Principal Clinical/Counselling/Health Psychologist in Torquay

Communication and working relationships

• Maintain effective communication in a highly skilled and sensitive manner and build effective working relationships with a range of health and social care staff across all levels, both within and outside of the organisation.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to ensure that any correspondence is of a high standard.
• Provide excellent, professional communication and patient care representing our service.
• Liaise and work collaboratively with colleagues within the department.
• Be respectful and value the people you work with.
• Communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, conveying complex, sensitive or contentious condition-specific information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients.
• Maintain and build good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers to ensure co-ordination of work across the wider Clinical Health Psychology service.

Analytical and Judgement

• Undertake highly skilled psychological assessments of individuals presenting with complex physical and psychological health conditions.
• Develop and revise complex biopsychosocial formulations that integrate psychological, physical health, social, cultural and systemic factors.
• Analyse highly complex and potentially conflicting information and make clinical judgements where evidence may be incomplete or where service users present with multiple interacting difficulties.
• Make autonomous decisions regarding treatment options, drawing on a range of evidence-based psychological models and interventions.
• Monitor and evaluate progress throughout assessment and intervention, adapting formulations and treatment plans in response to changing needs and outcomes.
• Undertake risk assessment and risk management, including assessment of psychological distress, self-harm, suicidality, safeguarding concerns and health-related behaviours.
• Provide specialist psychological consultation to multidisciplinary teams and support reflective practice to enhance psychologically informed care.

Planning and organisation

• Plan and organise daily workload under guidance from supervisor or line manager.
• Exhibit excellent organisation and prioritisation skills to meet an ever-changing workload.
• Be responsive to change and able to work in an environment which has constant interruptions.
• Help to plan and organise any teaching/training, seminars, workshops under the direction of service lead.

Physical skills

• Advanced keyboard and IT skills for the maintenance of electronic clinical records, outcome measures, reports and correspondence.
• Ability to use standardised psychological assessment tools and outcome measures accurately.
• Ability to travel independently between clinical locations where required.
• Ability to maintain concentration for prolonged periods during psychological assessment, formulation, therapy, supervision and report writing.

Patient and client care

• Provide highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention for adults with complex physical health conditions and associated psychological difficulties.
• Develop and implement individualised programmes of care based upon evidence-based psychological models and interventions.
• Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for assessment, treatment planning, intervention and discharge in accordance with professional and organisational policies.
• Provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to service users, carers and multidisciplinary colleagues.
• Work collaboratively with service users to promote self-management, adjustment to health conditions and behaviour change.
• Contribute to psychologically informed pathways of care across Clinical Health Psychology services.

Policy and service development

• Implement policies and propose changes to practices, procedures for own area.
• Participate in developments within the services, the wider organisation and community to facilitate the appropriate provision of services.
• Contribute as appropriate to service evaluation, research and audit.
• Encourage and welcome feedback to ensure that we as individuals, and as a collective team, learn and continually improve.
• Contribute to the development of psychologically informed systems of care across physical health pathways.
• Contribute to service redesign, pathway development and quality improvement initiatives informed by service user feedback, evaluation and evidence-based practice.

Finance, Equipment and Other Resources

• Ensure effective and conservative use of resources.
• Maintain paperless filing wherever possible (excluding where any statutory duty may exist).
• Do not print/photocopy unless necessary.
• Ensure conservative use of stationery, not using equipment to excess.
• Report any stationery or resource needs to the appropriate person for future orders.

People management and training

• Provide professional leadership within the bariatric pathway and contribute to the ongoing development of Clinical Health Psychology services.
• Provide clinical and professional supervision to CAP apprentices, assistant psychologists and other psychological professionals as appropriate.
• Provide consultation, training and supervision to multidisciplinary staff delivering psychologically informed care.
• Contribute to teaching and training on local professional and postgraduate training programmes as appropriate.
• Receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a suitably experienced Practitioner Psychologist.
• Maintain professional competence through continuing professional development, reflective practice, peer supervision and engagement with current evidence, policy and guidance.
• Develop leadership skills and contribute to succession planning within the service.

Information Technology and administrative duties

• Ensure information governance is adhered to in all aspects of your work.
• Adhere to GDPR regulations/Data Protection Act 2018.
• Be proficient in use of trust IT systems.
• Keep up to date with patient related admin (e.g. patient records and letters) and coordinate and communicate well with the admin team.

Research and Development

• Lead and contribute to audit, service evaluation and quality improvement projects.
• Support the translation of research evidence into clinical practice and contribute to the evaluation of service outcomes.
• Critically evaluate and utilise contemporary research evidence to inform clinical practice and service development.
• Support routine outcome monitoring and the evaluation of clinical effectiveness.

Freedom to act

• Act with integrity and professionalism, demonstrating responsible behaviours at all times, in accordance with our Trust values.
• Be accountable for own professional actions and fully observe the BPS (2009) Code of Conduct and the DCP Generic Professional Practice Guidelines (2008).
• Reflect and learn from mistakes.
• Be responsible for your dedicated workload.
• Work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise independent judgement in the management of complex clinical situations.
• Be professionally accountable for clinical decisions and recommendations within the scope of HCPC registration and professional competence.