Talking Therapies Lead Clinician | Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool

This is an exciting opportunity for a full-time Band 8A Lead Clinician within the Talking Therapies Liverpool service. Talking Therapies Liverpool is an NHS IAPT Talking Therapies service for those aged over 16 years in Liverpool. The service is delivered by Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust and offers a variety of support and psychological therapies to the community of Liverpool. Our interventions are diverse and evidence-based, ranging from guided self-help and face-to-face or video therapy, telephone support to workshop courses.

We know that we can only achieve a high-quality clinical service by maximising the efforts of our team and by creating an environment where colleagues are valued and involved in developing the service. We believe in investing in people, keeping true to the values and behaviours of Merseycare NHS Trust and the NHS and looking after the wellbeing of all team members. We work closely with other services and service user groups to refine and improve the service that we offer.

The post holder will be an experienced clinical or counselling psychologist, or from a counselling, nursing, social work background with a nationally recognised qualification and experience to deliver psychological therapies who will be responsible for the systematic provision of primary care psychology services to adults with mental health problems in the Liverpool area, including GPs surgeries and other community venues. This is to incorporate complex assessments leading to psychological formulations of distress, interpretation, under professional supervision, of assessment instruments and forming judgements for treatment options.

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands. We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so. Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

To be part of an IAPT type primary care psychology service and deliver step 3 treatment interventions as well as acting as an expert resource across the 3 steps covered by the service. To provide primary care services within the field of adult mental health to adults covered by the team. In doing so will be responsible for adhering to relevant Trust policies and professional ethics and standards. Will be accountable for professional and clinical actions.

As a clinician with specialist post-qualification training, the post holder will participate in taking responsibility for development of training, supervision and governance aspects of the specific therapeutic model. To ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist therapeutic service, to clients of the service team, across all aspects of care. To supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team. To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research. To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the team/service.