An exciting opportunity has arisen for a ClinicalPsychologist to join our Psychiatric Liaison Service at Livewell Southwest. Thesuccessful applicant will be based at Derriford Hospital, supporting to deliverassessment, evidence-based interventions, leadership and support for the wider team, including education.
This rolemay not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route, pleaserefer to the Direct Gov website for more information with regards toeligibility.
Main duties of the job
We are looking for an experienced psychologist towork within the Liaison Psychiatry Team at Derriford Hospital. The team providemental health support to patients of the general hospital, both on the wardsand in the Emergency Department. This includes people with severe and complexmental health difficulties, self-harm and suicidal ideation and people wherepsychological factors may be contributing to their physical ill-health.
This post is an exciting opportunity for career development forsomeone looking to develop or consolidate skills in working organisationallywithin a fast-paced environment. You will provide indirect intervention,through consultation and support to the multidisciplinary team, enabling psychologically informed care.There will also be opportunities to provide psychological assessment,formulation and brief intervention. There is a strong local commitment totrauma-informed practice and you will be supported to use and develop skills intrauma-focussed interventions.
The post is embedded within the wider Specialist AdultMental Health Psychology Team and you will work closely with otherpsychologists in the acute mental health pathway. There will be opportunitiesfor peer support, mentoring and CPD both internally and externally.
Please note that Livewell may close the job advertisement earlier than the specified deadline.
All Livewell staff are expected to be able and willing to work across a 7 day service.
About us
Livewell Southwest is an independent, award-winning social enterprise delivering integrated health and social care services across Plymouth, South Hams, and West Devon, with specialist services in parts of Devon and Cornwall. Our teams work in community hospitals, GP practices, sports centres, and health hubs.
As an organisation with a strong social conscience we are guided by our values, kindness, respect, inclusivity, ambition, responsibility, and collaboration. We focus on transforming services to ensure sustainability, while empowering staff and those we serve.
We involve the people we care for, along with their families and carers, in shaping the care they receive, striving to deliver the right care at the right time and place. Centering our work on individual needs helps people lead healthy, independent lives.
We prioritise employees' development, offering protected CPD time, training pathways, leadership programs, and funding for qualifications like the Care Certificate and Nurse Training Scholarships. Our induction and preceptorship programs ensure a smooth transition into our organisation.
Livewell Southwest values diversity and encourages applications from all sections of the community, including those with armed forces experience, lived experience of mental health, neuro-diverse conditions and learning disabilities. If you need assistance or reasonable adjustments during the application process, contact the Recruiting Manager listed in the job advert.
Job responsibilities
Job Summary:
As a lead specialist, responsible forassessment and treatment of own specialist caseload of clients with variety ofcomplex problems including complex trauma, dissociation, psychosis and othersevere mental health problems.
As a lead specialist, responsible forproviding, developing and managing highly specialist psychologicalinterventions to clients and for communicating psychological formulations andtreatment plans to carers and professional colleagues.
Responsible for planning, organising andauditing and developing policy and strategies for the delivery of a specialistpsychology service within the multidisciplinary team.
The post holder would be expected todevelop specialist responsibilities and provide leadership from a psychologicalperspective on a specific area of expertise that balances their experience,interests, and needs of the service.
Responsible for providing professionalsupport, guidance and clinical supervision to other clinical psychology staff(clinical psychologists, assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists, MHWP,CAPS, undergraduate placement students) in the psychiatric liaison team and inother parts of the service as required by their level of experience.
Responsible for the planning, deliveryand clinical supervision of a specialist clinical training placement fortrainees on the postgraduate Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology from theUniversity of Plymouth.
Responsible for providing specialistconsultation, advice and clinical supervision to other non-psychology staff withinthe service, on psychological understanding, interventions and evaluations.
Responsible for developing anddelivering teaching on psychological work and care for trainee clinical psychologistsand qualified members of clinical psychology and other professions in LivewellSouthwest.
Responsible for initiating andmaintaining research and development projects relevant to furthering both clinicalknowledge and service evaluation and delivery.
Responsible for working within theGuidelines for Professional Practice of the Health & Care ProfessionsCouncil and the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychologyor ACP-UK, and for adhering to policies and procedures of Livewell Southwest.
Responsible for participating in anannual appraisal with the SORT or CMHT Consultant Clinical Psychologist plus a teammanager.
Responsible for continuing professionaldevelopment (CPD) in line with the annual appraisal Professional DevelopmentPlan PDP, the Knowledge and Skills Framework KSF and the HCPC requirementsfor CPD.
Responsible for keeping aware of andbeing knowledgeable about current developments within the profession of clinicalpsychology.
Responsible for keeping up to date withlegislation, national directives, policies and NICE guidelines in relation tothe work.
Clinical Skills:
To possess and practice a very highlevel of communication and relationship skills in situations where emotionaldistress, and risk of self-harm and of life-threatening behaviour can beexpected.
To engage clients with complexpresentations in a therapeutic alliance and maintain this through periods ofdoubt and relapse.
To work with, and support others to workwith, clients with complex trauma, emotional disorders and psychosis for whom psychologicalexpertise is required in order to provide appropriate assessment, testing,rehabilitation and/or maintain placement, contributing to the liaison with commissionersand funding managers to provide feedback and advice on such clients progressand ongoing needs.
