Clinical psychologis inEnfield inEnfield PUBLISHED 9 MAY 2024

Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust provides local, regional and national award-winning healthcare services. We have more than 3.300 staff working out of 20 main sites serving a population of 1.2 million people. We provide community health services and mental health services for young people, adults and older people. Our North London Forensic Service treats and cares for people in the criminal justice system who have mental health conditions. We also provide one of the largest eating disorders services in England, as well as drug and alcohol services.

We are an organisation that is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion; one that prides itself in developing the leadership capabilities of its employees, looking after their health and wellbeing, creating safe spaces for staff to speak up and providing opportunities to mentor and be mentored. Our employees are the reason for delivering Good CQC ratings, excellent outcomes and outstanding patient experiences, so it is our aim to create a happy and healthy working environment where you can thrive and succeed.


Job overview


Somerset Villa is a 13 bedded unit offering rehabilitation assessment and treatment to those with a range of continuing mental health problems. Many service users require treatment under the Civil Section of the MHA 1983.

The service operates a multi-disciplinary approach to care that includes nurses, doctors, occupational therapists and psychological therapists who work together in devising individualised care packages to minimise the effect of on-going psychological symptoms, reduce challenging behaviours, promote mental health and facilitate the development of sufficient coping skills, knowledge, confidence and motivation.


Main duties of the job


The aim of the Somerset Villa Rehabilitation Service is to deliver service user focussed and evidence based care of the highest quality to those experiencing on-going symptoms of psychosis as well as challenging behaviours and social withdrawal resulting from their experiences of psychosis and time spent in mental health services. The purpose is to minimise the impact of the consequences of psychosis through the provision of a multidisciplinary approach adopting a bio-psychosocial model of care and to enable the service-users to live more fulfilled and independent lives in the community post-discharge. The service recognises the importance of promoting social inclusion and approaches promoting enablement, positive behavior support, recovery, wellbeing, personalisation and carer's needs assessment and intervention.

The post holder will be expected to play a substantial role in devising and implementing psychological interventions including, both group and individual direct clinical work as well as indirect consultation services in order to enable service users to develop their abilities to lead more independent and fulfilled lives in the community. This will also require a high level of team working, including a shared-values approach and close collaboration across the MDT.


Working for our organisation


Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust provides local, regional and national award-winning healthcare services. We have more than 3.300 staff working out of 20 main sites serving a population of 1.2 million people. We provide community health services and mental health services for young people, adults and older people. Our North London Forensic Service treats and cares for people in the criminal justice system who have mental health conditions. We also provide one of the largest eating disorders services in England, as well as drug and alcohol services.

We are an organisation that is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion; one that prides itself in developing the leadership capabilities of its employees, looking after their health and wellbeing, creating safe spaces for staff to speak up and providing opportunities to mentor and be mentored. Our employees are the reason for delivering Good CQC ratings, excellent outcomes and outstanding patient experiences, so it is our aim to create a happy and healthy working environment where you can thrive and succeed.


Detailed job description and main responsibilities



Clinical:

1. To provide highly specialist psychological / systemic psychotherapy assessments of clients referred to the Somerset Villa Rehabilitation Service 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 clients, family members and others involved in the client's care. To also recognise and respond to a range of issues including physical and sexual abuse, neglect, self- harm, potential for violence and child in need/child protection concerns.
2. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological therapy treatment and/or management of a client's mental health problems and any resulting challenging behaviours, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client's problems, utilising appropriate therapeutic models e.g. Positive Behaviour Support, Open Dialogue, Cognitive Remediation Therapy, CBT including ACT, Motivational Interviewing, FI where appropriate and employing methods of proven efficacy.
3. To be responsible for implementing evidence based psychological therapy interventions for individuals, carers, families and refining psychological formulations by drawing upon different models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses. Communicating clearly and collaboratively with non-psychology colleagues regarding the formulations and implementation of interventions as above
4. To evaluate and make decisions about evidence based treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
6. In line with the Productive Team Model of Care to provide specialist psychological therapy advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients' formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
7. To ensure that all members of the treating team have access to a psychotherapy based framework for understanding and care of clients of the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory.
8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide general advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk management.
9. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of multi-disciplinary care. In addition to communicate effectively with other partner agencies
10. To provide appropriate assessment and interventions for clients with dual diagnosis; to ensure that Dual Diagnosis workers are consulted and included where appropriate in Team plans and programs.
11. Work actively and assertively to engage service users and their family and carers into the service for as long as deemed clinically necessary.
12. Advise service users, their carers and other agencies on the promotion of good mental
13. When responding to a patient in crisis, to do so in a consulted, planned and safe manner alerting other involved agencies of the outcome as appropriate.
14. Ensure that the post-holder him or herself, and all Rehabilitation service staff they have supervisory responsibility for work in a systematic fashion to document all interventions and their outcomes on RiO

