Clinical Psychologist

at  Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

We are looking to recruit a highly motivated Clinical Psychologist with an interest in community psychology.
This is a new post and the post-holder will develop innovative ways of working that will inform the further development of the Borough’s approach to community collaboration and health and social inequalities.
You must be keen to embrace working in a diverse borough, work across the lifespan, have experience of working with people with complex mental health difficulties and from a range of backgrounds as well as working in partnership with staff teams and community organisations to deliver psychologically informed care.
You will have a good understanding of the barriers and issues affecting the local population and work closely with organisations and services to support them. You will scope the needs, and service gaps faced by our population and together develop strategies to address these.
A substantial part of your working time will be spent conducting outreach in the areas most affected by wider health inequalities. Working closely with communities in identifying health and wellbeing needs and supporting the development of services in response to those needs. Part of your role will be seeking the community voice; recognising and addressing concerns about the mental needs of the population across the lifespan. This will include advising the community on prevention of illness and uptake of preventative measures .
To provide a highly specialist psychology service to Brent residents, across the lifespan, including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.
To work towards establishing voluntary and community sector partnerships to increase access to Psychological services.
To support services to provide a high-quality community offer to service users and carers.
To promote and develop innovative ways of working that will also inform the further development of the Borough’s approach to health and social inequalities.
To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate, functioning as a lead specialist in community psychology.
To undertake service evaluation, audit and research.
To work as an autonomous professional within BPS and HCPC guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by principles and policies or procedures of the service, taking responsibility for interpreting policies within defined parameters.
To agree outcomes/results with clinical/professional lead and to decide how they are best achieved.
To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.
Brent is a place of contrast and a destination for thousands of British and international visitors every year. Home of the iconic Wembley Stadium, the world-famous Wembley Arena, the new London Designer Outlet and the spectacular Swaminarayan Hindu Temple, it provides a stage for cultural, sporting and religious events of national and international importance. The team serves the diverse and vibrant population of Brent, named London Borough of Culture 2020 and most recently ‘Council of the Year’ at the LGC Awards 2020.
The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care
To provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in Brent, across the lifespan.
To work towards establishing voluntary and community sector partnerships to increase access to Psychological services.
To support services to provide high quality community offer to service users and carers.
To promote and develop innovative ways of working that will also inform the further development of the Borough’s approach to health and social inequalities.
To deliver well formulated and evidence-based approaches teaching and training, group interventions, MDT supervision, service evaluation and development projects.
To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with communities or individuals when required.
To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
To act as named worker taking responsibility for planning and reviewing care plans where appropriate.
KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning
To contribute to the effective working of the team, service and VCSEs to a psychologically informed framework for the service.
To contribute to the team, service’s and VCSEs delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of clients.
To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
KR 3 Policy and service development
To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.
To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.
To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
KR 4 Care or management of resources
To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.
To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.
KR 5 Management and supervision
To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of more junior psychologists with support from a more senior psychologist.
To supervise trainee applied psychologists within own area of specialism.
To contribute to the appraisal of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
To contribute to the recruitment of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
To provide supervision for the psychological work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.
To provide supervision/consultation to staff in VCSEs and other partner organisations.
KR 6 Teaching and Training
To undertake teaching and training of psychologists and specialised training to other professions as appropriate.
To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the BIPPS and Brent Mental Health Services (BMHS) by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychology and by implementing knowledge gained in practice.
To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.
KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance
To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.
KR 8 Research and development
To initiate, undertake, support and supervise regular complex service evaluation and audits.
To initiate and carry out appropriate research
To provide expertise in a specialist research area which will contribute to BIPPS and BMHS
To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.
KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development
To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychologist according to HCPC and Trust guidelines.
To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with BPS and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the HCPC ‘Standards for Continuing Professional Development’.
To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
To comply with the HCPC ‘Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics’ and ‘Standards of Proficiency’, and ensure professional development in line with these.
To adhere to the BPS’s Professional Practice Guidelines and Trust policies and procedures.
KR 10 General
To travel across the Borough as appropriate to engage with local communities and across the Trust when required.
To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.
To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations and to support others involved in such situations.
To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics or Saturday working, within the overall Job Plan