To evaluate and make decisions abouttreatment options taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models,highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that haveshaped the individual, family or group and available resources.
To formulate and implement plans for theformal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients cognitive,behavioural and emotional sequelae of trauma for Psychiatric Liaison clients.
To be able to complete the mostappropriate formal psychometric assessments with complex clients.
To be able to communicate complex psychologicalformulations and treatment plans to the client and to appropriate professionalcolleagues and to family members or carers, as appropriate, so that they areunderstood.
As part of the psychiatric liaisonassessment process, to develop a psychological formulation of a clients problemsthat enables a healthy, holistic discussion of treatment options.
To prepare and provide complex medico-legalreports and reports for housing and employing bodies.
To have knowledge of and skill withinseveral psychological models of understanding and managing behavior, including,for example, cognitive behaviour therapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy and systemictherapy.
Through consultation or case discussionwith MDT colleagues, to be able to add both an understanding of psychosocialfactors and offer advice as to an appropriate intervention for clients referredto the services but not on psychologists caseload. In this way support the implementation of aTrauma-Informed model throughout our services.
Create and monitor effective andefficient referral criteria and pathways to Clinical Psychology from all services.
To be able to manage the emotionalimpact of working, often one-to-one, with people who can be in crisis and whocan show high levels of arousal and can be actively self-harming or suicidal.
To ensure receipt of clinical andpersonal supervision in accordance with good practice guidelines for allclinical psychologists.
Policy and Service Development:
To be responsible for promoting the needto plan and develop specialist psychology services within the psychiatricliaison service.
Through membership of the psychologyspecialty, to be responsible for contributing to the planning and developmentof specialist psychology services across the service.
As a member of the psychiatric liaisonservice to be responsible for promoting the need to plan and develop themultidisciplinary response to clinical demands and expectations on it.
To attend the Psychology meetings andother relevant meetings regularly.
Human Resources:
To be responsible for providing clinicalsupervision and professional support and guidance as required to ClinicalPsychologists, CAPS, MHWP and trainee clinical psychologists within the servicewho are less experienced.
To be responsible for providing clinicalsupervision to non clinical psychology members of the service as appropriate.
To be responsible for planning andsupervising the work of undergraduate psychology students on year long andshort term placements.
To be responsible for the supervision ofthe work of Assistant Psychologists.
To be responsible for planning andproviding a clinical training placement to trainees on the postgraduateDoctoral Course in Clinical Psychology of the University of Plymouth. This clinical placement requires liaison withHuman Resources to arrange appropriate DBS checks, honorary contracts and IT accessas well as completion of Livewell Southwest and service inductions. It also requires a sensitive awareness to theimpact on trainees of induction to being members of a large and complex organisationas the context for learning and practising their professional skills.
To teach on the postgraduate DoctoralCourses in Clinical Psychology at the University of Plymouth if required and onpre and post qualification professional courses for other disciplinesrepresented within Livewell Southwest as required.
To ensure thedevelopment, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standardsof practice, through active participation in internal and external ContinuingProfessional Development - CPD training and development programmes and courses.
Research and Development:
To conduct and supervise research andaudit and evaluation relevant to the provision of specialist psychologicalservices for people accessing the psychiatric liaison service.
To initiate and implement project managementtechniques and tools in order to achieve completion of evaluations, audits,research and service developments.
To collaborate with University ofPlymouth in setting up and conducting Doctoral level long-term researchprojects on psychiatric liaison, and providing teaching.
To use SPSS and other packages in theanalysis of data and to write up the information in a meaningful format that isaccessible and understood by the target audience.
To prepare and present information fromaudits, evaluations and research to professional audiences within and outsidethe organisation.
To prepare papers for publication basedon audit, evaluation, research and development work.
To utilise theory, evidence based literatureand research to support evidence based practice in individual work and workwith team members in the service and Clinical Psychology
Information Technology:
To contribute to the maintenance anddevelopment of office systems and procedures within clinical psychology and the wider service.
To be able to use a range of softwarepackages including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and SPSS.
To be responsible for maintainingappropriate service statistics and records of work within the requirement ofpolicies covering Care Programme Approach and its successor.
To ensure that electronic CPA (and itssuccessor) and System One and other relevant computer data bases are keptup-to-date.
Person Specification
Knowledge & Skills
* 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 communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, 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 neurological problems inc dementia.
* Knowledge of legislation and national standards and guidelines that relate this client group.
Qualifications
* Post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as 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.
* Advanced keyboard skills.
* Specialist skills in a specific therapeutic approach.
* Clinical supervision training for doctoral trainees.
Personal
* Kindness
* Enthusiasm for working in a Psychiatric Liaison service.
* Ability to work under pressure and set priorities.
* Ability to deal with patients and carers who may be distressed, angry, confrontational or violent.
* 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.
* Lived experience of mental health difficulties.
Experience
* Experience of working as a psychologist with adults with severe and enduring mental health difficulties.
* Experience of teaching, training and providing professional and/or clinical supervision.
* Experience of assessing and treating clients in the full range of care settings.
* Experience of working within multidisciplinary services for adult clients.
* Experience of offering consultation and advice to staff groups supporting vulnerable clients.
* Record of having published in peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books.
* Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist in a psychiatric liaison service.
* Experience of working with clients with complex trauma.
* Post qualification training in CAT, Schema Therapy, DBT or CBT.
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.
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