About this role
Job summary
We are pleased to be advertising a part-time 8a clinical / counselling psychology post working in the Older Adult Inpatient Wards at Highgate Mental Health Centre (HMHC). We are looking for an experienced HPC registered clinical psychologist or counselling psychologist with a Doctoral qualification to join a group of dynamic and creative psychologists working with older adults. You will need to be passionate about working with older people, their families, systems and networks and committed to MDT working.
You will work closely with another specialist older adult psychologist based on the same site and form part of a small team of older adult clinical psychologist working in inpatient settings, as well as joining a vibrant, supportive and dynamic older adult psychology team working across NLFT.
We have a commitment to shared learning and have special interests in systemic work with older people, EMDR, CFT, ACT and research. We committed to trauma informed care and attempt to embed anti-discriminatory practice into our work with older adults and their systems.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will work part-time on the older adult mental health inpatient wards at Highgate Mental Health Centre.
The post holder will be responsible for providing highly skilled psychological assessment and specialist intervention to highly complex clients on the older adult mental health inpatient wards. They will work closely with MDT colleagues and offer advice and consultation on clients' psychological care to referrers, non-psychologist team colleagues and other professional and non-professional carers.
The post holder will provide reflective practice and staff support sessions as appropriate and become actively involved in staff training and service education/training initiatives as required.
The post holder will provide supervision to qualified clinical psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists on the older adults' wards, ensuring high-quality evidence-based interventions.
The postholder will manage trainee clinical psychologists and other psychological staff working in older adult inpatient settings, where appropriate and ensure delivery of high-quality evidence-based interventions.
About us
North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.
Our Five-Year Strategy
- We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.
- With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
- We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care.
- We will be more effective as an organisation by pioneering research, quality improvement and technology.
Why NLFT?
- We develop and retain our staff through leadership behaviours and managers programme and many more opportunities.
- We promote flexible working and support staff with a range of health and wellbeing initiatives.
- NHS Discounts, generous annual leave and NHS pension scheme
- Excellent internal staff network
In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. This may mean that you are required to work at any location that fall under Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey or Islington. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The post holder will be responsible for providing highly skilled psychological assessment and specialist intervention to highly complex clients on the older adult mental health inpatient wards. They will work closely with MDT colleagues and offer advice and consultation on clients psychological care to referrers, non-psychologist team colleagues and other professional and non-professional carers.
Please see the attached JD and PS for details
Person Specification
Education
Essential
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology or counselling psychology
- Registration with the Health & Care Professions Council
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable
- Pre-Completion of further post-doctoral post-qualification specialist training in areas of practice relevant to the postqualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Skills in the use of a range of methods of psychological assessment (including neuropsychological assessment), intervention and management for the full range of problems of severity and complexity presented in older people's mental health services including dementia and challenging behaviours and frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.0 hours
- Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
- Well-developed skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
- Knowledge of current theoretical models and skills in working with people whose behaviour challenges.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practised within the clinical fields of psychology.
- Ability to contain, explore and formulate an understanding of high levels of distress both directly with patients and indirectly via supervision of other staff.
Desirable
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
Experience and knowledge
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and intervention/treatment of people across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, residential care homes and in patient settings.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems.
- Significant post-qualification experience working with older people and people with dementia as well as their families, carers and networks.
- Significant experience of working with behaviour which challenges staff and carers.
- Significant experience of working as part of a multidisciplinary mental health team
- Significant experience of enabling others within a multidisciplinary / staff team to consider psychological factors and deliver psychologically informed interventions.
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
- Experience of receiving and providing supervision
- Experience of teaching and training.
- Experience of participating in or supporting post incident debriefs
- Experience of supporting reflective practice
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
Desirable
- Knowledge and application of QI methodology.
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Ability to form good working relationships with others in a multidisciplinary setting and establish constructive working relationships across services and care agencies
- Flexibility and versatility in order to work effectively with the wide range of individual needs encountered in a service for Older People
- Ability to use clinical supervision and personal development positively and effectively
- Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality
- Ability to be self -reflective whilst working with service users, in own personal and professional development, and in supervision.
Other requirements
Essential
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
- 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 material and challenging behaviour.
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. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details
Employer name
North London NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Highgate Mental Health Centre
Dartmouth Park Hill
London
N19 5HH
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.northlondonmentalhealth.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)