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Job summary

Main area
Community Mental Health
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 7
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Part time - 22.5 hours per week
Job ref
325-6141573-COMM
Employer
Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Horizon House
Town
Epsom
Salary
£45,753 - £52,067 Incl. 5% Fringe HCAS, pa, pro rata
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
08/05/2024 23:59

Employer heading

Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust logo

Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

NHS AfC: Band 7

Would you like to work in an organisation that sits in the top 10 best NHS Mental Health, Learning Disability and Community Services Trust  to work for.  This ranking is based on staff feedback in the 2023 NHS Staff Survey.

Job overview

Part Time - 22.5 hrs per week

The Intensive Support Team offers comprehensive, therapeutically-informed assessments to individuals with dementia who are currently residing in care homes. The service is guided by the principles of Positive Behaviour Support and offers evidence-based approaches to promote the wellbeing of people with dementia and the wider system. To succeed in this role, you will have the confidence to engage with a range of stakeholders; including the person, relatives, professionals and care home staff.

You will draw on your professional skills and knowledge to assess and respond to behaviour that challenges in dementia, as part of a stepped-care service by delivering interventions that focuses on unmet needs of people using services. You will take a leadership role by offering specialist training, supervision and sharing ideas informed by training. There is an emphasis on partnership working, with expectations to engage with people working across statutory/voluntary sectors to facilitate a whole-system approach to care delivery for people with dementia.

You will be co-located with the CMHT for Older People, operating from the Mid Surrey hub in Epsom (9-5, Monday to Friday).

This is an excellent opportunity for a newly qualified or current band 7 who is passionate about delivering excellence in dementia care. We provide a supportive and nurturing team environment where colleagues learn from one another, celebrate diversity, and openly share experiences, difficulties and new ideas.

Main duties of the job

  • To be responsible for the systematic provision of specialist assessments for people with dementia who present with complex presentations or behaviour that challenges.
  • To deliver high quality direct (assessment and therapeutic) and indirect (consultative, advisory and evaluative) specialist psychological interventions by making autonomous clinical decisions about own professional practice.
  • To act as a person-centred leader and role model at all times to inspire others into delivering high quality, dignified care for people with dementia.
  • To ensure the clinical effectiveness of your own practice and the functioning of the service by undertaking audit, research and service development activities relevant to the service area.
  • To operate as part of a multidisciplinary team and work closely with primary care services, statutory/voluntary agencies and service users & carers.
  • To work autonomously within the clearly defined boundaries of the role, as well as carrying out specific clinical tasks and responsibilities that may cross professional demarcations of care.

Working for our organisation

Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is the leading provider of health and social care services for people of all ages with mental ill-health and learning disabilities in Surrey and North East Hampshire. We also provide social care services for people with a learning disability in Croydon and ASD and ADHD assessment services in Hampshire.

We actively seek to engage people who use our services and our communities in improving the mental wellbeing of the local population. We work closely with other NHS and voluntary sector organisations who provide services and support people who use services and carers.

Surrey is a beautiful county lying just 30 minutes away from Central London and from the South Coast.

Our historic market towns and bustling districts are enveloped in wonderful countryside, and our excellent road and rail networks bring the rest of the country within easy reach.

For international travel, both Gatwick and Heathrow airports are nearby.

Please note that we reserve the right to close posts as soon as sufficient applications are received.

Eligibility to high cost area supplement is conditional upon candidates residence and will be discussed on offer. 

We look forward to receiving your application!

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

You will have well-developed interpersonal skills and the ability to modify your communication style based on your target audience.  Most importantly, we are looking for people who endorse the following ideas or values:

  • A commitment to viewing behaviour in dementia as meaningful and understandable once we find out more about the person’s life history, current outlook/perspective and the degree of ‘fit’ with their environment
  • Reframing problems or challenges as creative opportunities or possibilities to experiment with innovative ideas
  • A desire to enable people with dementia to live healthy lives, which will include participation in the local community, access to valued roles, fostering meaningful relationships and having opportunities to develop skills and showcase strengths
  • Being prepared to act as a person-centred role model to inspire staff teams to offer compassionate and dignified care to people with dementia.  This will include facilitating information-sharing sessions with staff teams, as well as direct modelling of more helpful approaches/interventions
  • A strong commitment to a ‘learning culture’ where reflection, training and supervision are used to develop self-awareness, improve clinical outcomes and develop team functioning
  • A belief in learning from ‘experts by experience’: valuing the perspectives offered by the person with dementia and family/paid carers
  • Valuing tact, integrity and diplomacy when providing sensitive feedback or handling emotionally-charged situation

The post holder will be responsible for managing their own caseload and ensuring that the mental health needs of each individual are comprehensively assessed in order to ensure that holistic care plans and tailored interventions are developed.  Such approaches should encompass NSF standards and Government policy guidelines, as well as best practice within the post holder’s area of specialty and dementia care.  By offering intensive and therapeutically-driven support for people with more complex needs, we hope to prevent placement breakdowns and unnecessary admissions to psychiatric wards, and enhance people's wellbeing and quality of life. 

This role offers excellent professional development, including the opportunity to supervise junior colleagues, provide teaching and consultation to MDT colleagues, and develop skills in consultation and multi-agency liaison.

Please check the job description document, job overview and main duties for more information on the requirements for this job.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology qualification or equivalent

Registration

Essential criteria
  • Is registered with HCPC or will achieve this within 6 months

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience of working with people from across the life span with a range of mental health issues and cognitive profiles
  • Experience across a range of psychological models including systemic, behavioural and individual therapeutic
Desirable criteria
  • Previous experience of working in dementia care
  • Previous experience supporting care homes
  • Previous experience practicing within a Positive Behaviour Support and trauma-informed care framework.
  • Previous experience of assessment and delivering psychological interventions in older age

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Dr Fiona Perella
Job title
IST OP Lead & Principal Clinical Psychologist
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01932 587 032
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