Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job Purpose:

·       To provide a specialist psychology service to children, young people, and their families in Harrow, including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.

·       To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.

·       To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate.

·       To undertake service evaluation, audit and research.

·       To work as an autonomous professional within BPS and HCPC guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by the policies and procedures of the service, taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions with support of clinical supervisor

Key Responsibilities:

KR 1      Clinical and Client Care

·       To provide specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in the Emotional Disorders Team at Harrow CAMHS.

·       To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.

·       To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.

·       To act as care co-ordinator, taking responsibility for initiating, planning, and reviewing care plans, co-ordination and attending professionals meetings as appropriate.

KR 2      Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

·       To contribute to the effective working of the service and to a psychologically informed framework for the service.

·       To contribute to the team or service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.

·       To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.

·       To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.

KR 3      Policy and service development

·       To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.

·       To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

·       To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.

KR 4      Care or management of resources

·       To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.

·       To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

KR 5      Management and supervision

·       To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of an assistant psychologist if required, under supervision from a more senior psychologist.

·       To supervise trainee applied psychologists within own area of specialism after completion of the relevant Training Course’s Supervision Training.

KR 6      Teaching and Training

·       To provide occasional specialist training in psychological approaches to care to other professions as appropriate.

·       To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

KR 7      Record-keeping and Information Governance

·       To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.

·       To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

KR 8      Research and development

·       To undertake regular complex service evaluation, audits or research relevant to service needs.

KR 9      Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

·       To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychologist according to HCPC and Trust guidelines.

·       To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with BPS and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the HCPC ‘Standards for Continuing Professional Development’.

·       To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.

·       To comply with the HCPC ‘Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics’ and ‘Standards of Proficiency’, and ensure professional development in line with these.

·       To adhere to the BPS’s Professional Practice Guidelines and Trust policies and procedures.

KR 10    General

·       To travel to home visits, community placements, psychology meetings as appropriate, and across the Trust when required.

·       To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.

·       To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations and to support others involved in such situations.