CBT Therapist, Clinical / Counselling Psychologist (Croydon OA CMHT)

NHS; London; On-site; GBP 51,000 - 59,000; Full time

Job description

CBT Therapist, Clinical / Counselling Psychologist (Croydon OA CMHT)

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

We are looking to appoint a full-time CBT Therapist / Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to join Older Adult Psychology and Psychotherapy (P&P) and work within the Croydon Older Adults Community Mental Health Team.

SLaM Older Adult mental health services provide assessment and intervention for people aged over 65 with mental health difficulties. Around one third of the multi-disciplinary team's caseload has a diagnosis of dementia. Our Older Adult P&P community workforce provides a range of NICE recommended Step 1, 2 and 3 interventions for depression, anxiety, personality disorder, psychosis and trauma. We have expanded our Older Adult P&P workforce to include new roles to support the development of a stepped model of care in our CMHTs and this post is crucial in this regard.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will consolidate and further develop therapy skills by regularly assessing for and providing psychological therapy to older adults known to the CMHTs with severe and complex mental health needs. The postholder will be expected to work as part of the CMHT delivering CBT and supporting older adults to receive the right care. The postholder will also contribute to the MDT by care coordinating/key-working and contributing to initial assessments, risk assessment and the duty system.

We are looking for an enthusiastic Cognitive Behavioural Therapist / Clinical or Counselling Psychologist with experience of and/or interest in working within mental health services for older people as part of multi-disciplinary teams. You will be expected to work autonomously to promote access to psychological interventions and to encourage psychologically informed care coordination. We are looking for someone that can offer a dynamic and creative approach to service delivery.

Job responsibilities

This role is essential in providing a quality service to people seen by the Older Adults Community Mental Health Teams. Older Adults present with a wide range of mental health problems and benefit from psychosocial approaches that this post will be supported to deliver.

Job Purpose:

To provide specialist CBT to Older Adults with complex mental health needs including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.

To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.

To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate.

To promote service evaluation, audit and research.

To work as an autonomous professional within registration body guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by the policies and procedures of the service, taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions with support of clinical supervisor.

To be active in the provision of staff support within their area, including but not limited to Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve. To participate, as a recipient, in staff support work when appropriate.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• A recognised post graduate qualification in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (or postgraduate level training conferring equivalent competences) OR Doctorate in counselling/Clinical Psychology
• Accreditation with the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP) or working towards it.
• A recognised qualification in one of the core mental health professions recognised by BABCP, e.g. mental health nursing, practitioner psychology, medicine, social work, occupational therapy or counselling AND current registration/accreditation with the core professional body, OR Evidence of having achieved the Knowledge Skills and Attitudes (KSA) route to BABCP accreditation. OR HCPC Registered Practitioner/Clinical/Counselling Psychologist
• Evidence of relevant continuing professional development.
• Evidence of post qualification training in clinical supervision.

Experience

• Experience of receiving clinical supervision across a range of client needs.
• Experience of assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature.
• Experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities. This may have been gained through work, research, volunteering and/or lived experience.
• Experience of developing and carrying out audit/research projects.
• Significant post-qualification/graduation experience including experience of individual and group therapy with people with complex mental health needs.
• Experience of working with Older Adults.
• Experience of working in Secondary Care/CMHTs.
• Experience of providing supervision to junior colleagues.

Knowledge

• Theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the relevant treatment.
• Knowledge of the theory of CBT and its therapeutic application.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities.
• Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability and accessibility of mental health care to deliver CBT across cultural and other differences.
• Knowledge of racial and other diversity issues and factors affecting access to mental health care.

Skills

• To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information.
• To plan and schedule assessment and interventions for individual clients and groups and carers (and for meetings such as CPA and case reviews where appropriate).
• To plan allocation of tasks to assistants/trainees as appropriate.
• Well-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data.
• Skills in providing teaching and training to other professional groups.

Abilities

• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate.
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings.
• Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions, and to deal with unexpected interruptions or changes during these.
• Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive 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.

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Lead Psychologist CMHT Psychology & Psychotherapy

£51,883 to £58,544 a year per annum Incl. of outer HCAs