Band 8a Senior Clinical Psychologist in Birmingham

Join Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust where more than 5,000 members of staff work across Birmingham and the West Midlands to deliver a wide range of community and specialist healthcare services. The post holder will provide a high quality, specialist psychology service to children presenting with neurodevelopmental needs across all sectors of care within the Birmingham catchment area. The post holder will be part of the multidisciplinary team in the Neurodevelopmental Hubs and liaise closely with colleagues in education. They will supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other psychologists and others who provide psychologically based care and treatment. They will support a culture of research and utilise research skills for audit, policy and service developments and propose and implement policy changes within the Service and the broader multidisciplinary team. They will also be highly visible, accessible and a figure to whom staff, patients and their families can turn for assistance, advice and support.

Main duties of the job

• Provide specialist psychological assessment of children based on the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological assessment, self-reported measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with children, family members and others involved in the child's care.
• Formulate and implement plans for formal psychological treatment and/or management of a child's psychological problems based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client's problems and employing methods of proven efficiency, across the full range of care settings.
• Implement a range of psychological interventions for children, carers, families and groups within and across teams, adjusting and refining psychological formulations, drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining provisional hypotheses.

Person Specification

Essential Qualifications

• Post graduate Doctoral level training in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specific models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• HCPC Registration as a Practitioner Psychologist.

Essential Experience

• Specialist psychological assessment and individual and group-based treatment of children, including children with neurodevelopmental differences.
• Maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Liaison work with other professionals and agencies.

Essential Skills/Knowledge

• Highly specialist skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, including psychometrics such as ADOS-2 and, or, ADI-R, intervention and management including specialist clinical interviewing, behavioural observation, complex psychometric testing and specialist neuropsychological testing.
• Knowledge of the presentation, assessment of and intervention with people with complex neurodevelopmental and mental health difficulties.
• Well developed skills in communicating effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to children, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to children.

Desirable Qualifications

• Post-doctoral qualification, training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
• Training in the supervision of doctoral level trainee psychologists.
• Training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Desirable Experience

• Working with a wide variety of client groups across the life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity.
• Teaching, training and supervision experience.
• Application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Relevant R&D or clinical audit work post-qualification.

Desirable Skills/Knowledge

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. dual diagnoses, children with additional learning disabilities or difficulties etc).

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Self-motivated.
• Positive, energetic, enthusiastic outlook and able to set a good example.
• Ability to manage under pressure; work to tight deadlines, evidencing excellent time management.
• Able to work independently or as part of a team.

Desirable

• Strong leadership skills, ability to negotiate, persuade and influence at a senior level with a supportive style whilst also able to take difficult decisions and act assertively.
• Keen to develop services in line with service, educational and research priorities.

Contract Details

• Contract: Fixed term
• Duration: 12 months
• Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working
• Salary: £55,690 to £62,682 a year per annum (pro rata)
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: 8a
• Reference number: 820-7619331-CF
• Job locations: City wide; Birmingham; B13 8JL

Additional Information

• Disclosure and Barring Service Check: This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and a submission for Disclosure to the Disclosure and Barring Service is required.
• Certificate of Sponsorship: Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered.
• UK Registration: Applicants must have current UK professional registration.