist.

Desirable

• Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
• Post-qualification specialist training in particular psychotherapeutic approaches e.g., cognitive analytic psychotherapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, CFT, EMDR etc.

Knowledge Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and 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 nonprofessional groups
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
• Knowledge of attachment theory
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS
• Formal training in IAPT compliant supervision of other psychological professionals including at least one IAPT approved therapeutic modality.
• 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 a variety of 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.
• Specialist experience in the area of complex trauma- related mental health
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment.
• Experience of planning and delivering ongoing training and CPD to clinical staff at steps two and three within a stepped care model
• Experience of planning and providing supervision of clinical staff at steps two and three within a stepped care model.
• Ability to meet agreed/specified service targets.
• Expertise and knowledge across the spectrum of an IAPT service.
• Experience of working in Primary Care Services
• Worked in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes.
• Contributed to the developing IAPT programme and understanding of the national IAPT service and how it links to governmental objectives
• Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post

Desirable

• Well-developed 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 the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies.
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multidisciplinary care
• Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Knowledge of models of leadership and experience of applying these in practice.

Skills Essential

• Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly emotional situations.
• Able to lead a service and make decisions and judgments about the best possible way forward in a complex work environment where the evidence base is evolving
• Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material.
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to demonstrate clinical leadership with a service sector
• Ability to contain and work within organisational stress.
• Enthusiasm for a broad range of psychological approaches and interest in models of service delivery and ability to articulate the value added by clinical psychology services within the context of multi- disciplinary team working.
• IT Literate

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

350-COM4891088-A