Clinical Psychologist

NHS; Exeter; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000

Job description

The West of England Gender Clinic is nationally commissioned by NHS England. It is the only service of its kind in the South West. The service receives referrals from the geographical area covered by NHS England. Patients who are under the clinical care of the service experience a sense of gender diversity or incongruence between their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity resulting in significant level of distress and discomfort and some impairment in psychological wellbeing and social functioning. The post holder will be supported by the Professional Lead and employed as part of the Specific Psychological Interventions team and will contribute to the leadership, development and delivery of psychological services at the SGIC. They will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team which provides specialist assessment, physiological, psychological and social interventions to patients within the service and consultation to professionals and significant others outside of the service. The service aims to alleviate patients distress, help them achieve a greater sense of gender comfort and in turn improve psychological wellbeing and social functioning.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will receive specialist training and supervision from senior clinicians in the service and will join the Gender Psychologists Peer Group with membership from around the UK. In addition NHS England and the Royal College of Physicians have developed Professional Certificates for Gender Identity Healthcare Professionals and members of the team are supported to pursue this qualification. Completion of this training along with relevant specialist experience should enable the post holder to register as a Gender Specialist Psychologist with the BPS. The Trust has strong links with both Exeter and Plymouth Universities and provides placements for the local clinical psychology courses. The Gender Clinic also delivers gender diversity teaching to 3rd year Trainees on DclinPsy courses.

The post would suit someone with an interest and wish to develop specialist knowledge and skills in this growing area of practice. It would suit someone with significant post qualification experience in delivering psychological services in another setting(s) in the NHS, including child, adolescent and adult mental health, acute physical health, or neurodevelopmental difference and diversity. In addition the post would suit someone with training and experience in clinical supervision and an interest in and experience of service development, evaluation and research. We advise that you contact Dr Sarah James, Professional Lead, to arrange a visit to the clinic before making your application.

About us

We provide mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services, as well as a range of specialist & secure services for the wider south west region & nationally. We are passionate about promoting good mental health & wellbeing. We strive to use the expertise & resources within our organisation, and through our partnerships, to deliver high quality services that are safe & focused on people's recovery.

We are committed to developing a culture of coproduction, involving patients, families & carers in everything we do.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications & experience - we recruit individuals who possess & demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. These include such attributes as showing a commitment to quality of care, improving lives of others, giving respect, dignity & compassion. We can bring those values to life in our everyday tasks by giving a smile; making time for people; challenging ourselves & others, & being open to new ideas.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer & applications are encouraged & welcomed from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics as governed by the Equality Act 2010. Part time & flexible working applications will be considered & supported, where possible. We particularly encourage applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions, neurodiversity or learning disabilities. We are a Disability Confident Leader.

Job responsibilities

Communication and Working Relationships

Patients, family and carers: To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner with patients who may have specific difficulties in understand and/or communicating and who may be hostile, antagonistic or highly emotionally disturbed.

Multidisciplinary team colleagues: To work closely with colleagues in the multi-professional gender identity service on a day to day basis. To contribute to the teams engagement including liaising with a wide range of professionals and agencies.

Health & social care staff: To communicate with a wide range of health & social care staff in a range of settings in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, complex and sensitive information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of patients under the services care. To provide support & guidance in the application of psychological principles and techniques, and to foster reflective practice.

Senior managers & professional staff: To maintain and build good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers across the gender identity service and in DPT to foster a positive approach to gender service provision and to enable effective negotiation.

Planning and Organisation

The psychology service: To plan and prioritise own workload, balancing the demands of patient care, support and guidance of carers and professionals and service research and development activities.

To contribute to the planning and organising of the psychological service within the gender identity service and to contribute to the development and improvement of provision of psychological services to best meet the organisations strategy and priorities.

The multidisciplinary service: To provide psychological knowledge to the multi-professional planning, development and marketing of the gender identity service.

Responsibility for Judgement and Analysis

To provide specialist clinical/counselling psychology expertise and advice including complex assessments of specialist conditions.

To provide psychological therapies, developing specialist psychological formulations and assessments of clients, formulating plans for their psychological treatment and implementing specialist psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups. Proficiency in in both individual and group therapy approaches is desirable.

To support the Professional Lead, Clinical Team Leader and Clinical Director by undertaking service development and redesign projects and coordinating the resulting work within the team.

Responsibility for Patient Care, Treatment and Therapy

Assessment, formulation & intervention: To make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about assessment, treatment and discharge, including the management of risk. To contribute to assessments to aid care pathway planning and to inform decisions about eligibility for gender service interventions. To formulate plans for psychological treatment and implementing specialist psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups and to demonstrate awareness of diversity issues. To maintain accurate and up to date client records.

Consultation & guidance: To provide advice, guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of patient care to colleagues, other service providers, patients, supporters and families.

Policy, Service, Research, Innovation and Improvement

The post holder is accountable for their own professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines.

