At MPFT we pride ourselves on staff wellbeing and development and can we offer you:

• Our SOOTHE resources - supporting staff across the trust with their physical, mental and financial health. In addition to the support offered from our occupational health provider Team Prevent.
• Counselling support and lifestyle information with advice on a variety of personal matters
• In our Gift providing a platform for your voice to be heard to inform change
• The opportunity to purchase additional annual leave
• Opportunities for flexible working (depending on the role)
• Career development opportunities and coaching plus access to in house training programs
• Innovative research training program entitled STARS (Supporting the advancement of Research Skills)
• Child Care Vouchers Scheme
• Recognition and engagement through our staff LOVE awards, LOVE long service awards and Staff Engagement Surveys
• NHS discounts available via the Blue Card and Red Guava schemes

Main duties of the job

To work as a principal psychologist within the CLDTs in South Staffordshire providing clinical services to adults with a learning disability who require highly specialist psychological input. Providing highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment to people eligible for the service; for both individuals and groups. Providing specialist clinical supervision, psychological advice and training to others (internal and external to MPFT) as required.

To support MPFT colleagues to better understand and meet the needs of people with Learning Disabilities who have experienced trauma, with the ultimate aim of enhancing the quality of life and psychological well-being of people who use its services and their families and/or carers.

To contribute to, and lead on (where appropriate), psychological service developments and improvements for people with learning disabilities their families and/or carers in South Staffordshire. To lead on the delivery of best practice in relation to trauma informed care for adults with learning disabilities; including attention to the development and use of appropriate Clinical Pathways, Trauma Training and trauma informed supervision as agreed with the Professional Leads for Learning Disability Psychological Services.

About us

Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT) is an award winning organisation with over 9000 employees. We are one of the largest integrated Health and Social Care providers, covering services across North & South Staffordshire, Shropshire, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, Isle of Wight and Essex.

Demonstrating our strong commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, and in context of our objective aligned to the growth of diversity across the workforce; we are particularly seeking applications from individuals who may be from under-represented groups, such as black, Asian or other ethnic groups, individuals with a disability, or LGBTQ+ individuals who meet the specific criteria.

We are embedding values based and inclusive recruitment practices to ensure that all applicants, from any backgrounds, have an equal chance of success in achieving a role with us.

Job description Job responsibilities

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessments for service users with learning disabilities in South Staffordshire based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, family members and others involved in the service users care.

• To undertake person-centred diagnostic assessments to establish whether or not a learning disability diagnosis is appropriate for a person following current best practice guidance; and to robustly assess other presenting psychological needs to inform future treatment planning as appropriate.

• To provide specialist psychological advice and support in respect of adults with learning disabilities who have been placed out of area for treatment as a result of their complex needs and who require specialist psychological advice, support and treatment planning to facilitate their discharge back to South Staffordshire.
• • To work with service users and other professionals in a wide variety of community settings including local acute hospitals and mental health in-patient wards providing specialist psychological inputs as required.
  
  
  
  • To routinely work effectively and collaboratively with service users who have been perpetrators and/or victims of criminal offences and/or who have complex behavioural needs including behaviours that challenge services. To work with service users and (advise other service as appropriate) in respect of their risk needs and the mitigants required.
  
  
  
  • To routinely work effectively and collaboratively with service users who have experienced trauma and have psychological treatment needs in respect of both simple and complex psychological trauma/s. To advise service users (and other services and professionals as appropriate) in respect of how to understand & best meet peoples trauma related treatment needs.
  
  
  
  • To lead on the delivery of best practice in relation to trauma informed care for adults with learning disabilities in South Staffordshire; including supporting the development of appropriate Clinical Pathways and the provision of trauma training and trauma informed supervision as agreed with Clinical and Operational Leads.
  
  
  
  • To make recommendations regarding the reasonable adjustments required for people with learning disabilities to be able to access mainstream services and to support with specialist advice and training re these adjustments where necessary.
  
  
  
  • To formulate and make recommendations regarding the psychological inputs required for formal psychological treatment and/or behavioural support needs. Including the support required in respect of their mental health needs and/or complex behavioural needs, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the service users problems, and employing methods of proven efficacy.
  
  
  
  • To be responsible for undertaking a detailed analysis of the range of psychological interventions identified as required for individuals with learning disabilities, carers, families and groups in South Staffordshire; and to develop proposals regarding how any unmet psychological needs can be addressed in the future.
  
  
  
  • To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group. Including consideration of the relative merits of individual and group treatment options and leading on service development initiatives regarding psychological treatments where required.
  
  
  
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users, providing formal reports and consultation/advice to multi-disciplinary teams and external agencies
  
• To act as CPA co-ordinator for people with learning disabilities on caseload as appropriate.
• To make appropriate use of the CTR/CeTR, LAEP and Admission Avoidance Processes;

Systems and Equipment

• The post requires a range of general skills including driving, assembly and operation of complex test equipment, high level keyboard and computer skills for data analysis, analysis and interpretation of psychological tests, presentations and communication.

• The administration of neuropsychological tests requires high levels of concentration, skilled manipulation of test materials, excellent hand-eye co-ordination and accuracy under timed conditions. Scoring and interpretation of psychological and neuropsychological tests requires analytical skills, technical and statistical knowledge and the use of computer-based packages in some cases.

• To utilise IT skills and equipment to input, analyse and report clinical data, including psychometric assessment data.

Decisions and Judgements

• To make high level specialist clinical decisions and clinical judgements about service users care.

To advise the Local and Professional Leads for Learning Disability Psychological Service, CLDT & IST Leads, team members and others on service development and/or aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters in respect of people with learning disabilities in South Staffordshire need addressing

Communication and Relationships

• Communicates in a way which recognises difference and ensures that people feel included and that their individual communication needs are met.

• To maintain a high level of professionalism despite regular exposure to highly emotive, distressing and disturbing clinical material including first and second hand accounts of serious offences, victimisation and physical and verbal aggression.

Collaboratively communicates highly complex, highly sensitive and highly contentious information to service users and others during the course of psychological therapy where the atmosphere may be highly emotive, there may be barriers to understanding or the service users may react in an antagonistic or hostile manner

• To maintain and promulgate the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the HCPC, the British Psychological Society and Trust policies and procedures.

• To use clinical expertise and knowledge of professional and legal frameworks to balance confidentiality and disclosure of highly sensitive information pertaining to risk.

Please see Job Description for the full details.

Person Specification Qulaification Essential

• Relevant qualification as within person spec

Desirable

• registration with BPS

Experience Essential

• Substantial experience of working as a qualified psychologist with people with learning disabilities and complex mental health problems; including assessment and clinical interventions for a wide range of presenting problems. To include experience of working with people with learning disabilities who have come into contact with the criminal justice system.

Desirable

• Experience of providing clinical consultation to other professional staff.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

301-JP-23-4944581