[ref. l31621804] Principal Psychologist - Adult Inpatient Services
Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job overview
We are looking for an experienced psychologist to join us as a 0.6wte Principal Psychologist in our Adult Inpatient Services in the Luton area.
This is an exciting opportunity for career development alongside other dedicated psychologists and mental health professionals. The role provides senior clinical and strategic input for our Inpatient wards, providing services for adults with complex and severe mental health difficulties.The successful applicant will be experienced in working in this context and with this client group, and have a track record of developing trauma-informed therapeutic environments for both clients and workforce.
Main duties of the job
You will have the clinical confidence and sufficient experience to work independently and to make rapid and well-informed clinical judgments, using excellent assessment and formulation skills. You should be committed and comfortable working in an MDT setting and offering advice and consultation to other professional colleagues.The post-holder will contribute to staff training and staff support including reflective practice spaces. Part of the role will involve the supervision of qualified, trainee and pre-qualified psychology staff, and training and supervision of MDT colleagues in the provision of psychosocial interventions.
You will also be expected to bring strategic ideas to support the development of the acute psychology service.
Working for our organisation
As a member of the ELFT-wide Psychology workforce the post holder would join the regular psychology meetings which focus on Clinical Governance and peer-led Continual Professional Development (CPD), as well as get involved in wider initiatives around issues of workforce and developing trauma-informed cultures across the whole Trust.The Psychologists in ELFT are trained in a variety of therapy models so there is opportunity to share knowledge and access consultation across models.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please kindly refer to the Job Description and Person Specification attached to this advertisement .
Person specification
Training Qualification
Essential criteria- Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or Counselling Psychology or equivalence and able to demonstrate eligibility for BPS CPsychol (Chartered Psychologist)
- HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist
- Training in clinical supervision for doctoral clinical psychology trainees.
- Post-doctoral training in one or more relevant specialist areas of psychological practice.
- Leadership Training
- Quality Improvement Training
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of working in an acute adult inpatient service.
- Substantial experience of working as a qualified Clinical Psychologist including substantial post-qualification experience working in a multi-disciplinary team for adults with severe and enduring mental health problems.
- Well-developed experience of assessment, formulation and treatment with people (and families/carers) with severe and complex mental health problems
- Experience in working within at least two therapy modalities (CBT and one other).
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts, including working with interpreters.
- Research and audit experience.
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
- Experience of developing and delivering specialist training programmes.
- Experience of supervising professional and clinical practice of qualified and unqualified staff
- Experience of liaison and joint work with other statutory agencies, including crisis management.
- Identification of need and development of services to meet need.
- Experience managing other staff
Knowledge & Skills
Essential criteria- Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies with adult clients with severe and enduring mental health difficulties, which should include CBT and one other.Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies with adult clients with severe and enduring mental health difficulties, which should include CBT and one other.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult-to-treat groups (e.g. complex needs, self-harm, dual diagnosis, and persons with additional disabilities etc).
- Communication & Relationship skills: Able to provide & receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information in a highly emotive and sometimes hostile atmosphere, in a range of relationships and settings. Able to use highly specialist skills of empathy to overcome barriers to understanding and acceptance.
- Planning and organisational skills: Able to plan, organise and prioritise own workload. Ability to work creatively, co-operatively, reliably and consistently as an independent practitioner, as a mentor and supervisor, and in multi-disciplinary and team settings.
- Research & Guidance: Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis.Up to date knowledge of psychological research and national guidance relevant to patient group Knowledge of legislation and its implications for clinical practice with this client group.
- Cultural awareness: Ability to provide a culturally-competent and non-stigmatising service including an awareness of the potential impact of discrimination and disadvantage on mental health.
- Able to innovate on the basis of theoretical knowledge.
- Training in Behavioural Family Therapy or other Family Intervention
- Training in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
Personal
Essential criteria- Enthusiasm for a broad range of psychological phenomena, and an interest in models of service delivery.
- Able to contain and work with organisational stress and able to hold the stress of others.
- Physical effort: Able to sit in constrained positions for a substantial proportion of working time.
- Mental effort: Able to concentrate intensely for a substantial proportion of working time, during client contact, teaching/supervision sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc.
- Emotional effort: Able to manage effectively frequent exposure to highly distressing/highly emotional circumstances and exposure to traumatic circumstances.
- Working conditions: Able to manage effectively verbal aggression from service users, families, etc and the risk of physical aggression.
- Values: Respectful approach to service users, families, carers, colleagues and other professionals. Willing to negotiate and can handle confrontation effectively and professionally.
- Able to articulate the value added by psychological interventions within the context of multi-disciplinary mental health services.
Making Things Better
Quality Improvement is a key part of our work to improve our services and refine how we do things. We have a global reputation for our quality improvement work and we don’t stand still! So we offer a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn, lead and contribute towards improving our services.
We launched our Five Year Strategy in April 2018, which identified four main strategic outcomes to improve: population health outcomes, experience of care, staff experience and improve value. This complements the NHS Long Term Strategy and sets out our direction of travel.
Our Community
We provide a wide range of community health and mental health inpatient services to children, young people, adults of working age, and older adults in The City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. We also provide psychological therapy services to the London Borough of Richmond, and provide Forensic services to the whole of North East London.We provide services in urban and rural settings, sometimes in our inpatient units, but mostly in the community close to where people live. Integrated care is key in making the best use of resources and providing effective care.
Aiming High
We were rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC in 2016, were proud to be rated ‘Outstanding’ again in 2018 and continue to be rate 'Outstanding' in 2021.. We were named in the HSJ’s Top 10 best places to work in healthcare and were voted Provider Trust of the Year in 2018.
Staff and Service Users United
We strive to ensure that staff feel valued by the Trust and as they are truly pivotal in delivering better outcomes for our patients and service users. Our aspiration is to help to make ELFT the best place to work. This Trust is clinician-led and provides the highest possible level of clinical expertise throughout its services.We pride ourselves on our service user involvement. A service user will be on your assessment centre and interview panel if you are invited to meet us.
We especially welcome people with lived experience of health difficulties, with insight and understanding of different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles in our population as we believe that this will equip staff to deliver a high standard of care to our service users and patients.
Diversity
ELFT Is committed to being a diverse organisation and our workforce is reflective of the population and communities we serve. We believe that having colleagues with a range of backgrounds and life experiences enriches and adds value to the outcomes we have set out to achieve.Having partnered and endorsed by organisations who are representative and experts in various areas of equality and diversity, we can ensure we are meeting the pre-set standards all the way from recruitment stage throughout the career journey of our employees by being accessible, having fair inclusive practices and a host of staff networks to support, nurture and celebrate our valued staff in the workplace.
Other reasons to apply
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s job share, part time or another flexible pattern.
As part of the relocation scheme we presently have, the Trust could support you with offering up to £10,000 for removal and associated expenses. This is subject to change and terms and conditions apply.
What Next?
If you like the sound of ELFT, don’t waste a moment. We sometimes close adverts early if there is a high response, so apply now!
As part of our recruitment process we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS.We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same..
If you do not hear from us within four weeks of the closing date, please consider that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion. You must provide professional email addresses for all referees as we will contact them as soon as an offer has been made.Please note we do not request references prior to interviews. All applications made through NHS Jobs account will be processed by TRAC System. Please note that some emails may go to your spam/junk mailbox so make sure you check this regularly.
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