We currently have an opportunity to provide a 1-year fixed-term maternity cover (0.8wte) for our Clinical Psychologist in a dedicated mental health service for older adults. The Trust’s Older People’s service has been rated as ‘good’ by the CQC. We are committed to further improving care and delivering excellent quality services in the context of the ongoing transformation plan.
As the team psychologist, you will provide specialist clinical psychological assessments of individuals, carers and families of service users, using and interpreting complex psychological data from a variety of sources. This will include neuropsychological assessment and formulation. You will also provide formulation and implementation of formal psychological treatment and/or management plans, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the service user. You will play a key role in supporting and developing team formulation and the implementation of a range of psychological interventions for service users, and, where appropriate, carers and families.
You will need to make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about treatment options taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes and provide specialist clinical psychology expertise, knowledge, advice and guidance to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care.
You will be joining a very warm, positive and psychologically-minded team who are strong in their own professions (nurses, medics, occupational therapists, support workers and social care), able to reflect on their clinical practice and contribute to formulations. The team are used to hosting Trainee Clinical Psychologists, as well as other students, and you will have the opportunity to continue to provide clinical placements for the University of East Anglia (UEA). The feedback from our Trainees is that the team is fun, welcoming and nurturing. We also have strong links with UEA in lecturing and research. Your role will include a mixture of direct clinical work, groups, consultation, supervision, training and evaluation/research to ensure the team has the widest possible impact.
The team works with older people who may have a range of complex mental health difficulties, including difficulties relating to attachment issues, trauma, people with dementia, including Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD), anxiety and depression.
Within West Suffolk Older People’s services you will join a small team of psychologists, psychology assistants and Trainee Clinical Psychologists who have experience in CBT, CFT, ACT and Neuropsychology and we are currently looking to expand the access to and range of psychological therapies on offer to older people within our services.
We have excellent connections with other Older People’s services across the Trust. There is a Trust wide Older People’s Clinical Collaborative to promote clinically-led, evidenced based, practice. We also have a number of QI Projects happening within our West Suffolk OP teams currently underway include improving physical health monitoring for older people, research into co-production, and improving referrals through training Care Home colleagues. We are also involved with the Trust’s LiA project to promote Proactive Resolutions.
Clinical supervision will be provided by the Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist.
If you are passionate about, or want to develop skills in, working with older people and you want to be part of developing mental health interventions for older adults at an exciting time of change and improvement then please get in touch.
Please see Job description for full details.
