Bank level 8a Senior Practitioner Psychologist

Job description

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Deliver highly specialist psychological assessments for children with neurodevelopmental and complex mental health needs.

• Formulate, implement and evaluate evidence-based psychological interventions for children, families, carers and groups.

• Undertake specialist psychometric, neuropsychological and behavioural assessments, including tools such as ADOS-2 and ADI-R where appropriate.

• Provide highly specialist psychological consultation, advice and support to multidisciplinary teams and partner agencies.

• Undertake risk assessment and contribute to effective risk management planning.

• Act as care co-ordinator where appropriate, ensuring coordinated and effective multidisciplinary care.

• Communicate highly complex and sensitive information to children, families, carers and professionals.

• Supervise practitioner psychologists, assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists and research staff.

• Deliver teaching, training, consultation and professional development activities across services.

• Contribute to research, clinical audit, service evaluation and quality-improvement initiatives.

• Lead and support service development projects and contribute to operational policy development.

• Promote best practice, professional standards and clinical governance within psychology services.

• Participate in staff recruitment, supervision, appraisal and development activities.

• Maintain accurate clinical records, reports and professional documentation in accordance with HCPC, BPS and Trust standards.

• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation, safeguarding requirements, neurodevelopmental practice and psychological interventions.

• Work collaboratively with health, education and community partners to improve outcomes for children and young people.

Person specification

Qualifications / training

Essential criteria

• ost Graduate Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, / applied psychology including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• HCPC Registration as a Practitioner Psychologist
• Registered with Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Desirable criteria

• Training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of children across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of supervising other psychologists, assistant psychologists, therapists and trainee psychologists.

Skills/knowledge

Essential criteria

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment (including psychometrics such as ADOS), intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to children, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and nonprofessional groups.
• Knowledge of typical and atypical child development including neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD/ASD.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. dual diagnoses, children with additional learning disabilities or difficulties etc).
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to children.

Desirable criteria

• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.

Other job requirements

Essential criteria

• Is able and willing to move around the city.
• Must have a full driving license and access to a vehicle
• Is able to carry a variety of equipment between locations safely.

UK Home Office Visa Sponsorship requirements

In accordance with UK Home Office requirements, Band 2 clinical and non-clinical roles and Band 3 Non-Clinical roles are not eligible for sponsorship.

Please note that the majority of non-clinical roles (Agenda for Change Band 3 - 6) with the exception of those which appear on this list -