Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Job summary

15 hours per week.

Do you have an interest in working with people who struggle to manage their weight? Are you interested in working closely with an experienced and enthusiastic MDT? The post holder will work alongside another Clinical Psychologist in the Tier 3 Weight Management Service, which delivers services for adults with Obesity as guided by the Referral Criteria

As well as carrying an appropriate clinical case load, the post holder will be a major contributor to service development (including the development of Weight Management psychologists clinical skills), research projects and the building of sound links with relevant agencies in the wider community e.g. University Hospital Plymouth, Plymouth Options, Community Mental Health Teams, Eating Disorders Service etc.

Part of the role will be to ensure that Psychology time is used as efficiently and effectively as possible, looking to increase the psychological skills of the wider MDT staff and increase Psychology provision through providing appropriately supervised placements for Trainee Clinical Psychologists and others where organisationally agreed.

This role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route; please refer to the Direct Gov website for more information with regards to eligibility.

Please note that [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] may close the job advertisement earlier than the specified deadline.

All staff are expected to be able and willing to work across a 7 day service

Main duties of the job

• Responsible for planning, organising and auditing and developing policy and strategies for the delivery of a specialist Weight Management Psychology service within the MDT
• Provide leadership from a psychological perspective on a specific area of expertise that balances their experience, interests, and needs of the service.
• Provide professional clinical supervision to MDT and students in the WM team
• Planning, delivery and clinical supervision of a specialist clinical training placement for trainees on the postgraduate Doctoral Courses in Clinical Psychology
• Develop and deliver teaching on psychological care for the WM MDT
• Responsible for initiating and maintaining research and development projects relevant to furthering both clinical knowledge, service evaluation and delivery
• Working within the Professional Guidelines and for adhering to local policies and procedures
• Participating in PDP
• Keeping up to date with legislation, national directives, policies, NICE guidelines, current developments in relation to the work.
• To initiate and implement service improvement techniques
• Collaborate with University of Plymouth in setting up and conducting Doctoral level long-term research projects on Clinical Psychology and providing teaching.
• Utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice

About us

[Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] is an independent, award-winning social enterprise delivering integrated health and social care services across Plymouth, South Hams, and West Devon, with specialist services in parts of Devon and Cornwall. Our teams work in community hospitals, GP practices, sports centres, and health hubs.

As an organisation with a strong social conscience we are guided by our values,kindness, respect, inclusivity, ambition, responsibility, and collaboration. We focus on transforming services to ensure sustainability, while empowering staff and those we serve.

We involve the people we care for, along with their families and carers, in shaping the care they receive, striving to deliver the right care at the right time and place. Centering our work on individual needs helps people lead healthy, independent lives.

We prioritise employees' development, offering protected CPD time, training pathways, leadership programs, and funding for qualifications like the Care Certificate and Nurse Training Scholarships. Our induction and preceptorship programs ensure a smooth transition into our organisation.

[Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] values diversity and encourages applications from all sections of the community, including those with armed forces experience, lived experience of mental health, neuro-diverse conditions and learning disabilities. If you need assistance or reasonable adjustments during the application process, contact the Recruiting Manager listed in the job advert.

Job responsibilities

Responsible for planning, organising and auditing and developing policy and strategies for the delivery of a specialist Weight Management Psychology service within the multidisciplinary Team

The postholder would be expected to develop specialist responsibilities and provide leadership from a psychological perspective on a specific area of expertise that balances their experience, interests, and needs of the service.

Responsible for providing professional support, guidance and clinical supervision to the weight management team and other more junior clinical psychology staff and students in the weight management psychology team and in other parts of the service as required by their level of experience.

Responsible for the planning, delivery and clinical supervision of a specialist clinical training placement for trainees on the postgraduate Doctoral Courses in Clinical Psychology from the University of Plymouth

Responsible for providing specialist consultation, advice and clinical supervision to other non-psychology staff within the Weight Management Team on psychological understanding, interventions and evaluations.

