Job overview
Are you
A clinically skilled psychological therapies lead, motivated by improving patient care and supporting the wellbeing of the workforce?
Committed to integrated, multidisciplinary working ?
Passionate about addressing health inequalities and improving access of psychologically -informed care?
Comfortable working with complexity and able to translate psychological and systemic approaches into practical, accessible interventions ?
Open to thinking beyond traditional service boundaries and support an integrated, trauma-informed model of mental health care that is dynamic, responsive, and innovative to meet the recommendations of the Community Mental Health Transformation Framework??
If so, then we would welcome an application from you.
The Band 8B Clinical Lead post is part of a new leadership structure for Psychological Therapies in Specialist Community Mental Health Services further to a recent and extensive restructure of services. You will be part of a developing leadership network within Psychological Therapies.
You will work alongside two other 8b clinical leads in this structure as a cohesive team, contributing to shared leadership across the Trust and collective problem-solving in the context of Transformational change and innovation. You will be expected to engage constructively with this evolving model, bringing your clinical expertise, while also being open to new ways of organising care and leadership.
Main duties of the job
As a clinical lead you will
Provide senior clinical leadership and supervision to practitioner psychologists and psychological therapists within Specialist Mental Health Teams ( formerly CMHTs) supporting the integration of psychological therapies within a biopsychosocial model of care.
Offer consultation on a range of complex presentations, including psychosis, bipolar and complex emotional and relational needs (CERN).
Support Specialist Mental Health Teams to increase access to psychological interventions and therapies, identifying solutions to improve access and contribute to reducing unwarranted variation.
Support practitioner psychologists and psychological therapists within Specialist Mental Health Teams to embed psychologically-informed practice within MDT working. Foster a strong clinical MDT for the benefit of service-users and their carers/ families.
Play an active role in supporting the MDT delivering on the recommendations of the Psychological Therapies for Serious Mental Health Problems (PT-SMHP) framework.
Contribute job-planned time to Trust-wide priorities, aligned with Community Mental Health Transformation and the NHS 10-Year Plan. We would particularly welcome applicants with experience of working with service users with a diagnosis of psychosis and bipolar affective difficulties and a passion for creating innovative, psychologically-informed pathways to address their needs as well as increase their access to evidence-based psychological therapies.
Working for our organisation
We are proud to provide high quality mental health and learning disability services, both inpatient and in the community across five boroughs of Greater Manchester - Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside and Glossop.
Our vision is for a happier and more hopeful life for everyone in our communities and our staff work hard to deliver the very best care for the people who use our services. We’re really proud of our #PennineCarePeople and do everything we can to make sure we’re a great place to work.
All individuals regardless of race, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership are encouraged to apply for this post. We would also encourage applications from individuals with a lived experience of mental illness, either individually or as a carer.
If you come and work for us we will offer a range of benefits and opportunities, including:
* Generous annual leave entitlement for Agenda for Change and Medical and Dental staff.
* Flexible working opportunities to support your work/life balance
* Access to Continued Professional Development
* Involvement in improvement and research activities
* Health and Wellbeing activities and access to an excellent staff wellbeing service
* Access to staff discounts across retail, leisure and travel
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
As a principal clinical/ counselling psychologist, the post-holder will
* Provide a high level of specialist expertise with complex and, or challenging cases within the secondary care adult psychological therapies service/ community pathway.
* Provide clinical leadership and supervision to the psychological practitioners working in specialist mental health teams across boroughs, ensuring provision of a high-quality specialist psychology service to service users referred within the community pathway. This will also incorporate some operational management duties.
* Support colleagues in the management of referrals to the service and applying appropriate criteria in assessing suitability
* Contribute to the delivery of the Community Transformation work and to the implementation of defined transformation initiatives, such as addressing health inequalities and increasing access to psychological therapies and interventions for those underrepresented in psychological therapies.
