JOB DESCRIPTION & PERSON SPECIFICATION Clinical / Counselling/Educational Psychologist Job Title : Salary Hours Location Reports to Principal / Clinical Psychologist / Counselling/ Educational Psychologist Dependent on qualifications and experience as per CPA salary scale * Note: CPA salary scales are informed by the NHS and Soulbury pay scales 40 hours per week (full time). Pro- rata positions available. Head Office - Manchester. Work locations will be flexible within defined geographical regions across the UK. Director of Practice / Operations Manager JOB SUMMARY Working in a variety of settings but as part of a dispersed team, this role applies psychological knowledge and expertise to a range of settings and clients. Primarily, our work supports children and their carers/ families within residential care, fostering and schools. The activities include assessment, formulation and direct work, consultation to teams, training and service development. We also work with adult clients in residential and supported living as well as a small number of individual clients. Clinicians also have the opportunity to undertake assessments and reports for a variety of medico- legal and business clients. We seek to apply psychological expertise into a wide range of front line settings and contexts 1. Core Responsibilities To provide a specialist psychology input to young people and their families/ carers in residential care, foster care and educational settings and/or To provide specialist psychology input to adults in social care settings supporting and promoting positive mental health and emotional well being To work systemically with those settings and organisations across health and social care and education supporting teams to develop practice and supporting managers to develop services Undertaking assessments and reports for Medico- legal clients
Contributing to the delivery of training Undertaking assessments and interventions for business clients There is the potential for a limited caseload of individual clients. 2. Practice Responsibilities To be responsible for the provision of specialised psychological services at various levels of intervention to clients within a variety of settings To engage flexibly with clients and their carers/families to promote constructive working relationships To provide support, guidance, interpretation and knowledge to carers and families to develop behaviour management and care plan strategies To consult to staff teams and families working with dynamics and systems to support clients. To support, where appropriate, the work of other staff working with clients through consultation and supervision To liaise with Social Services, CAMHS, Schools, Child Protection, General Practitioners, other NHS services and other staff in the provision of services to clients To produce assessments and other reports as required for each setting Where appropriate, to undertake assessments of medico- legal referrals using a range of tools and measures and produce reports as required. 3. Organisational To attend regular team meetings and CPD days with other colleagues To positively engage with both clinical and line management supervision To maintain open and straightforward communication with colleagues and provide information within the time and format required Principal psychologists will have additional responsibilities for the supervision of other members of staff. 4. Administration To maintain proper clinical records and provide statistical returns as required To be involved in monitoring and evaluation of the psychology service within the organisation To maintain expenses and other organisational records as required To maintain confidentiality for and with clients (individual and organisational). 5. Research
Research in areas relevant to clinical work and community development is encouraged and may be undertaken in collaboration with other professionals, where appropriate. 6. General The post holder will be required to:- 1. Ensure that CPA s policy on equality of opportunity is promoted through his / her own actions and those of any staff for whom he / she has responsibility. 2. Co- operate fully with the implementation of Health and Safety arrangements, reporting any accidents/incidents/equipment defects to his/her manager, and maintaining a clean, uncluttered and safe environment for patients/clients, members of the public and staff. 3. Adhere at all times to all CPA policies/codes of conduct, including for example: Smoke Free policy I.T Security Policy and Code of Conduct Standards of attendance, appearance and behaviour Safeguarding 4. All employees of CPA are legally responsible for all records held, created or used as part of their employment including clients, corporate and administrative records whether paper based or electronic and also including emails. All such records are public records and are accessible to the general public, with limited exception, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Data Protection Act 1998. 5. Take responsibility for his/her own ongoing learning and development, including full participation in clinical and line management supervision and appraisals, in order to maximise his/her potential and continue to meet the demands of the post. 6. Represent CPA s commitment to providing the highest possible standard of service to patients/clients and members of the public, by treating all those with whom he/she comes into contact in the course of work, in a pleasant, courteous and respectful manner. 7. Understand that this post may evolve over time and that this Job Description will therefore be subject to review in the light of changing circumstances. Other duties of a similar nature and appropriate to the role may be assigned from time to time. 8. It is a standard condition that all CPA staff may be required to serve at any location within the assigned region, as needs of the service demand. PERSON SPECIFICATION
Notes to applicants 1. You must clearly demonstrate on your CV and supporting statement how you meet the required criteria - failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted. You should clearly demonstrate this for both the essential and desirable criteria. 2. Proof of qualifications and/or professional registration will be required if an offer of employment is made - if you are unable to provide this, the offer may be withdrawn. Essential Criteria These are criteria all applicants MUST be able to demonstrate either at short listing or at interview. Applicants should therefore make it clear within their application whether or not they meet these criteria. Failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted. The stage in the process when the criteria will be measured is stated below: 1. Honours Degree in Psychology/ Counselling Psychology / Educational Psychology 2. Post- graduate Doctoral level training in Clinical, Counselling or Educational Psychology 3. Live registration with Health Care Professionals Council or eligible for immediate registration 4. Experience of working with adults and/or children/ adolescents and their families or carers or have transferable skills from the Health and Social Care sector or Education sector 5. Hold a full current driving licence valid for use in the UK and have, on appointment, access to a car 6. Ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems 7. Knowledge of psychology, lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, mental health, cognitive impairment, psychometrics, and psychological therapies relevant to this specialism 8. Ability to use complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration 9. Ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information, to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional person outside the NHS or education sector 10. Ability to use psychological knowledge and learning to advise and guide service development and planning 11. Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both practice and professional management in relation to the client group 12. Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS / AEP 13. Enthusiasm for a broad range of psychological phenomena, an interest in models of service delivery, and an ability to articulate the value added by educational clinical psychology services within the context of multi- disciplinary services 14. Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to hold the stress of others
15. Ability to develop and use complex multi- media materials for presentation in public, professional and academic settings 16. Ability to articulate and interpret clearly the role of the profession of psychology based upon a good understanding of the framework of government and national professional policy. As part of the Recruitment & Selection process it will be necessary for CPA to carry out an Enhanced Disclosure Check through the Disclosure and Barring Service before any appointment to this post can be confirmed. We are an Equal Opportunities Employer