Principal Clinical Psychologist

Job overview

We are looking for a creative, forward thinking and motivated Principal Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical/Forensic) to join our friendly and professional multi-disciplinary team based at the Cavell Centre, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. Recently our commissioners have provided investment into the Psychology pathway for our inpatient services to enable the development and delivery of more psychologically informed services and increase access to psychological assessment, intervention and therapy, in line with national guidance.

You will also play a key role in service development and evaluation.

You will have an exciting opportunity to contribute to developing the patient pathway across the adult inpatient service.

Main duties of the job

There is a wide range of professional development opportunities within the trust.

For further information and informal discussion please contact: Dr Pedro Areias Grilo, Consultant Clinical Psychologist

[email protected]

Working for our organisation

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health & social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health & wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting & empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services not only via inpatient and primary care setting but also with the community. These services include Children, Adult & Older Peoples mental & physical health, Forensic & Specialist mental health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care & Liaison psychiatry, Substance misuse, Social care, Research & Development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high calibre candidates that share our vision & values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people & members of our ethnic minorities & LGBTQ+ communities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide psychological assessments of clients referred to the locality 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 clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
• To develop psychological formulations of presenting problems or situations that integrate information from assessments within a coherent framework that draws upon psychological theory and evidence and which incorporates interpersonal, societal, cultural and biological factors.
• To use psychological formulations to develop and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, and to use these plans to inform and lead the work of non-psychology members of the team.
• To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, and manage and maintain a caseload in line with service guidelines and under the overall co-ordination of a Consultant Clinical Psychologist.
• To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management in line with Trust and inter-agency policies and procedures.
• To communicate, in a skilled and sensitive manner, to clients, family carers and others as appropriate, information that may be contentious or highly distressing concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care.
• To produce reports on clients, in a timely manner, that convey the key findings of psychological assessment and formulation and treatment outcome in a way that does justice to the complexity of the problems described, but that are understandable to the recipients of the reports, including clients and referrers.

Person specification

Physical Requirements

• Physical effort – ability to exert moderate physical effort during a session. Ability to sit for extended periods

Education/Qualifications

• Doctorate level training in clinical / counselling psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical, psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS and HCPC
• Undertaken training in the supervision of trainee clinical psychologists
• Registered with Health and Care Professions Council as a practitioner psychologist

• Chartered Psychologist
• Undertaken relevant post-doctoral training in working with clients with complex psychological needs
• Undertaken further training in specialised area: EMDR, CBT, CBTp, CBTpd, CAT, DBT, neuropsychology, SFT, systemic therapy
• Evidence of further training in leadership and management

Experience

• Substantial experience of working as a qualified clinical/counselling psychologist at post-qualification and specialist level
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across the full range of adult mental health care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in-patient setting
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups (including people with psychosis and people with complex PTSD), across the whole life course 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
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision

• Experience of delivering supervision to non-psychology MDT staff
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
• Experience of working with people with severe and enduring mental illness within a secondary care setting
• Experience of leading service development projects
• Experience of using outcome measures and feeding the outcomes back to key stakeholders
• Experience of leading teams

Skills & Abilities

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration. This requires the use of highly developed analytical and judgement skills.
• Skills in individual and group work and in programme planning.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance, including regular supervision, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
• Willingness to be flexible, adaptable and innovative.
• High standard of report writing for communication with professionals from NHS, Local Authority and other agencies, parents/ carers and clients.

• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
• High-level knowledge and skills in specialist neuropsychological assessment of adults.
• High-level knowledge and skills in working with carers.

Knowledge & Understanding

• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, psychological aspects of physical health difficulties, and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
• Knowledge concerning the management of qualified psychologists, including recruitment and retention, appraisals, and other HR policies and processes.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of psychological medicine.
• Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the patient group and mental health.

• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups
• High-level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies. therapy (ACT) and compassion focussed approaches etc.

Here at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) we are dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion. We deliver many of the NHS services that are provided outside of hospital and in the community such as physical, mental health and specialist services.

We are a health and social care organisation, offering a wide range of services, including:

• Integrated physical and mental health services for adults and older people;
• Specialist mental health and learning disability services;
• Children and young people’s mental health services;
• Children’s community services in Peterborough;
• Social care;
• Ground-breaking research

We strongly encourage applications from all sections of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people and members of our ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ communities. For further information about our positive equality, diversity and Inclusion work, please visit https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/equalityanddiversity.

CPFT is looking to build upon its pool of temporary workers with Temporary Staffing Services (TSS). You will be asked at interview if you would be willing to register with TSS. This is an excellent opportunity for those looking to take on additional hours that are flexible around your personal circumstances.

Please be advised that in line with the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List, 2020 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust currently are unable to accept applications from overseas candidates whose country of residence is classed as a ‘Red List’ country.

Applicants who require entry into the UK will be required to provide a valid police certificate from the relevant authority from each country (except the UK) where the applicant has been present for 12 months or more, 10 years before the date of visa application, while aged 18 or over.

If you are successful at interview you will be subject to pre-employment checks, including a DBS (if appropriate), references and Occupational Health. To ensure a smooth process please bring all identity documents to your interview. A list of required identity documents will be attached to your interview invitation.

All communications will be sent to you via TRAC Systems. By applying for this post you are agreeing to CPFT transferring the information contained in this application to TRAC. If you are made an offer, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.