Job overview
Senior CBT Psychotherapist
This is a role within the senior management team of Haringey Talking Therapies and as such the post-holder will be responsible for line managing a team of therapists. The post is based in Haringey which is an ethnically diverse population with pockets of high social deprivation and need. Haringey Talking Therapies has approximately 100 permanent staff consisting of CBT therapists, counsellors and PWPs, plus some clinical and counselling psychologists and non-clinical staff. Specialist clinicians with further post-graduate training in psychotherapy provide clinical and supervisory/training input from within specific therapeutic modalities. As such, it is one of the largest psychotherapy/psychological therapies services in London.
All clinicians will work a combination of some days from home and some in clinic.
Main duties of the job
To provide a qualified Psychological Therapy service specialising in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to clients of the Haringey Talking Therapies, including assessment and treatment. To provide line management and clinical supervision to qualified CBT therapists and/or counsellors and at times to trainee and other staff in the service. To provide duty supervision and screening supervision of new referrals into the service and deal with a range of issues arising of a clinical and professional nature. To offer advice and consultation on clients’ psychological care to colleagues and to other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures. To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the team/service.
Working for our organisation
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Clinical
1. To provide specialist CBT assessments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex 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.
2. To formulate and implement plans for the CBT treatment and/or management of a client’s emotional and mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
3. To be responsible for implementing a range of CBT interventions for individuals, groups families and carers, adjusting and refining psychological formulations, drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
4. To evaluate and make decisions about 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. To provide specialist psychological advice and consultation regarding CBT to other members of staff, and to clients contributing directly in formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans when required.
7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.
8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
9. To communicate highly complex and potentially highly contentious information in a highly skilled and sensitive manner in situations with patients who may be extremely hostile or highly emotional requiring the highest level of communication skills. 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 both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
Teaching, training and supervision
10. To receive regular clinical professional supervision from the team leader and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.
11. To gain additional highly specialist experience and skills relevant to CBT and/or the service as agreed with the head of service.
12. To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staff’s psychological work as appropriate.
13. To provide professional and clinical supervision to qualified CBT therapists, counsellors and other staff in the service as required.
14. To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of other staff as appropriate.
15. To provide advice, consultation and training in CBT to staff working with individuals and groups across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.
Management, recruitment, policy and service development
16. To provide direct line management of team members as delegated by the IAPT team leader and/or Head of Service.
17. To provide clinical supervision for the team’s CBT therapists and/or counsellors and other clinical staff as required.
18. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team’s operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.
19. To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.
20. To manage the CBT workloads a range of staff within the framework of the team/service’s policies and procedures.
21. To be involved, as appropriate, in the shortlisting and interviewing of other clinical staff.
IT Responsibilities
22. To collect patient data as requested by the team leader as compatible with the IAPT minimum data set
23. 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.
24. To be able to use research databases and advanced tools for analysis at both quantitative and qualitative levels
25. To support other team members to collect IAPT data
26. To assist the team leader and head of service in the collection and analysis of service output and outcome data
Research and service evaluation
27. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
28. To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.
29. To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.
General
30. To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the postholder’s professional and service manager(s).
31. To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in CBT across the service, by continuing to develop the skills of a reflexive and reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of CBT and related disciplines.
32. To maintain 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 BACBP, NMC and/or British Psychological Society and Trust policies and procedures.
33. 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.
To be noted:
34. This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities, and the postholder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with the manager.
35. This job description will be reviewed regularly in the light of changing service requirements and any such changes will be discussed with the post holder.
36. The post holder is expected to comply with all relevant Trust policies, procedures and guidelines, including those relating to Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety and Confidentiality of Information.
Person specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential criteria
37. BABCP accreditable training in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy and Core professional training in Nursing, Social Work, Psychotherapy or equivalent
38. Or Doctoral level training in clinical psychology,, as accredited by the BPS and eligibility for Chartered Status and a willingness to undertake a post graduate training in CBT
39. Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable criteria
40. Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology or equivalent
41. Completion of a clinical supervision training (short course) sufficient to be able to supervise IAPT trainees.
Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria
42. Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
43. An ability to formulate and provide treatment within the CBT model
44. Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
45. Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
46. Demonstrable interest in developing knowledge and skills in CBT, post qualification.
47. Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
48. Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
49. Demonstrable experience in providing CBT post qualification, including experience of specialist CBT assessment (a minimum of 2 years post qualification is required).
50. Experience of specialist psychological therapy assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
51. 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 including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
52. Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a qualified CBT psychotherapist over a minimum of 18 months or equivalent.
53. Experience of the application of CBT and psychological therapies in different cultural contexts.
54. Post degree level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis.
Desirable criteria
55. Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in primary care and step2/step 3.
56. Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
57. High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies
58. Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
Other
Desirable criteria
59. Personal experience of mental health problems.
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS
To comply with the Trust’s Safeguarding Children and Adults policies, procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults This will require you to:
60. Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.
61. Ensure you are familiar and comply with the London Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.
62. Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.
63. Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.
64. Participate in required training and supervision.
65. Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conduct
Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.