Job description

Job responsibilities

1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of service users referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, family members and others involved in the clients care.
2. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a service users psychological problems, based upon a specific conceptual framework of the service users problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy.
3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions (including CBT, EMDR, Metacognitive Therapy) for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses where appropriate.
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 service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
6. To provide specialist psychotherapeutic advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to service users formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans.
7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychotherapeutic based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all service users within the service, across all settings and agencies serving the service user group.
8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for relevant individual service users and to provide advice, both general and specialist, to other professions on psychotherapeutic aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
9. To communicate in skilled and sensitive manner information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of service users under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
10. Value the contribution of the service users voice.
11. To perform other duties of a similar kind appropriate to the grade, which may be required by the Clinical Lead in Psychotherapy.

Teaching, training and supervision

To receive regular clinical and management professional supervision.

1. To gain additional highly specialist experience and skills relevant to psychotherapy, including Personality Disorder.
2. To develop skills in the area of professional training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staffs psychological work as appropriate.
3. To provide clinical supervision to junior therapists and trainee therapists including trainee Psychiatrists, Nurses, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Trainees, OTs and Social Workers.
4. To be responsible for and deliver workshops in specific modalities for University Courses (MRCP Psych. Courses, intermediate certificate courses or similar).
5. To provide advice, consultation, supervision and training to staff working with the service user group across a range of agencies and setting, where appropriate.

Information Technology

1. his post requires the post holder to be able to use Microsoft Word, Outlook and internet to carry out basic literature searches.

Management, recruitment, policy and service development

To be engaged and participate in the future development of the service.

1. To contribute to the running of the service through chairing meetings and liaising with other services across the Trust.
2. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the teams operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.
3. To adhere to all organisational policies.
4. To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychotherapeutic and/or organisational matters need addressing.
5. To manage the workloads of trainee therapists within the framework of the Divisions and team/services policies and procedures.
6. To be involved, as appropriate, in the recruitment and selection of CBT Therapists.
7. To be involved in the investigation of complaints and incidents as required and appropriate.

Service Governance

Items here to adhere to Service Governance Policies and Frameworks at Division and Trust level.

1. Comply with the Duty of Candour, defined by Francis as: The volunteering of all relevant information to persons who have or may have been harmed by the provision of service, whether or not the information has been requested and whether or not a complaint or a report about provision has been made.
2. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
3. To undertake appropriate research as agreed with the Clinical Lead in Psychotherapy and provide research advice to other team colleagues undertaking research.
4. To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service, to help develop and improve service provision as appropriate.
5. To undertake a defined role in Division Service Governance structures as agreed.
6. To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in psychotherapy across the service, by continuing to develop the skills of a reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of psychotherapy and related disciplines.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of therapeutic interventions
• To have a recognised qualification i.e., Post Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and additional training to Masters level or equivalent
• BABCP accredited (or able to achieve accreditation within 12 months).

Desirable

• Experience of Trauma based CBT models of Therapy and EMDRPre- qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of therapeutic interventions

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

• oProven relevant experience of specialist psychotherapeutic assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across a range of care settings, such as outpatient, community, and primary care and in- patient settings.
• oProven relevant experience of working with a wide variety of client groups 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.
• oExpertise in the use of complex methods of psychotherapy assessment, formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• oEvidence of continuing professional development as recommended by BABCP (or equivalent).
• oTraining in clinical supervision. To have received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist over a minimum of 18 months.
• oKnowledge of legislation in relation to client group and mental health.
• oKnowledge of IT systems including word processing, email and local electronic patient information systems.

Desirable

• oExperience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• oExperience of the application of psychotherapy in different cultural contexts
• oKnowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychotherapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g., personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc.)
• oHigh level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychotherapies.
• oTraining in CBT clinical supervision
• o Accredited CBT Supervisor.

Skills

Desirable

• Well developed and effective communication skills, oral and written, to communicate complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and nonprofessional groups.
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• 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.
• Ability to self-reflect, use clinical supervision appropriately and consider complex organisational and team dynamics.

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website .

Employer details

Employer name

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Hollins Park House

Hollins Lane

Warrington

WA2 8WA