Responsible for developing and delivering teaching on psychological work and care for the Weight Management MDT and clinical psychology staff

Responsible for initiating and maintaining research and development projects relevant to furthering both clinical knowledge and service evaluation and delivery.

Responsible for working within the Guidelines for Professional Practice of the Health & Care Professions Council and the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology or ACP-UK, and for adhering to policies and procedures of [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal].

Responsible for participating in an annual appraisal with the Weight Management Team manager.

Responsible for continuing professional development (CPD) in line with the annual appraisal Professional Development Plan PDP, the Knowledge and Skills Framework KSF and the HCPC requirements for CPD.

Responsible for keeping aware of and being knowledgeable about current developments within the profession of clinical psychology.

Responsible for keeping up to date with legislation, national directives, policies and NICE guidelines in relation to the work.

To conduct and supervise research and audit and evaluation relevant to the provision of specialist psychological services for people living with obesity

To initiate and implement service improvement techniques and tools in order to achieve completion of evaluations, audits, research and service developments.

To collaborate with University of Plymouth in setting up and conducting Doctoral level long-term research projects on Clinical Psychology and providing teaching.

To use packages in the analysis of data and to write up the information in a meaningful format that is accessible and understood by the target audience.

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with team members in the Weight Management Team and broader MDT.

5.1 Responsibility for People Management

To be responsible for providing clinical supervision and professional support and guidance as required to Clinical Psychologists, and trainee clinical psychologists within the service who are less experienced.

To be responsible for providing clinical supervision to non-clinical psychology members of the broader Weight Management Team as appropriate.

To be responsible for the supervision of the work of Assistant Psychologist/s where required

To be responsible for planning and providing a clinical training placement to trainees on the postgraduate Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology of the University of Plymouth. This clinical placement requires liaison with Human Resources to arrange appropriate DBS checks, honorary contracts and IT access as well as completion of [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] and service inductions. It also requires a sensitive awareness to the impact on trainees of induction to being members of a large and complex organisation as the context for learning and practising their professional skills.

To teach on the postgraduate Doctoral Courses in Clinical Psychology at the University of Plymouth if required and on pre and post qualification professional courses for other disciplines represented within [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] as required.

To ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external Continuing Professional Development - CPD training and development programmes and courses.

5.2 Responsibility for financial and/or physical resources

The post holder will ensure all expenses are recorded following policy guidelines.

The post holder will order clinical equipment in line with policy.

The post holder will be responsible for safeguarding and maintaining all resources provided by [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal].

5.3 Responsibility for administration

To contribute to the maintenance and development of office systems and procedures within clinical psychology and the wider Weight Management Team

To be able to use a range of software packages including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint

To be responsible for maintaining appropriate service statistics and records of work within SystemOne.

To ensure that System One and other relevant computer data bases are kept up-to-date.

To prepare and present information from audits, evaluations and research to professional audiences within and outside the organisation.

To prepare papers for publication based on audit, evaluation, research and development work.

5.4 Responsibility for people who use our services

To engage patients with complex presentations in assessment and therapeutic activities.

To work with, and support others to work with, patients with complex conditions, and co-morbidities whom psychological expertise is required in order to provide appropriate assessment, contributing to the liaison with commissioners and funding managers to provide feedback and advice on such patients progress and ongoing needs

To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models, highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group and available resources

To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a patients cognitive, behavioural and emotional sequelae of trauma for Weight Management patients.

To be able to complete the most appropriate formal psychometric assessments with complex patients.

To be able to communicate complex psychological formulations and treatment plans to the patient and to appropriate professional colleagues and to family members or carers, as appropriate, so that they are understood.

As part of the Weight Management assessment process, to develop a psychological formulation of a patients current presentation that promote holistic and patient-centre discussion.

To have knowledge of and skill within several psychological models of understanding and managing behaviour, including, for example, cognitive behaviour therapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, EMDR and systemic therapy.

