Job Description
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical Psychologist to work within our older persons mental health inpatient wards.
The post involves providing a psychology service to the two older person’s wards in Taunton, which cater for both people with dementia and people with acute mental health difficulties. Work will involve a mixture of individual work, group work, consultation, training, and supervision.
You will be joining a well-established Older Persons Clinical Psychology service in Somerset which currently employs 9 qualified Clinical Psychologists, 4 Assistant Psychologists and 5 - 6 Trainee Clinical Psychologists each academic year. You will also have good links with other later life practitioners across the wider Trust footprint and the opportunity to link with psychology colleagues working across other specialisms including other in-patient services. This allows for a varied and bespoke supervision arrangement to be tailored to your individual needs and interests.
We’re interested in hearing from people who have an interest and enthusiasm for working with older people. You’ll be resilient, confident and well organised and able to communicate effectively with people from a range of backgrounds. We are also able to consider a band 7 preceptorship to develop into a band 8a.
The post is full time but we also welcome applications from people who may wish to work part- time or job share.
You will be responsible for providing a high quality, psychological service to older people in Somerset who have been admitted to one of our two Older Adult mental health wards. There will be s a strong emphasis on developing formulations and supporting staff to implement psychologically informed care plans (Dialog+) and understanding behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. This varied and stimulating role will give you the opportunity to work with older people with a wide range of mental health difficulties, both organic and functional.
There will be significant opportunities for service development within this new role. You can be confident that you'll be supported by a senior member of the Older People’s Psychology Services to establish a robust and evidence based psychological service. The department has good links with local doctoral training courses and there will be opportunities for teaching as well as for audit and research.
Depending on your interest, you will be supported to undertake continuing professional development (CPD) which could include Systemic Family Therapy, neuropsychology, Cognitive Analytic therapy and other areas of special interest.
As an organisation, the NHS offers a wide range of benefits including flexible working, pension contributions, market leading annual leave allowance, career progression and regular conversations, not to mention our Blue Light Card and NHS exclusive discounts.
The benefits of working in Somerset include the idyllic countryside, with our areas of outstanding beauty and stunning coastlines. You will get to enjoy these perks whilst still only being a stone’s throw away from bustling city centres like Bristol, Bath and Exeter and only two hours away from London.
There are excellent educational facilities in the area and, when compared to other regions, house prices are reasonable. You will experience the best of both in Somerset, the countryside and the cosmopolitan – there is truly something for everyone!
- To undertake highly specialist psychological assessments based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
- To formulate and implement plans in conjunction with services within the Inpatient MDT for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework and current evidence-based best practice, taking into account the current NICE guidelines.
- To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups. And to be able to adjust and refine psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
- To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
- To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for psychological assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
- To liaise with appropriate professionals and to contribute to multi-disciplinary case discussions/planning meetings.
- To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan. This will include the training and clinical supervision of Inpatient MDT practitioners specialising in psychosocial interventions / basic psychological interventions. This will include advice and intervention with respect to clients with behaviours which challenge.
- To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan. This will include the training and clinical supervision of Inpatient MDT practitioners specialising in psychosocial interventions / basic psychological interventions. This will include advice and intervention with respect to clients with behaviours which challenge.
- To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group. All clinical input will be in accordance with the philosophy, policies and standing operating procedure of the inpatient service.
- To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients in accordance with Trust policy and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
- To operate appropriately within other legal frameworks such as the Mental Health and Mental Capacity Acts, including undertaking/advising about capacity assessments where appropriate
- To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
- To contribute towards effective discharge planning, liaising with a range of statutory and non-statutory providers as required. This is likely to include CMHTs, care agencies and care homes, primary care providers, day service providers, informal carers and family members.
- To develop effective links with the range of agencies, statutory and non-statutory, involved in providing care and support to clients and families / support networks
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