Consultant Clinical Psychologist

Job summary

As the Consultant Psychologist, you will play a lead role in the further development of our psychological services for Children & Young People (CYP) referred for assessment and/or intervention in relation to suspected neurodevelopmental conditions. Currently, our services are delivered through separate pathways, but our ambition is to integrate our offer and provide more seamless care to ensure efficient service delivery and an improved patient experience. Your role will initially focus on progressing our CYP Autism offer but we expect you to be instrumental in developing our delivery of more integrated, needs-led, neuro-developmental services within our Care Group.

Our CYP Autism service predominantly provides assessments of possible Autistic Spectrum Conditions but also, more uniquely, offers specialist advice and interventions to CYP with a diagnosis of ASC. The service is for Children and Young People in the South Staffordshire area up to the age of 19 and extends to the age of 25 if they have an EHCP.

It is a requirement to be available to work at the base and across sites in South Staffordshire but this can be as part of a hybrid offer. There are strong links to a psychological services professional leadership structure and opportunities to link with other leads across MPFT delivering ASC services.

Main duties of the job

• To ensure the systematic provision and governance of high-quality psychological care across our neurodevelopmental services and to ensure that effective systems are in place for the clinical and professional supervision and support of psychological practice. This will predominantly be across our CYP Autism provision in South Staffordshire but will develop to include psychological practice in identified neurodevelopmental services.
• To provide expert psychological input to own specialist caseload responding to the most severe and complex cases.
• Provision of highly specialist professional consultation, advice and guidance on all aspects of psychological practice within CYP-Autism and associated neurodevelopmental services and across services, as agreed.
• Working in collaboration with other Consultant level psychological staff and the Professional Lead for Psychological Services, to actively contribute to professional, strategic and clinical leadership to assure the continual development and provision of effective psychological services and psychologically informed provision across our CYP Mental Health services.

About us

By joining Team MPFT, you will be helping your communities and in return for this, we will support you by;

• Supporting your career development and progression
• Excellent NHS Pension scheme
• Generous maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• Options for flexible working
• Up to 27 days annual leave (increasing with service up to 33 days) and the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Extensive Health and Wellbeing support and resources
• If you work in our community teams, we pay for your time travelling between patients
• Lease car if you complete more than 500 business miles per annum, fully insured and maintained (including tyres), mileage paid at lease car rate
• Salary sacrifice car – fully insured and maintained (including tyres), your gross pay is reduced by the cost of the vehicle before tax, NI and pension deductions are calculated, mileage paid at business rates
• Salary sacrifice bikes up to £2k
• Free car parking at all trust sites
• Free flu vaccinations every year
• Citizens Advice support linked with a Hardship Fund for one off additional support up to £250 (if the criteria is met)

And more. We are proud to be a diverse and inclusive organisation and there is a choice of staff networks that help you meet like-minded people.

Job description

Job responsibilities

• Provision of highly specialist psychological practice
• Governance of psychological practice across neurodevelopmental services
• Clinical, strategic and professional leadership of CYP Autism and associated neurodevelopmental services in conjunction with other leads
• Service development and quality improvement

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• HCPC registration as a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist.
• Post registration training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice as required for specific clinical post
• Trained in clinical supervision and the supervision of psychological professionals in training including doctorate level trainee psychologists
• Evidence of continuing relevant professional development and growth, relevant to the clinical area, sufficient to ensure continued professional registration.

Desirable

• Leadership development qualification / training.
• Additional post-graduate qualification in accredited therapeutic intervention relating to autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, positive behaviour support.

Skills

Essential

• Up to date knowledge of the psychological needs of people with ASC and the usual range of co-presenting difficulties.
• Knowledge and skills in the assessment and treatment of neuro-developmental difficulties and the usual range of co-presenting problems.
• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological interventions.
• Ability to exercise highly advanced and complex negotiating skills in planning, developing and establishing services, in particular where services interface with different areas within and outside of the organisation.
• Leadership and management skills.
• Skills in the management of verbal abuse and physical aggression.
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to meet the travelling requirements of the post.
• Ability and knowledge relating to self-harm and safeguarding related risk assessment and care-planning.

Desirable

• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.

Experience

Essential

• Substantial experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist with a wide variety of client groups across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings.
• Assessing and working therapeutically with CYP with ASC, ADHD and learning disabilities.
• Use of diagnostic assessment methods applied to CYP with suspected ASC, ADHD or learning disabilities.
• Clinical and professional leadership to other registered and non-registered members of the psychological professions.
• Working in specialist CYP mental health provision which includes multi-disciplinary working.
• Working at a strategic level.
• Ability to work effectively within safeguarding procedures in the context of a therapeutic service.
• Substantial experience of representing psychology within multi-disciplinary settings.
• Experience of teaching, training and providing professional/clinical supervision to others (including qualified psychologists and other professionals).

Desirable

• Experience of clinical leadership in a multi-disciplinary team.
• Demonstrable experience of developing others through education, mentorship, coaching, teaching, assessing, presentations, publishing.
• Experience of professional leadership and/or management of qualified and pre-qualified applied psychologists and psychological therapists.
• Experience working therapeutically with children and young people with significant behavioural, emotional or mental health difficulties, and their families/carers.
• Experience of group work, particularly of relevance for Children & Young people with ASC and their carers.
• Experience of working in the NHS.
• Experience of working with third sector providers.

Personal Attributes

Essential

• A passion and enthusiasm for developing psychologically informed services for children and young people presenting with ASC and their families and carers.
• Ability to demonstrate leadership and management skills with the ability to create a culture where staff are valued and supported.
• To support and maintain high quality clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive behaviour and challenging behaviour.
• Ability to contain the emotional stress of working with clients who are extremely distressed or volatile.
• Ability to provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly challenging situations and severely challenging behaviours.
• A desire to champion and enable people with ASC.
• Able to demonstrate a positive and non-judgemental attitude towards service users and their family and carers.
• Willing to reflect on own practice and to learn from this.

Desirable

• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.

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.
UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. #J-18808-Ljbffr