An opportunity has arisen for a compassionate and motivated senior clinical or counselling psychologist to join the BNSSG Wide CEN Service. We warmly welcome applications from people who can bring diversity to our team with regard to ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and disability.
The BNSSG Wide Complex Emotional Needs Service offers consultation, supervision, training and specialist evidence based interventions across the BNSSG area for service users with difficulties associated with complex emotional needs (also known as personality disorder). The team is made up of a both registered HCP’s, clinical associate psychologists and staff with lived experience of complex emotional needs. The team draws on strong local partnerships with recovery services and co-delivers a range of evidence based interventions across the system including SCM, DBT and MBT.
The team operates with an emphasis on compassion, hope, robust support for staff and continual improvement of services, with co-production at the heart of what we do.
This post covers Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) and will form part of the leadership structure alongside the team with the clinical lead, service manager and senior lived experience practitioner. Your main base will be within Bristol with opportunities for flexible remote work.
This varied and challenging post will involve being clinical supervisor for the team’s qualified clinical associate psychologists (CAPs) and supporting and assessing the knowledge and skills of future CAP apprentices within the team.
It also involves offering group reflective practice, training and clinical supervision to AWP staff. The post holder will be able to hold a clinical caseload within Bristol Complex Psychological Interventions Service to add variety to the work and maintain professional connections.
Complex Psychological Interventions Service:
The successful candidate will have the opportunity to link directly with the CPI. The CPI are a friendly and supportive team, who are highly valued within local services. They offer a range of activities to support psychologically informed care within the secondary mental health service and are comprised of multidisciplinary professions, including Clinical Psychologists, Arts Psychotherapists, Medical Psychotherapists and Specialist Nurses. You will receive excellent support and supervision from more senior and well-established CPI members.
We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
We aim to provide High Quality, Compassionate Care everywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy.
Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200miles, to more than 1.8million people.
At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.
CLINICAL:
To provide a high quality and largely autonomous and systematic clinical/counselling psychology service.
To undertake highly specialist assessments, including neuropsychological assessment, risk assessment and assessment for suitability for specialist psychological therapies with clients and their carers (as appropriate to the role).
To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of clients’ mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
To be responsible for providing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
To provide at least one specialist evidence based psychological intervention as dictated by the needs of the service.
To provide highly specialist consultation to members of the various teams in the area and beyond regarding formulation and psychological management of clients of those teams.
To use highly specialist psychological knowledge and skills to contribute to the more effective management of patients by teams.
To be involved in the development and delivery of training within the Trust.
To participate in clinical and caseload supervision arrangements provided by the Service.
To maintain accurate records and to monitor clinical workload using agreed systems.
To support the full implementation of CPA or equivalent including acting as care-coordinator as appropriate to the needs of the service.
To enter data as requested by the Trust in a timely manner.
MANAGEMENT:
Delegated caseload supervision.
Represent the service at specialist meetings as requested.
The co-ordination of small scale projects as requested.
PROFESSIONAL:
To fully adhere to the Policies and Procedures of the HCP. To fully observe the BPS (1996) Code of Conduct and the DCP Guidelines for the Professional Practice of Clinical Psychology (1995).
To be aware of, adhere to, and where appropriate, contribute to the formulation and review of Trust, Area, Clinical Psychology policies and procedures. Copies of Trust Policies can be accessed via the staff intranet or from your manager.
To participate in local psychological therapy and psychology meetings and trust wide meetings as appropriate.
To maintain and develop high standards of clinical psychology practice by engaging in continuing professional development and co-operative working/networking with other clinical psychologists.
To participate in an annual performance appraisal.
To participate in clinical supervision.
SERVICE GOVERNANCE:
To participate in service governance processes in the profession and in the LDU to maintain a safe, effective service which responds to Service User feedback.
To support and participate in multidisciplinary clinical audit.
To liaise with other disciplines and agencies to ensure that best practice is shared.
To promote the use of effective interventions in the service.
TRAINING AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT:
To provide supervision for clinical psychology trainees from regional training courses and elsewhere as appropriate.
