Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust

Band 8a (Or B7 Preceptorship) Clinical/Counselling Psychologist Post (37.5hrs)

This is an exciting time to join our Trust. South West London St. Georges is at the beginning of an exciting journey of transforming our community mental health services. In 2023/24 the Trust will benefit from significant investment in community mental teams to strengthen provision across all our boroughs.

About the role:

We have developed an exciting specialist full-time opportunity (with possibility for part time working) for a Band 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or a B7 with relevant experience looking to progress their career. We are looking for a committed Clinical/Counselling Psychologist who is passionate about working with children and young people and has a special interest in neurodevelopmental screenings and assessments. The role will be based within the Merton SPA team working alongside other SPA clinicians to complete assessment, formulation and signposting for young people presenting to the service. There are exciting development opportunities with supervision of an Assistant psychologist directly linked to the role and the opportunity to provide consultation to other SPA clinicians in relation to screening for neurodevelopmental conditions. The SPA team is an established, friendly, supportive team and welcomes new team members.

The Single Point of Access (SPA) team is made up of Consultant Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists, Counselling Psychologists, Assistant Psychologists and administrators. The SPA team forms part of the wider Merton CAMHS service based alongside T3 CAMHS at Birches House, Mitcham. The team processes referrals for young people from a range of professionals and completes assessments for young people presenting with a range of mental health difficulties, as well as potential neurodevelopmental conditions. A key role of the SPA is to complete screening for Neurodevelopmental conditions. Both the screening and assessment processes are led by qualified clinicians with support from assistant psychologists and administrators. The whole team values having supportive relationships with each other.

Minimum Requirements:

• Qualification as Clinical/Counselling Psychologist registered with the HCPC
• Experience of working with children and young people
• Experience of work within a multi-disciplinary team
• The ability to relate and provide accessible services to a diverse community
• The ability to efficiently manage a caseload
• Knowledge and skills in risk management and safeguarding
• A special interest in the area of neurodevelopment and neurodiversity.

We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust. We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ - we aspire to be ‘outstanding’. This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti-racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

Clinical Responsibilities:

• To provide specialist assessments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from various sources including psychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
• To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and management of a child’s difficulties and distress, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the child’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy.
• To be responsible for implementing a range of therapeutic interventions employed individually and in synthesis, maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses, adjusting and refining formulations or understandings, drawing upon different explanatory models and employing methods of intervention that are based upon evidence of efficacy.
• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options in line with relevant theoretical and therapeutic models and the factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of an individual case load that can include individual, family, and group-based treatment.
• To provide specialist clinical advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to a child’s formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual children and to provide advice to other teams and services on specialist risk assessment and risk management for this client group.
• To act as care coordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans including children, their carers, referring agents and others involved in the network of care.
• To communicate, in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of children to parents and carers.
• To ensure effective communication within the team and share relevant information as required.
• To implement and participate in crisis intervention measures with families in conjunction with other agencies.

This advert closes on Thursday 13 Mar 2025.