Job summary
- Main area
- SARC
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 30 hours per week
- Job ref
- 213-CAY-621479
- Employer
- King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- The Havens Pan London
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £58,698 - £65,095 Per Annum Pro Rata including HCA
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 12/05/2024 23:59
- Interview date
- 28/05/2024
Employer heading
Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist
NHS AfC: Band 8a
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 13,500 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King’s College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.
Job overview
The Havens is London’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), currently based on three sites at Camberwell, Ladbroke Grove and Whitechapel
The Children and Young People’s Service at the Havens (CYP Havens) represents an exciting expansion of service provision, aimed at providing an enhanced service for children and adolescents presenting acutely after child sexual abuse or assault, and ensuring equity of provision with adult services. The Children and Young People’s Therapy Service at the Havens (CYP Therapy Service) provides children and adolescents, and their families, presenting with psychological difficulties post sexual abuse with specialist psychological assessment and brief to medium term intervention (individual and group programmes). Additionally the service provides forensic interviewing of children and young people, alongside being active in audit, research and training.
We are looking for an enthusiastic and committed Clinical Psychologist with experience of working with children and young people. The post holder must have experience of working with trauma and experience in providing psychological assessment and intervention to children and young people in one to one therapy as well as groups and workshops. Experience of assessing and managing risk in the context of mental health and safeguarding is vital as well as experience of providing short to medium-
Main duties of the job
You will be working closely with the Havens therapies service and CYP Havens, and you will provide supervision to more junior psychologists. You will contribute to the development of the Havens Service, in particular the Forensic Interview Psychology project and participate in audit, research and training in addition to carrying out liaison work with local agencies. Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to work as part of a team are therefore essential. A willingness to rise to the challenges presented by this area of work and a commitment to providing an excellent service to survivors of sexual assault are also necessary.
You are expected to have doctoral level training in clinical psychology and must be HCPC registered. Experience of working with clients who have experienced sexual violence and trauma are essential.
There is a requirement for some evening work (up until 20h00) and occasional Saturdays. The Havens is a pan-London service, therefore travel between sites will be expected, when not working from home.
Working for our organisation
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King’s to another level.
We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.
King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
CLINICAL RESPONSIBILTIES
- To contribute to the systematic provision of a highly specialist psychology service to children, young people and their families attending the Havens.
- To support intake and referral meetings and safeguarding meetings
- To provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in the CYP Psychology Service including: o Specialist assessment and clinical formulation of children and adolescents who have experienced sexual assault, rape or who have been sexually exploited.
- To include psychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured / semi-structured and unstructured observations and interviews with the client, family members and others involved in their care. o Specialist evidence-based brief interventions for children and adolescents who have experienced sexual abuse / exploitation, monitoring outcomes and modifying / adapting intervention as required and drawing on a range of theoretical options, and supporting their transition to local services after 6-20 sessions, as required.
- Undertake liaison psychology with The Havens and borough services, including: advocates; local borough CAMHS teams; local charity and third sector services; local early support services; and local IAPTS and school counsellors.
- To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans. To provide both general and specialist advice on psychological aspects of risk identification and management to the clinical team
- To formulate plans for psychological treatment and/or management, drawing upon an appropriate conceptual framework and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy and including CBT models of PTSD and complex trauma. Adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
- To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
- To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of patients from the Havens Psychology Service, ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation and interventions, communicating with the referral agent and others involved with the patient’s care including the MPS and CPS on a regular basis
- To complete training in delivering highly specialist psychology led forensic interviews with children and young people reporting sexual abuse or exploitation, if this has not already been completed
- To operationally lead on the service development, coordination and delivery of a highly specialist psychology led forensic interview service, in collaboration with the Metropolitan police, for children and young people reporting sexual assault, abuse or exploitation.
- To undertake visually recorded forensic interviews (VRI) in collaboration with the Metropolitan police, following receipt of specialist training by the Metropolitan Police
- To develop, co-ordinate and ensure an effective care pathway between CYP Therapies Service and London Sector CSA hubs / Child House(s), to promote coordinated, safe and effective client care and client choice
- To communicate skilfully, complex and sensitive information with clients, parents, carers, and colleagues taking account of sensory, developmental and cultural barriers to communication
- To prepare written reports, including court reports as a professional witness.
- When necessary, provide crisis intervention for those suffering severe emotional and psychological reactions to sexual assault and those who are expressing suicidal thoughts or harm related to others or themselves.
- To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of patients and to monitor and evaluate progress
- To provide an environment that is non-judgemental, sensitive and confidential and to ensure the integrity of the psychologist/patient relationship by being a member of a professional organisation e.g. HCPC abiding by their Code of Ethics
- To attend regular clinical supervision.
Administrative Responsibilities
- To ensure the highest standards of clinical record keeping, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the relevant professional body, e.g. HCPC and Trust policies and local procedures.
- The post holder must maintain the confidentiality about patients, staff and other health service business in accordance with the Code of Confidentiality or Personal Health Data, the professional body Code of Conduct and Trust Policy.
- To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
- To contribute to the maintenance and update of Haven protocols and guidelines, where appropriate.