Through consultation or case discussion with MDT colleagues, to be able to add both an understanding of psychosocial factors and offer advice as to an appropriate intervention for patients referred to the services but not on psychologists caseload.

To be able to manage the emotional impact of working, often one-to-one, with people who can be in crisis and who can show high levels of arousal, distress and cognitive and behavioural difficulties.

To ensure receipt of clinical and personal supervision in accordance with good practice guidelines for all clinical psychologists.

5.5 Responsibility for implementation of policy and/or service developments

To be responsible for promoting the need to plan and develop specialist psychology services within the Weight Management Service

Through membership of the psychology specialty, to be responsible for contributing to the planning and development of specialist psychology services across the service.

As a member of the Weight Management psychology service to be responsible for promoting the need to plan and develop the multidisciplinary response to clinical demands and expectations on it.

To attend the Psychology meetings and other relevant meetings regularly.

To ensure that accurate and up-to-date patient records are maintained, in line with professional and legal standards

To oversee the recording of clinical assessments, therapy notes, treatment plans and outcomes, ensuring they are correctly and securely held.

As a lead specialist, responsible for assessment and treatment of own specialist caseload of patients with variety of complex problems including complex psychological conditions, complex cognitive and communication difficulties, and mental health difficulties.

As a lead specialist, responsible for providing, developing and managing highly specialist psychological interventions to patients and for communicating psychological formulations and treatment plans to carers and professional colleagues.

To possess and practice a very high level of communication and relationship skills in situations where emotional distress, and risk of self-harm and of life-threatening behaviour can be expected.

Person Specification

Specific Skills

Essential

• Enthusiasm for working in a Weight Management Team Ability to work under pressure and set priorities. Ability to deal with patients and carers who may be distressed, angry, confrontational Ability to work within teams and motivate others. Ability to sit for prolonged periods during assessments, patient interviews, case conferences. Ability to cope with frequent exposure to highly distressing and emotional situations. Warmth, empathy & integrity. Ability to work autonomously & as part of a team. Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to hold the stress of others Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentation in public, professional and academic settings. Works to professional guidelines. Is accountable for own professional actions and capable of interpreting broad occupational policies Ability to get to Clinic appointment and meeting venues

Desirable

• Group work skills Specialist skills in a specific therapeutic approach.

Qualifications

Essential

• Post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS. Registered as a clinical psychologist with the HCPC Fully competent as a clinical psychologist supplemented by short specialist courses and further specialist training

Desirable

• Other related academic qualifications to Masters or Doctoral level. Membership of the ACP-UK or BPS Clinical supervision training for doctoral trainees

Knowledge

Essential

• Ability to analyse and interpret highly complex situations involving a range of options to make a decision about an appropriate course of action or solution to a problem. Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management with adult service users Skills in the ability to te effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to patients, their families and professionals both within and outside the NHS. Doctoral level of research design and methodology as practiced within the field of clinical psychology. Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies for complex problems (e.g. personality disorder, behaviours that challenge).

Desirable

• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists Skills in the psychological assessment and management of weight management patients Knowledge of legislation and national standards and guidelines that relate this patient group.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with adults with complex mental and physical health presentations Experience of teaching, training and providing professional and/or clinical supervision. Experience of assessing and treating patients in the full range of care settings. Experience of working within multidisciplinary services for adult patients Experience of offering consultation and advice to staff groups supporting vulnerable patients

Desirable

• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists Skills in the psychological assessment and management of weight management patients Knowledge of legislation and national standards and guidelines that relate this patient group. Relevant and significant post-qualification experience. Record of having published in peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist in Weight Management Experience of working with patients with complex trauma Post qualification training in psychological therapies relevant to a weight management population e.g. CBT, ACT, CFT, EMDR, DBT, but not exhaustive

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

[Employer hidden — sign up to reveal]

Address

Cumberland Centre

Damerel Close

Plymouth

Devon

PL14JZ

Employer's website

https://www.livewellsouthwest.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Weight Management Team Manager

Kirsty Settle

[contact hidden]

[contact hidden]

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