Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Job Responsibilities

• Responsible for planning, organising and auditing and developing policy and strategies for the delivery of a specialist Weight Management Psychology service within the multidisciplinary Team
• The postholder would be expected to develop specialist responsibilities and provide leadership from a psychological perspective on a specific area of expertise that balances their experience, interests, and needs of the service
• Responsible for providing professional support, guidance and clinical supervision to the weight management team and other more junior clinical psychology staff and students in the weight management psychology team and in other parts of the service as required by their level of experience
• Responsible for the planning, delivery and clinical supervision of a specialist clinical training placement for trainees on the postgraduate Doctoral Courses in Clinical Psychology from the University of Plymouth
• Responsible for providing specialist consultation, advice and clinical supervision to other non-psychology staff within the Weight Management Team on psychological understanding, interventions and evaluations
• Responsible for developing and delivering teaching on psychological work and care for the Weight Management MDT and clinical psychology staff
• Responsible for initiating and maintaining research and development projects relevant to furthering both clinical knowledge and service evaluation and delivery
• Responsible for working within the Guidelines for Professional Practice of the Health & Care Professions Council and the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology or ACP-UK, and for adhering to policies and procedures of Livewell Southwest
• Responsible for participating in an annual appraisal with the Weight Management Team manager
• Responsible for continuing professional development (CPD) inline with the annual appraisal, Professional Development Plan (PDP), the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) and the HCPC requirements for CPD
• Responsible for keeping aware of and being knowledgeable about current developments within the profession of clinical psychology
• Responsible for keeping up to date with legislation, national directives, policies and NICE guidelines in relation to the work
• To conduct and supervise research and audit and evaluation relevant to the provision of specialist psychological services for people living with obesity
• To initiate and implement service improvement techniques and tools in order to achieve completion of evaluations, audits, research and service developments
• To collaborate with University of Plymouth in setting up and conducting Doctoral level long-term research projects on Clinical Psychology and providing teaching
• To use packages in the analysis of data and to write up the information in a meaningful format that is accessible and understood by the target audience
• To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with team members in the Weight Management Team and broader MDT
• 5.1 Responsibility for People Management To be responsible for providing clinical supervision and professional support and guidance as required to Clinical Psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists within the service who are less experienced
• 5.1 Responsibility for People Management To be responsible for providing clinical supervision to non-clinical psychology members of the broader Weight Management Team as appropriate
• 5.1 Responsibility for People Management To be responsible for the supervision of the work of Assistant Psychologist(s) where required
• 5.1 Responsibility for People Management To be responsible for planning and providing a clinical training placement to trainees on the postgraduate Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology of the University of Plymouth. This clinical placement requires liaison with Human Resources to arrange appropriate DBS checks, honorary contracts and IT access as well as completion of Livewell Southwest and service inductions
• 5.1 Responsibility for People Management To teach on the postgraduate Doctoral Courses in Clinical Psychology at the University of Plymouth if required and on pre and post qualification professional courses for other disciplines represented within Livewell Southwest as required
• 5.1 Responsibility for People Management To ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training and development programmes and courses
• 5.2 Responsibility for financial and/or physical resources The post holder will ensure all expenses are recorded following policy guidelines
• 5.2 Responsibility for financial and/or physical resources The post holder will order clinical equipment in line with policy
• 5.2 Responsibility for financial and/or physical resources The post holder will be responsible for safeguarding and maintaining all resources provided by Livewell Southwest
• 5.3 Responsibility for administration To contribute to the maintenance and development of office systems and procedures within clinical psychology and the wider Weight Management Team
• 5.3 Responsibility for administration To be able to use a range of software packages including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint
• 5.3 Responsibility for administration To be responsible for maintaining appropriate service statistics and records of work within SystemOne
• 5.3 Responsibility for administration To ensure that System One and other relevant computer databases are kept up-to-date
• 5.3 Responsibility for administration To prepare and present information from audits, evaluations and research to professional audiences within and outside the organisation
• 5.3 Responsibility for administration To prepare papers for publication based on audit, evaluation, research and development work
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services To engage patients with complex presentations in assessment and therapeutic activities
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services To work with, and support others to work with, patients with complex conditions, and co-morbidities whom psychological expertise is required in order to provide appropriate assessment, contributing to the liaison with commissioners and funding managers to provide feedback and advice on such patients' progress and ongoing needs
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models, highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group and available resources
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a patient's cognitive, behavioural and emotional sequelae of trauma for Weight Management patients
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services To be able to complete the most appropriate formal psychometric assessments with complex patients
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services To be able to communicate complex psychological formulations and treatment plans to the patient and to appropriate professional colleagues and to family members or carers, as appropriate, so that they are understood
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services As part of the Weight Management assessment process, to develop a psychological formulation of a patient's current presentation that promotes holistic and patient-centre discussion
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services To have knowledge of and skill within several psychological models of understanding and managing behaviour, including, for example, cognitive behaviour therapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, EMDR and systemic therapy
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services Through consultation or case discussion with MDT colleagues, to be able to add both an understanding of psychosocial factors and offer advice as to an appropriate intervention for patients referred to the services but not on psychologist's caseload
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services To be able to manage the emotional impact of working, often one-to-one, with people who can be in crisis and who can show high levels of arousal, distress and cognitive and behavioural difficulties
• 5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services To ensure receipt of clinical and personal supervision in accordance with good practice guidelines for all clinical psychologists
• 5.5 Responsibility for implementation of policy and/or service developments To be responsible for promoting the need to plan and develop specialist psychology services within the Weight Management Service
• 5.5 Responsibility for implementation of policy and/or service developments Through membership of the psychology specialty, to be responsible for contributing to the planning and development of specialist psychology services across the service
• 5.5 Responsibility for implementation of policy and/or service developments As a member of the Weight Management psychology service to be responsible for promoting the need to plan and develop the multidisciplinary response to clinical demands and expectations on it
• 5.5 Responsibility for implementation of policy and/or service developments To attend the Psychology meetings and other relevant meetings regularly
• 5.6 Other Responsibilities To ensure that accurate and up-to-date patient records are maintained, in line with professional and legal standards
• 5.6 Other Responsibilities To oversee the recording of clinical assessments, therapy notes, treatment plans and outcomes, ensuring they are correctly and securely held
• Be able and willing to work across a 7 day service