Management & Supervision
- To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of more junior psychologists with support from a more senior psychologist.
- To supervise trainee and assistant psychologists.
- To contribute to the appraisal of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
- To contribute to the recruitment of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
- To provide supervision for the psychological work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.
- To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior clinical/counselling psychologist.
Selfcare and Wellbeing
A key aspect of working with trauma is to attend to our own emotional needs and wellbeing. This can take a variety of forms, both inside and outside work, and is a continuous practice. This would be an important consideration as part of your role and is highlighted in BPS guidelines.
Teaching and Training
- To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the Havens by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychology and the Havens and by implementing knowledge gained in practice
- To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles
- To continue to gain experience of clinical/counselling psychology including specialist experience and skills relevant to sexual assault, sexual health, risk and trauma, as agreed with the Lead for the Havens Psychology and Counselling service
- To undertake teaching of other health professionals, students and new members of staff. To participate in public education, e.g. GPs, medical students, postgraduate doctors, universities, community based groups and other professional groups or bodies requesting teaching and training
- To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues relation to the specific patient group.
- To ensure the development and articulation of best practice in psychology within the service area and contribute across the service by exercising the skills of a reflexive and reflective practitioner and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of psychology and related disciplines.
Contributing to the team
- To contribute to the effective working of the team and to a psychologically informed framework for the service
- To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services
- To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of patients
- To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with patients in order to develop and review care plans
- To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in clinical work and work with other team members
- To implement policies and procedures in own area of work
- To co-ordinate (and chair on rotation) meetings for CYP Havens and the CYP Psychology Service to ensure effective functioning and review when appropriate
- To take a lead in ensuring a psychologically informed framework for CYP Haven and the CYP Psychology Service.
Research, policy and service development
- To identify any aspects of the CYP Psychology Service which could be improved and propose changes to practices or procedures that affect CYP Psychology Service and may also affect other services
- To develop, co-ordinate and ensure an effective care pathway between CYP Psychology Service and London Sector CSA hubs / Child House(s), to promote coordinated, safe and effective client care and client choice
- To participate in liaison between CYP Havens and Child House(s) regarding future development of the Forensic Interviewing Service for children and young people, and to take a lead in future pan-London collaboration in relation to the Forensic Interviewing Service.
- To initiate and implement service development projects, as agreed with clinical/professional lead
- To participate in the ongoing implementation of new initiatives (e.g. national guidelines) across relevant services
- To lead the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities
- To initiate and carry out appropriate research, as agreed with clinical/professional lead
- To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same
- To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes
- To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects
- To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
Person specification
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria
- Highly developed knowledge of models of therapy for complex trauma including CBT.
- Ability to manage a broad range of complex clinical work
- Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision in childhood sexual abuse / exploitation.
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in childhood sexual abuse / exploitation.
- Post-qualification experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, in-patient and out-patient care settings including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
- Experience of providing teaching and training to psychologists or other professional groups.
- Experience of carrying out post-doctoral research, audit or service evaluation projects.
Desirable criteria
- Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in patients with physical health problems
- Knowledge of forensic interviewing skills for children and young people across the age range and with a range of complex psychological needs.
- Knowledge of acute (e.g. recent) child sexual abuse and exploitation, and issues relevant within this context (including but not limited to safeguarding, criminal justice system / pre-trial therapy, individual and systemic psychosocial needs).
- Experience of supervising assistant and trainee psychologists having completed the relevant training.
- Experience of proposing and implementing service development projects within own service area.
- Experience of working acutely with recent child sexual abuse / exploitation, within a multi-disciplinary service that provides comprehensive care to address the child or young person’s holistic psychosocial and medical health needs.
- Experience of forensic interviewing with children and young people.
- Experience of using structured risk assessment protocols and measures.
Education and Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level training in clinical/counselling psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the HCPC/BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
- Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC)
- Completed training course in clinical supervision and/or experience of providing clinical supervision
Desirable criteria
- Additional training in a specialised area of psychological (relevant to working with child sexual abuse / exploitation) practice through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses, Or an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice–based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice, assessed by an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma.
- Training in forensic interviewing in accordance with Achieving Best Evidence Guidelines for children and young people.
- Training in the delivery of pre-trial therapy
Skills and Competencies
Essential criteria
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment including risk assessment and on-referral, intervention and management.
- Therapeutic skills relevant to the evidence-based management of complex trauma including CBT for PTSD.
- Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive behaviour.
- A high level ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS.
- Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles.
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate.
- Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings.
- Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions, and to deal with unexpected interruptions or changes during these.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical/counselling psychology.
- Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS/HCPC.
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
Desirable criteria
- Therapeutic skills and accreditation in EMDR relevant to the evidence-based treatment for PTSD.
- Skills in forensic interviewing with children and young people.
Other Requirements
Essential criteria
- Enthusiasm for a broad range of psychological phenomena, an interest in models of service delivery, and an ability to articulate the value added by clinical/counselling psychology services within the context of multi-disciplinary mental health services.
- Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to ‘hold’ the stress of others.
- Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
- Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
- Well developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Glorianne Said
- Job title
- Lead Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 020 3299 1599
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