Teaching, training and supervision

1. To promote psychological mindedness via supervision, consultation and training in psychological therapies to non-psychologist clinical members of the team.
2. To provide clinical placements for trainee clinical and/or counseling psychologists / systemic psychotherapists, ensuring that trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to good mental health care and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.
3. To provide post-qualification training (CPD) and clinical professional supervision to recently qualified Band 7 clinical and/or counselling psychologists attached to the team.
4. To provide advice, consultation and training and clinical supervision to other members of the team for their provision of psychologically based interventions .
5. To provide pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical and/or counselling psychology as appropriate.
6. To maintain and develop skills in the area of professional pre- and post-graduate training and clinical supervision.
7. To raise the profile of psychological therapy services and promote the value of psychological approaches alongside biological and social ones in line with the bio-psychosocial model of service delivery.
8. To provide training on clinical issues related to psychosis with or on behalf of the multidisciplinary team , as and when necessary
9. To participate in training and take part in educational activities to raise public awareness of psychosis and the service and help breakdown stigma and prejudice.
10. To participate in supervision and appraisal of Band 7 clinical psychologists and assistants
11. To attend all mandatory and statutory training events within the Trust

Management, recruitment, policy and service development

1. To participate as a senior clinician in the development of a high quality, responsive and accessible service including advising service managers and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.
2. To exercise delegated responsibility for managing the psychological resources available to a team, whether in the form of additional qualified and unqualified graduate psychology staff, or in the form of psychological materials employed in the assessment and treatment of patients.
3. To exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service.
4. To participate in staff recruitment, both in the short-listing process and as a member of interview panels for assistant psychologists and Band 7 qualified Clinical Psychologists / Systemic Psychotherapists and other members of the team as required.
5. To appraise Band 7 and assistant psychologists with Team managers and liaise with Psychology Professional Lead.
6. To work closely with team managers to design clinically effective care pathways compliant with both trust policies and our key performance indicators.

IT Responsibilities


Be able to use computers to write reports and record data, including the use of statistical packages as part of psychological testing, research and assessment when needed. To be able to use research databases and advanced tools for analysis at both qualitative and quantitative levels.


Research and service evaluation

1. To utilise core professional training in research skills to propose and implement policy changes, audit of Somerset Villa Rehabilitation service and service development priorities. Deputise for Senior Psychologists at Senior Managers Meetings.
2. To develop close links and work in partnership with statutory and non-statutory agencies enabling best use of existing resources to support and maintain service users and their carers while resident on the ward; also to liaise with the Community Rehabilitation Team to ensure continuity of care post-admission.
3. To develop and maintain continuous performance management of a highly responsive service which aims to enable service users to have improved quality of life in terms of independence and social inclusion in the community after completing their inpatient rehabilitation program, where appropriate working in partnership with them, their carers and relevant community agencies
4. To take the psychology lead, as a senior clinician, in the evaluation, monitoring and development of the team's operational policies, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit
5. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research e.g. NICE GUIDELINES to support evidence based practice
6. To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.
7. To initiate project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within and across the service to help develop and improve services to clients and their families

General

1. To ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes and supervision.
2. To ensure the development and articulation of best practice in psychology within the and Rehabilitation service contribute across the service by exercising the skills of a reflexive and reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of clinical psychology
3. To maintain and promulgate the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording on RIO, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the BPS and standards set by the HCPC for continuing registration and Trust policies and procedures.
4. To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and mental health.

Person specification



TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS



Essential criteria

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, as accredited by the BPS. Registration with HCPC required - UK approved courses only
• Doctoral or masters level qualification in Family & Systemic Psychotherapy
• Current (or eligible for) UKCP Systemic Registration. (Successfully candidates would be required to register)
• Qualification in relevant mental health / social welfare profession, e.g. psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, nurse, or equivalence accreditation of prior experience & learning (AFT 20.

Desirable criteria

• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
• Eligibility for Chartered Psychologist status
• PBS training/knowledge/experience
• Training in clinical supervision / teaching of family & systemic psychotherapy
• AFT accredited & registered Clinical Supervisor

EXPERIENCE



Essential criteria

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients presenting in NHS secondary services, across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community/teams, primary care and in patient and day settings.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
• 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 s including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team setting.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS



Essential criteria

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Highly skilled (doctoral or masters level) in using the complete range of family & systemic models, (i.e structural, behavioural, Milan, post Milan, narrative, solution focused etc
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.

Desirable criteria

• 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 CBT, FI, Open Dialogue or Cognitive Remediation.

References will be required to cover your last 3 years of employment/training. One has to be from your current or most recent employer and the others from your previous employer. The references should be from persons with management responsibility or HR.

If you have been unemployed for a period of four years or more, please give the details of your last employer and one character referee of your choice (not members of your family). If more applicable, references will be requested from your teacher or head of faculty. Please ensure you provide full contact details.

Vacancies that are advertised as Fixed Term Contracts will also be available as secondment opportunities for substantive internal staff.

Please be aware that your documents eg. Passport/NI Card, will be electronically scanned using Home Office accredited Verification System.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts, we will close vacancies before the stated closing date once the first
50
applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.

All non-medical posts with the Trust are subject to a probationary period of six months, during which time you will be required to demonstrate to the Trust's satisfaction, your suitability for the position in which you will be employed.

Should you not hear from us within three working weeks of the closing date for this post, then regretfully in this instance, you have not been shortlisted.


By applying for this role, you accept in the event you are successful that your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which is aimed at improving efficiencies within the NHS both to make costs savings for NHS organisations but also to save you time when your employment transfers.



Employer certification / accreditation badges



Applicant requirements


You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.


Documents to download

• Job Description and Person Specification (PDF, 464.4KB)
• Functional Requirements (PDF, 258.2KB)
• Applicant Information Pack (PDF, 1.6MB)