Please see Job Description for more details
Person specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential criteria
* Doctorate level training in clinical or counselling psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical, psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS or a BPS accredited organisation. OR A post-graduate doctorate in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) OR Statement of equivalence.
* Registration with the HCPC as a practitioner psychologist.
* Additional further training and qualifications in a range of therapeutic models (e.g. CAT, EMDR psycho-analytic therapies)
* Additional further training in the use of specific psychometric and / or neuro-psychological assessment tools
* Training in supervision of trainee psychologist and other professionals within the MDT and other professionals within the MDT
Desirable criteria
* MBA or other management / leadership qualification.
* Additional qualification in clinical supervision
* Additional Qualification/ training in addressing health inequalities OR digital therapies OR working with psychosis and bipolar affective difficulties
Experience
Essential criteria
* Significant experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist
* Demonstrable experience of working as a highly specialist clinical psychologist with complex and challenging adults.
* Experience of working with service users who are complex and challenging within a community and or acute care pathway
* Experience of representing psychology within the context of multidisciplinary care.
* Experience in developing research and development
* Experience working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and full range of settings including community, inpatients and acute care settings, primary care, residential.
* Experience working within multidisciplinary services within community and acute care pathways.
* Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for psychological care and treatment as an autonomous practitioner with complex and challenging service users within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
Desirable criteria
* Experience of teaching training and / or supervision
* Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
* Experience in teaching and training qualified psychological therapy and of non-psychology staff.
* Experience of the application of individual, group and family interventions in order to improve access to communities under-represented in psychological therapies.
* Experience in working through interpreters.
* Experience in undertaking line management of psychological therapies staff.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
* Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including multivariate data analysis.
* Evidence of continual professional development as recommended by the appropriate professional body.
* Knowledge of contemporary legislation relating to the delivery of mental health and psychological services and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management.
* Knowledge of professional issues in psychology and psychological therapies.
* Knowledge and experience of the application of clinical governance and risk management policies and procedures for the maintenance and improvement of psychological services.
Desirable criteria
* Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups.
* Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies.
* Familiarity with computing technology including spreadsheets and databases.
* Knowledge of SPSS or other statistical software packages.
Skills
Essential criteria
* Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to service users, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
* Highly developed skills and experience of working with complex, sensitive or contentious information.
* Ability to communicate effectively in a highly emotive, antagonistic or hostile atmosphere and to overcome barriers to acceptance / psychological resistance to potentially threatening information.
* Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
* Highly developed skills in providing consultation to other professionals including medical staff and non-professional groups
* High level skills in providing complex clinical and professional supervision including medical staff.
* Keyboard skills and skills in using word-processing, e mail and internet software.
* Ability to work independently on a day today basis and use own initiative
* Ability to set and work towards agreed goals, reviewed regularly in management supervision.
* Commitment to quality improvement in psychological services through multi-professional evaluation and audit of psychological services.
* Ability to engage a range of professional and non - professional groups in co - production and cooperative working.
* Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to ‘hold’ the stress of others
* Ability to sit in constrained position for client therapy and for computer work.
* Ability to manage frequent periods of prolonged concentration in service users’ sessions, meetings and during computing tasks.
* Ability to move equipment (including casefiles, self -help materials, audio -visual AFC 17/7/25 JME-236-25 Principal Clinical / Counselling Psychologist Band 8b equipment) between office base and other work settings.
* Ability to work face to face with (potentially aggressive) service users in isolated settings (including domiciliary visits) without other team members being nearby and in accordance with the Trust Lone Worker Policy.
* Ability to work to professional guidelines
Desirable criteria
* Record of having published research / review academic, or professional journals and / or books.
* Agility to work flexibly across complex networks and teams, within and outside NHS structures.
Work related Circumstances
Essential criteria
* Use of a car or access to a means of mobility to travel across the Trust footprint in line with service needs
* Willing to carry out all duties and responsibilities of the post in accordance with the Trust’s Equal Opportunities and Equality and Diversity policies
* Appointments to regulated and controlled activities require an enhanced DBS disclosure