Person Specification

Specific Skills

• Enthusiasm for working in a Weight Management Team; Ability to work under pressure and set priorities; Ability to deal with patients and carers who may be distressed, angry, confrontational; Ability to work within teams and motivate others; Ability to sit for prolonged periods during assessments, patient interviews, case conferences; Ability to cope with frequent exposure to highly distressing and emotional situations; Warmth, empathy & integrity; Ability to work autonomously & as part of a team; Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to hold the stress of others; Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentation in public, professional and academic settings; Works to professional guidelines; Is accountable for own professional actions and capable of interpreting broad occupational policies; Ability to get to Clinic appointment and meeting venues
• Group work skills; Specialist skills in a specific therapeutic approach

Qualifications

• Post‑graduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) accredited by the BPS; Registered as a clinical psychologist with the HCPC; Fully competent as a clinical psychologist supplemented by short specialist courses and further specialist training
• Other related academic qualifications to Masters or Doctoral level; Membership of the ACP‑UK or BPS Clinical supervision training for doctoral trainees

Knowledge

• Ability to analyse and interpret highly complex situations involving a range of options to make a decision about an appropriate course of action or solution to a problem; Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management with adult service users; Skills in the ability to te effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to patients, their families and professionals both within and outside the NHS; Doctoral level of research design and methodology as practiced within the field of clinical psychology; Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies for complex problems (e.g. personality disorder, behaviours that challenge)
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists; Skills in the psychological assessment and management of weight management patients; Knowledge of legislation and national standards and guidelines that relate this patient group

Experience

• Experience of working with adults with complex mental and physical health presentations; Experience of teaching, training and providing professional and/or clinical supervision; Experience of assessing and treating patients in the full range of care settings; Experience of working within multidisciplinary services for adult patients; Experience of offering consultation and advice to staff groups supporting vulnerable patients
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists; Skills in the psychological assessment and management of weight management patients; Knowledge of legislation and national standards and guidelines that relate this patient group; Relevant and significant post‑qualification experience; Record of having published in peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books; Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist in Weight Management; Experience of working with patients with complex trauma; Post‑qualification training in psychological therapies relevant to a weight management population e.g. CBT, ACT, CFT, EMDR, DBT, but not exhaustive

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions

#J-18808-Ljbffr