Policy & service: To contribute to the development and implementation of policies and procedures for the provision of psychology and therapy services within the gender service and other services within the Trust.

R & D: To support the R&D activities of the gender service and other services within the Trust.

Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources

To be responsible for the safe keeping of equipment under own use.

Responsibility for Supervision, Leadership and Management

To lead and professionally supervise less experienced psychology/therapy staff, trainees and volunteers.

To provide trainee placement opportunities to trainee psychologists in line with professional guidelines.

To provide clinical supervision to psychology/therapy staff, trainees and volunteers and non psychology staff in the team.

Information Resources and Administrative Duties

To maintain accurate records, compliant with Trust Practice Standards.

To be responsible for using an email account to generate, monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by which the Trust conducts much of its internal communication.

Responsibility for Research and Development

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work within the gender service.

To conduct project work including specific areas of audit, research or service evaluation.

As a clinician to be responsible for collecting clinical practice and outcome data that contributes to building practice based evidence and service evaluation. To participate in service audits and relevant research projects.

Freedom to Act

The post holder is accountable for their own professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines.

To work autonomously within clinical professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the governance of psychological practice within the specialty. Interpretation of professional and Trust guidelines, and implementing policies in conjunction with peers, Head of Profession and General Manager.

To provide expert and specialist clinical/counselling psychology expertise and advice guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of patient care to colleagues, other service providers, patients, supporters and families.

Any Other Specific Tasks Required

To ensure all clinical care and treatment provided by psychologists/psychotherapists/therapists is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership.

To ensure that all relevant staff groups continuously update the skills and techniques relevant to their clinical work.

Person Specification

Other

• Ability to work independently and use initiative within a service consisting of a network of teams.
• Ability to work as a member of a clinical team.
• Ability to tolerate ambiguity, and maintain own morale and motivation in challenging service delivery contexts.
• Ability to interact with people from a range of backgrounds and unconventional expressions of gender and sexual identities, who may also require understanding of their experience of mental or physical distress and disability.
• Have experience of, or interest in marginalised identities and or gender and sexual diversity.
• Ability to use clinical and professional supervision effectively and in particular in relation to reflective practice.

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to communicate effectively verbally, nonverbally and in writing complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to patients, families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside of the NHS.
• Strong leadership qualities, resilience and ability to handle ambiguity and uncertainty.
• Skills in managing conflict, negotiation and achieving consensus in complex situations in the pursuit of agreed strategic aims.
• Advanced skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management.
• Ability to integrate complex data; make highly skilled evaluations and decisions; and take a long term perspective.
• Proven organisational, planning and time management skills.
• Ability to work under pressure and cope with deadlines.
• Presentable.
• Calm, methodical approach, friendly but concise.
• Good communication skills when presenting / facilitating to varying groups of people.

Knowledge

• Broad knowledge and familiarity of mental health and other specialist services; and of the services in the NHS where psychology and psychological therapies are commonly applied.
• Knowledge of theory and practice of at least two distinct psychological models/approaches and preferably cognitive and behavioural, systemic and narrative and/or humanistic and existential approaches.
• Knowledge of the policy context of specialist psychological services within the organisation and of clinical leadership arrangements in this setting.
• Knowledge of relevant British Psychological Society, American Psychological Association and Royal College of Psychiatrists professional and clinical guidelines for working with gender and sexual minorities and gender dysphoria.
• Knowledge of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health Standards of Care, the NHS England National Service Specification and the interventions available to people who experience gender dysphoria in the UK.
• Knowledge of the social and political history of gender and sexual diversity and how it may be related to healthcare.
• Knowledge of the psychological needs of patients experiencing gender and sexual diversity, a sense of incongruence or dysphoria.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to this patient group and to mental health, e.g. Gender Recognition Act.

Experience

• Experience in undertaking leadership roles within psychology/psychological therapy services in the NHS and in contributing to the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies and clinical policies in multi-disciplinary/ multi-agency contexts.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings and across the age range.
• Experience of providing psychological services in a multi-disciplinary and/or multi-agency context.
• Experience of working with issues of difference, diversity and social inequality.
• Experience of teaching, training and supervision.
• Experience of providing psychological services in an acute physical health setting.
• Experience of working with gender and sexual diversity.
• Experience of working with people with neurodevelopmental difference or diversity.

Qualifications

• Qualified Clinical Psychologist or Counselling Psychologist (D.Clin/Couns.Psychol.) and eligible for Chartered Clinical or Counselling Psychologist Status in the British Psychological Society including specifically: training in models of psychopathology, psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology and in research design, methodology and data analysis.
• Registration with HCPC.
• Further training in at least one psychological therapy.
• Further training in clinical supervision.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by BPS.
• Further training in gender and sexual diversity.
• Further training in assessment and interventions with people with developmental difference, i.e. autistic spectrum conditions and ADHD.

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.