Registered Practitioner Psychologist

Job purpose

To provide a specialist applied psychology service ensuring the systematic provision of highly specialised psychological services within the designated clinical service. This includes the provision of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and therapy, offering advice and consultation on service users psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and other non-professional carers. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the CYP & Wellbeing division policies and procedures. To utilise research skills for audit, policy, service development and research within the CYP & Wellbeing division.

Duties and responsibilities

Clinical To provide specialist psychological assessment of service users based on the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources. This may include psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, family members and others involved in the service users care. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a service users psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the service users problems, employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions therapy for individuals, while adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses where appropriate. To increasingly exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans. To develop and implement specialist psychological interventions, integrated into a multidisciplinary effective care coordination process. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to service users formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans, including risk formulation and risk management To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all service users. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users and to provide advice, both general and specialist, to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of service users under their care and to monitor progressduring the course of both uni and multidisciplinary care. Teaching, Training and Supervision To engage with regular supervision and management from senior professional colleagues. To continue to gain wider post qualification experience relevant to the clinical role in line with HCPC and BPS requirements. To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching and training and to provide supervision to other staffs psychological work, e.g., staff from other designations, as appropriate. Management, Recruitment and Service Development To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the psychology teams and wider Trust operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit as requested by the service lead. To advise both psychology and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing as appropriate and requested by the service lead.Research and Service Evaluation To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members. To undertake appropriate research as agreed with the line manager and provide research advice to other team colleagues. To undertake as appropriate, project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to develop service provision. General To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the post holders line manager, in line with the priorities of the service and PACE objectives, and to provide evidence of CPD undertaken, e.g., in the form of the CPD log book. To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in psychology across the service by continuing to develop the skills of a reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal, and maintaining an active engagement withcurrent developments in the fields of clinical psychology and related disciplines relevant to the service area. To maintain the highest standards of clinical record-keeping, including electronic data Entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society and Trust policies and procedures. To maintain up-to-date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to the specific client group. To perform other duties of a similar kind appropriate to the grade which may be required by the line manager or head of service. The post holder will be expected to make full use of IT packages available within the work area, e.g., Microsoft Office, Email, Internet and statistical packages.