An opportunity has arisen in the South West Hertfordshire Adult Community Mental Health Services for an experienced clinical or counselling psychologist or CBT therapist (with appropriate additional training) to support provision of psychological services in the local CMHTs. The post holder will be based at Colne House, Watford and work across the South-West Quadrant.

Main duties of the job

Psychological therapists in the service work as an integrated part of local multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs), offering a range of direct and indirect evidence-based interventions with adults presenting to secondary care mental health services. As a result, the post holder will be working with adults experiencing a range of severe and complex difficulties, including complex anxiety and depression, PTSD, OCD, personality disorders and psychosis.

Psychological therapists undertake an integral role supporting the wider MDT and are highly regarded within the Trust. The post holder will play an important role in the day to day running of local psychology provision, providing supervision to Band 7 and trainee psychologists, overseeing referrals and the waiting list and providing support to MDT colleagues.

They will also play a part in assessment of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) in adults, undertaking additional training if required.

About us

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is an outstanding organisation with ambitions to match. We are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from theCare Quality Commission, and our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services in the country.

Our family of over 3500 members of staff provide health and social care for over 400,000 people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. We also deliver a range of nationally commissioned specialist services including Tier 4 services for children and young people, perinatal services, plus medium and low secure learning disabilities services.

The care we provide makes a fantastic difference to the lives of our service users, their families and carers - everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout:

Our Trust values are:

Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional.

These values are at the core of who we are, everything we do, and how we do it!

Would you like to be part of the HPFT family? Would you like work with us to ensure our service users live the fullest lives possible they can? Would you like to be supported in your career to be the best that you can be?

Then please read on...

Job description Job responsibilities

Job Responsibilities

• To undertake specialist psychological assessment and treatment of adults with complex mental health difficulties including specialist ASD assessment

• To provide expertise in a specialist clinical or research area and to offer advice and consultation on clients psychological care to other members of the teams in relation to the area of expertise

• To work closely with the local psychologist teams, and the range of psychological therapy colleagues within the service setting

• To work effectively as a member of multi-disciplinary teams

• To work autonomously within professional practice guidelines and Trust policies and procedures

• To propose and implement policy and service development, undertake research, service evaluation and audit for own team/service and to contribute to the training of clinical/counselling psychologists and others

• To ensure that systems are in place and working effectively for the clinical and professional supervision and support of trainee psychologists, more junior psychologists and other staff within the services for which the post-holder has designated professional / supervisory responsibility

Person Specification Knowledge Essential

• Post-graduate doctorate in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, or fully completed training as a Counselling Psychologist.
• At least two years full-time post-registration experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment with clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature.
• Full registration with Health Professions Council
• Experience in neuropsychological assessment .

Desirable

• Training in use of ASD assessment tools such as ADOS/ADIR or similar
• Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice including CBT.

Experience Essential

• Assessed experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of adults of working age with a wide range of presentations of varying severity. Typically this would involve a minimum of 2 years at specialist level, or its equivalent demonstrated through CV and interview.
• Experience of working with moderate to severe mental health problems, including: medically unexplained symptoms, physical health problems, and personality difficulties.
• Demonstrate further specialist clinical experience and training, through a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a clinical / counseling psychologist over a minimum of 18 months, or an agreed alternative
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client's psychological care and treatment.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision, including supervision of clinical psychology trainee(s).
• Experience working within a multi - disciplinary therapy service.
• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology including highly developed knowledge of older age psychology, models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology.
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management with clients with complex problems, including specialised psychological interventions for difficult to treat groups (eg multiple mental health and/or physical health problems). Ability to demonstrate an area of special interest/skill in assessment, therapeutic intervention or research/evaluation
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and HCPC.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively and well, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, caress and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
• Able to plan own workload; and coordinate with other relevant staff in the delivery of clinical service
• Able to work at a high level of professional autonomy and responsibility, in a collaborative multi-disciplinary environment and also as a lone worker in circumstances where there may be exposure to verbal and sometimes physical aggression.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical // counseling psychology.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation and its implications for clinical practice in relation to older people
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Experience of working within a multi cultural framework.
• Well -developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. dual diagnoses, people with co -morbid conditions: physical health, social complexity, psychologically complex histories)
• Familiarity with computing technology, including keyboard skills, and use of word - processing, e -mail, and internet software.
• Skilled in appropriate and up to date disengagement techniques.

Desirable

• Experience of having published in either peer reviewed academic or professional journals and/or books
• Good presentation and teaching skills and ability to use multi -media materials for formal presentations to large groups.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

367-WEST-6863-B