Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical

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 psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, family members and others involved in the service user’s care.

2.       To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a service user’s psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the service user’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy.

3.       To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions 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.

4.       To evaluate, monitor progress and make highly skilled evaluations and 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 exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment and treatment of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based enhanced care plans.

7.       To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to service users’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans.

8.       To ensure that all members of the clinical team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of service users, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory.

9.       To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users and to provide both general and specialist advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

10.   To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, highly complex information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of service users under their care where there may be conflicting views, high emotion and significant barriers to understanding and change, and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

11.   To provide expertise, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the treatment team.

Teaching, Training and Supervision

12.   To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior clinical psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.

13.   To provide clinical placements for trainee clinical and/or counselling psychologists, ensuring that trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to good mental health care and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.

14.   To provide post-qualification training (CPD) and clinical professional supervision to qualified clinical psychologists and other psychological services staff.

15.   To provide advice, consultation and training and clinical supervision to other members of the team for their provision of psychologically based interventions to help improve service users’ functioning.

16.   To provide pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical/counselling psychologists and/or other psychological services staff as appropriate.

17.   To maintain and develop skills in the area of professional pre- and post-graduate training and clinical supervision.

18.   To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the service user group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.

Management, Recruitment, Policy and Service Development

19.   To manage the workloads of Assistants, Trainees and recently qualified psychological services staff, where appropriate, within the framework of the Clinical Business Unit’s and team’s/service’s service policies and procedures.

20.   To support senior clinicians in the development of a high quality, responsive and accessible service including advising both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

21.   To exercise delegated responsibility for managing the psychological resources available to a team, whether in the form of additional qualified and unqualified graduate psychology staff, or in the form of psychological materials employed in the assessment and treatment of patients.

22.   To exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the team.

23.   To participate as appropriate in staff recruitment, both in the short-listing process and as a member of interview panels, for assistants, trainees and recently qualified psychological services staff.

24.   To act up for line manager as appropriate.

25.   The post holder will be expected to make full use of IT packages available within the work area, for example, Microsoft office, email, internet and statistical packages.  Reasonable adjustments will be made for employees who ate unable to comply due to sensory impairment.

Service Governance

26.   To support the psychology lead, as a senior clinician, in the evaluation, monitoring and development of the team’s operational policies, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit and ensuring incorporation of psychological frameworks for understanding and provision of high-quality care.

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 as agreed with Operational and Professional managers and provide research advice to team colleagues undertaking research.

29.   To initiate project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within and across the service to help develop and improve services to clients and their families.

30.   To undertake a defined role in local Service Governance structures as agreed.

General

31.   To ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external and external CPD training and development programmes and to provide evidence of CPD undertaken, e.g., in the form of CPD logbook.

32.   To ensure the development and articulation of best practice in psychology within the team and contribute across the service by exercising 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 clinical/counselling psychology and related disciplines.

33.   To maintain and promulgate 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 British Psychological Society, Health Professions Council, Clinical Business Unit and Trust policies and procedures.

34.   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.

35.   To perform other duties of a similar kind appropriate to the grade, which may be required by their operational manager after consultation, if necessary with professional manager.