Clinical Lead - Sexual Violence and Complex Trauma Pathfinder in Cheshire, Chester

As Clinical Lead and a highly specialist psychologist/psychotherapist with substantial senior clinical experience in relation to sexual trauma and post-qualification training in trauma focused interventions, the post-holder will provide Clinical Leadership for the delivery of the multi-agency, GM-wide Sexual Violence and Complex Trauma Pathfinder project. The post holder will contribute to the development of effective care pathways for adults who have experienced/are experiencing sexual violence and/or abuse and present with complex mental health issues as a result of that trauma. These pathways will span a range of voluntary sector and NHS services in GM. The post holder will take a trauma-responsive approach to all the duties and responsibilities listed below, recognising that how the Pathfinder is developed and led makes a crucial contribution to the sense of safety and empowerment felt by survivors of sexual violence/abuse and the staff in the organisations supporting them. The post holder will utilise research skills for evaluation and service development.

Main duties of the job

• To provide clinical leadership and highly specialist psychological consultation, guidance and ongoing support to a range of organisations, teams and professionals in the formulation and appropriate therapeutic approaches or intervention plans for survivors of sexual violence/abuse, and to be involved in, or oversee specialist psychological aspects of their implementation in collaboration with other staff.
• To provide expertise and guidance to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychologically informed practice across a range of organisations and teams caring for survivors of sexual violence/abuse.
• To undertake highly specialist psychologically based risk assessment and risk management in complex, distressing and perhaps emergency situations.
• Provide guidance and highly specialist formulations on the psychological aspects of risk to a range of organisations, teams and professionals.
• To make decisions and clinical judgements involving a range of highly complex factors in the context of inadequate or unavailable information, equivocal research/evidence or where expert opinion differs.
• To effectively communicate while having expert understanding and managing interpersonal skills barriers in complicated, difficult and contentious matters to service users, family/carers in a potentially emotive or hostile atmosphere.

About us

We are proud to provide high quality mental health and learning disability services, both inpatient and in the community across five boroughs of Greater Manchester - Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside and Glossop. Our vision is for a happier and more hopeful life for everyone in our communities and our staff work hard to deliver the very best care for the people who use our services. We're really proud of our #PennineCarePeople and do everything we can to make sure we're a great place to work.

All individuals regardless of race, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership are encouraged to apply for this post. We would also encourage applications from individuals with a lived experience of mental illness, either individually or as a carer.

If you come and work for us we will offer a range of benefits and opportunities, including:

• Generous annual leave entitlement for Agenda for Change and Medical and Dental staff.
• Flexible working opportunities to support your work/life balance.
• Access to Continued Professional Development.
• Involvement in improvement and research activities.
• Health and Wellbeing activities and access to an excellent staff wellbeing service.
• Access to staff discounts across retail, leisure and travel.

Job responsibilities

• To support the provision of highly specialist psychological assessments, utilising information from a broad range of highly specialist psychological tool kits including psychometric and semi-structured clinical methodologies, where trained to do so.
• Integrating highly specialist assessments into a psychological specialist formulation of complex and challenging survivors drawing on a range of psychological theoretical perspectives.
• To formulate and provide highly specialist and complex judgements based on a multi-factorial psychological understanding, trauma responsive approaches and current research and evidence-based practice.
• To implement a range of specialist and highly complex psychological interventions to support the management of complex and challenging pathways and situations.
• Using a trauma-responsive approach to evaluate, analyse and make judgements on the effectiveness of the complex psychological interventions for complex and challenging situations and pathways.
• To make highly specialist adjustments to complex psychological interventions to ensure that the most effective interventions are delivered in an appropriate sequence and an appropriate pace.
• To make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about intervention options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors and how these impact on individuals and families.
• To support the delivery of a range of highly specialist and complex psychological therapeutic interventions, drawing on a range of psychological models and employing a range of modalities (individual, family and group) adapted and tailored to the needs of the individual, family or team and the context and the ongoing evaluation of the outcomes of the intervention. This will include ensuring the use of current research findings and best practice guidance.
• To organise own clinical time to enable the efficient provision of clinical time with a clinical caseload.
• To be able to sit frequently for substantial periods of time, through clinical case work, and while delivering clinical supervision, maintain intense prolonged and frequent periods of concentration.
• To be able to communicate effectively while engaged in clinical work that is highly distressing and or challenging with episodes of verbal/threat of physical aggression.
• To support all members of the Pathfinder partner organisations having access to a psychologically based framework for the understanding and care of survivors of sexual violence/abuse, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological knowledge, research and theory.
• To take substantial professional responsibility and exercise appropriate judgement, in consultation with colleagues in Pathfinder partner organisations supporting survivors of sexual violence/abuse, with regard to professional practice.
• To participate in the recruitment, selection and induction of staff when requested by the Service Lead and managers of Pathfinder partner organisations.
• To provide leadership and management oversight of the Pathfinder project and be responsible for clinical and data quality assurance of the reporting to NHSE.
• To take a lead in the development and implementation of the Pathfinder project including the development of pathways for survivors into a range of appropriate clinical services e.g. community mental health services, eating disorder services and crisis services.
• To contribute to the systematic governance of psychological practice within services, including maintaining systematic records and maintaining record keeping standards.
• To advise and participate in appropriate professional recruitment across a range of organisations as well as the recruitment of other clinicians within the GM Resilience Hub.
• To serve as a representative of the GM Resilience Hub at regional, national and international events including presenting, training and delivery of workshops.
• To contribute to the GM Resilience Hubs workstream leads group and take a lead there on protocols and procedures in relation to the Pathfinder project work along with supporting the development of performance and other reporting.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Doctorate level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical, psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS. Or a post-graduate doctorate in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) Statement of equivalence. Or an accredited membership with an appropriate psychological professional body and multi modality therapist with post graduate qualification.
• Qualification in at least one NICE approved psychological intervention for PTSD.

Experience

• Experience of working as a highly specialist psychological therapist with victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse.
• Experience in undertaking line management and clinical supervision of psychological therapies staff.
• Experience of working within multi disciplinary services within community and acute care pathways.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for psychological care and treatment as an autonomous practitioner with complex and challenging service users within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan.
• Experience of effective and interpersonal and relationship management at a strategic level.

Desirable

• Experience of the application of psychological therapy in diverse cultural and ethnic contexts.
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.

Knowledge & Skills

• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to a range of professionals in both work and private lives, their families, as well as clients of mental health services.

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.