To provide training, supervision and consultation in psychological approaches to other staff in multidisciplinary teams. This is to include joint assessment, formulation of psychological problems and planning of interventions to be implemented by other team members with service users.
To contribute to the development of a psychologically based framework of understanding and care across service settings through providing teaching, training, consultation and supervision.
To provide training and supervision to assistant psychologists.
To participate in peer supervision arrangements for psychologists in the area.
To collaborate with colleagues to develop and offer training courses, workshops and supervision groups to develop psychological skills for staff in the area.
To contribute to the teaching of students and trainees in psychology, medicine, nursing and other health care disciplines.
To agree a plan of personal development with the line manager and professional lead for the service.
Provide inclusive, compassionate and effective leadership for your team by setting clear vision and direction.
Develop a culture and environment in which members of staff are encouraged and supported to deliver high- quality services and are supported to innovate and improve services where appropriate.
Encourage your team to feel able to raise concerns openly and safely.
Promote equality of opportunity in service delivery and employment, ensuring that no person receives less favourable treatment than another on the grounds of gender, marital status, race, religion, creed, colour nationality ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation or disability.
Support prompt recruitment by identifying vacancies to the AWP Recruitment Team as soon as they arise, and participate in the selection and effective induction and onboarding of new joiners to the team.
Ensure that all team members have a very positive introduction to the team and a well-supported first year.
Take responsibility for encouraging people to stay with AWP, ensuring that you are aware whenever a member of your team is considering leaving, seeking to understand their reasons and encouraging them to stay.
Ensure that key messages are cascaded in your team and that your team are encouraged to put forward suggestions.
Show appreciation to your team when they do good work and support them when they are struggling.
Consider the individual needs of team members for a healthy work-life balance and think about how their needs can be supported by providing flexible ways of working.
Support all team members to keep their mandatory and statutory training up-to-date and identify the learning and development needs of all team members of the team ensuring that everyone has an up-to-date personal development plan (PDP).
Ensure that every team member as at least an hour of supervision (one-to-one meeting) each month, this may include both managerial and clinical supervision.
Ensure all team members receive a constructive assessment of their performance each year and set SMART objectives for the coming year.
Seek support from the HR Team to tackle any worries regarding matters of discipline, including both conduct and capability concerns, supporting a ‘just and restorative culture’. Take prompt action regarding serious concerns and ensure clear plans are in place for problems which are less serious in nature but prove difficult to resolve.
Act as a positive role model at all times, encouraging people to feel equal members of the team whilst working within clear frameworks and policies.
Promote effective use of bank and agency nursing staff, providing a safe and effective service, complying with regulatory standards.
PERFORMANCE AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT:
Ensure that you and your team understand all of the agreed key performance indicators for your service, particularly relating to outcomes and essential standards to be met.
Ensure that you and your team understand data quality standards and that all the necessary records for your service are maintained and reported.
Ensure that you and your team understand all of the clinical and business action plans relevant to your services.
Ensure that you and your team understand all of the monitoring, auditing and reporting systems relevant to your services.
SERVICE DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING:
Actively seek opportunities for improvement for the services which you and your team provide by identifying research evidence and best practice elsewhere, interpreting/translating and facilitating adaptation for AWP.
Analyse and interpret data to inform the strategic direction of the services which you and your team provide.
Ensure multidisciplinary involvement and the use of quality improvement (QI) techniques in service improvement, by negotiating shared solutions, facilitating the resolution of complex or contentious issues and managing any conflict into constructive outcomes.
Ensure effective risk identification, analysis, mitigation and management within your services, encouraging all members of your team to be aware of and to manage risks.
GOVERNANCE AND POLICY:
Ensure that you understand all of the key governance requirements, policies and standards for your services and that these are communicated to your team; make sure your team understand the importance of good governance.
Support the development of policies relevant to your services, including your team in this work.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT:
To engage in research relevant to service priorities as appropriate.
To participate in audit and service evaluation activities examining the effectiveness of current service delivery and informing the development of services relevant to client needs.
To provide advice, support and consultation to colleagues from other disciplines undertaking research in the area.
