An exciting opportunity is available for an experienced, dynamic and enthusiastic psychologist to work in acute mental health services in Hammersmith and Fulham. There are 3 acute wards, a PICU and a HBPOS at the hospital site and the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team is based on the adjacent street.

The psychological services department is guided by a contemporary and integrated Clinical Framework with an ethos underpinned by a number of key care principles:

• Trauma informed and recovery focussed
• Positive and proactive and purposeful
• Least Restrictive / force
• Understanding holistic and the diversity of needs through Formulation
• Supporting Safety and Stability for service users and staff

The post holder will primarily work into one of the wards, providing specialist psychological interventions to the most complex service users and support more junior staff and multi-professional colleagues to offer psychological interventions to patients who are in crisis or acutely distressed. The role offers plenty of scope for leadership and developing, organising, delivering and evaluating a stepped care approach to psychological interventions in acute mental health services at West London NHS Trust will be central to the role.

Main duties of the job

The 8b job plan offers a satisfying blend of duties working as an applied psychologist within an MDT context:

Working directly with service users and/ or their network of significant others predominantly one ward at Hammersmith and Fulham Mental Health Unit. The focus of direct clinical work is to support service users to collaboratively develop a crisis formulation and offer brief psychological interventions to address maintaining factors heavily influencing risk and distress. The psychological therapies team endeavour to enhance continuity of care, clinical outcomes, safety, and service user experience by following service across their journey within AMHS which means that ward based psychologists provide transitional sessions post discharge from hospital. This also supports a longer window for direct input and enhances job satisfaction within the department.

The psychology service endeavours to support service users and staff to reflect and learn from experience and there is an emphasis on formulation and developing capabilities in practice

About us

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse providers of mental health, community and social care in the UK.

Our 3,982 staff care for people in hospital and in the community, helping them to recover and go on to lead full and productive lives. We aim to be the best organisation of our kind in the country.

We provide care and treatment for more than 800,000 people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow, delivering services in the community (at home, in GP surgeries and care homes), hospital, specialist clinics and forensic (secure) units.

We'rerated good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Together, we're committed to promoting hope and wellbeing, working with patients, service users, carers, families and partners across the communities we serve.

We are keen to ensure that our workforce reflects the community it serves, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, LGBTQ+ and experience of mental illness.

Job description Job responsibilities

Job Summary:

As an 8b you will have a small case load of more complex service user who you will see for a psychological intervention where transitional sessions post discharge should routinely be offered. You will be responsible for communicating about your work to the MDT and make recommendations around ongoing care needs and discharge pathways. You will liaise with interface services accordingly to seek to establish positive interface relationships.

You will provide clinical support to the teams by facilitating Team Formulations, Reflective Practice and incident debriefs.

You will provide training to teams and clinically supervise more junior psychological services staff and other disciplines practising psychological therapies. You will be expected to host at least 1 placement for a trainee clinical psychologist.

As an emerging specialism we are seeking to be an active research department and so time will be dedicated to permit, evaluations, developments and innovation and research in order for us to make active contributions to the growing evidence base around psychological practice in acute mental health.

You will support the local leadership team with service developments and may be required occasionally to undertake level 2 reviews and Human Resources investigations and undertake duties attached to recruitment and retention.

You will undertake mandatory training according to your training passport.

Person Specification Qualifications Essential

• A recorded/registered doctoral level qualification in clinical (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996)/ counselling psychology OR
• A core profession (OT, nursing, social work) and accreditation as psychological therapist (CBT, Family Therapist) and Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council where appropriate
• Training in clinical supervision

Desirable

• Evidence of further training in psychological therapies relevant to severe and enduring mental health difficulties including (DBT/ CBT-P/ Systemic Practice, Schema, CAT).
• Other related academic qualifications

Experience Essential

• Experience of working as a qualified psychological therapist for a minimum of 4 years. Extensive experience of using at least 2 models of psychological therapy adapted to meet the needs of acutely distressed service users with high levels of risk
• Experience of developing or contributing to the development of care pathways.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Experiencing of formulating a crisis and understanding the interventions needed to promote safety and reduce distress
• Experience of having facilitated/co-facilitated psychological therapy groups
• Experience of providing clinical supervision to a range of psychological therapists and non-psychology disciplines.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act.
• Theoretical knowledge of harm reduction initiatives and interventions within an acute inpatient setting.
• Specialist theoretical and practical knowledge of the assessment and treatment of complex mental health problems including psychosis and personality disorder.

Knowledge Essential

• Knowledge of the impact the pandemic has had on teams and on the local populations.
• Able to plan, prioritise and organise own service user caseload, treatment programmes (individual or group) involving other staff, and other aspects of the work such as research activity.
• Psychomotor skills necessary to administer complex psychological tests and video equipment

Desirable

• Knowledge Leadership models
• Knowledge of quality improvement methodology.
• Able to use Microsoft packages and use video calling/ Teams and the IT systems for performance and recording of HR functions
• Ability to travel across West London between sites where this is required.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

222-LS-AMHS-176