Clinical Psychologist (Development post) in London

We are looking for a confident, enthusiastic and dynamic psychologist to join our busy multi-disciplinary neurodevelopmental assessment team working across Newcastle and Gateshead. You will work collaboratively with multidisciplinary team members alongside the Principal Clinical Psychologists, Band 7 psychologist, and Assistant Psychologists assessing children and young people. Professionally there are links with the wider network of psychologists who deliver psychology into our mental health and learning disability teams.

You will be working in an environment where there is strong emphasis on teamwork and quality of clinical care. You will be responsible for leading assessment and formulation of complex presentations, exploring possible neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities and/or disorder as well as thoroughly considering wider factors and comorbidity. Our assessments provide thorough profiling of young people's strengths, needs and difficulties helping to ensure that they have access to the most appropriate understanding and supports as they develop and grow. We are looking for a clinician who has significant experience, knowledge and training in neurodevelopmental assessment skills and who is able to put the young person and their family at the centre of every assessment.

As a service, we value the role of robust, supportive and effective supervision and you will have access to separate clinical and management supervision at a frequency that meets your needs. The post-holder will contribute to the supervision of assistant psychologists, newly qualified psychologists and also team members from wider professions. We have close links with our local clinical training courses and there is opportunity to supervise trainee clinical psychologists on both core and elective placements.

We aim to attract and retain a diverse, talented and committed workforce, who are caring and compassionate, and therefore able to meet the demands of the modern NHS now and in the future. In return we can offer a dynamic working environment in which to build a career.

The successful candidate will be supported to engage in delivering teaching, training, service evaluation and research according to interests and service need. There will be opportunities and support to develop leadership, supervision and service development skills. Progression within the post is dependent on the individual's level of experience and evidence of competence in a number of key areas. These include supervision, the application of advanced theoretical and practical knowledge, the demonstration of complex analytical and judgement skills, leadership of a service development initiative or clinical pathway, and participation in service evaluation or research projects. Progression is typically considered following at least 18-24 months of post-doctoral experience. We expect the post holder to actively pursue continuous professional development and will support them to identify needs and to progress in a meaningful way as they progress through their career in our service. Discussion will take place with the successful candidate in regard to specific role responsibilities, in part based on skills set and interests, as well as the clinical needs of the service.

Person Specification

• Education and Qualification
• Essential: Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and Neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society and the HCPC.
• Essential: HCPC registered practitioner psychologist.
• Desirable: Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology. Formal training in neurodevelopmental assessment measures e.g. ADOS, ADI-R.
• Knowledge and Experience
• Essential: Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, and inpatient settings.
• Essential: Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course with presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity, including severe and enduring mental health problems, psychosis and personality disorder.
• Essential: Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex multivariable data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Desirable: Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision. Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts. Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health. Completion of Doctorate in Clinical Psychology supervisor training.
• Skills and Competencies
• Essential: Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management.
• Essential: Skills in evidence based psychological interventions.
• Essential: Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their family, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Desirable: Demonstrates confidence in presenting evidence-based recommendations to professionals, service users and partner agencies, facilitating shared understanding and collaborative decision-making.
• Role/Team specific requirements
• Essential: Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multimedia materials for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Essential: Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive behaviour.
• Desirable: Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Personal Characteristics
• Essential: Demonstrates excellent time management and prioritisation skills, balancing quality, timeliness and service needs.
• Essential: Strong team player who is able to work collaboratively and maintain positive working relationships across multidisciplinary and multi-agency teams.
• Essential: Confident in communicating clinical opinions and recommendations in a clear, professional and respectful manner.
• Essential: Demonstrates sound professional judgement and is able to make balanced decisions in complex clinical situations.
• Essential: Committed to delivering person-centred, neuroaffirming and evidence-based practice.
• Desirable: Displays a positive and constructive approach to managing service pressures and organisational change. Ability to support, influence and facilitate discussions with a range of stakeholders to achieve collaborative outcomes.
• Additional Requirements
• Essential: Able to meet the mobility requirements of the post.