Principal Clinical / Counselling / Health Psychologist

Job summary
Psychological Services are a core element of multidisciplinary teams working across two weight management pathways - a surgical pathway (tier 4) and a non-surgical pathway (tier 3). We work closely with our dietetic, nursing, medical and surgical colleagues to deliver psychological informed care to patients requiring weight management services. As the Lead Psychological Practitioner in this area, you will lead a highly regarded service delivered by yourself and 1.4wte Clinical Psychologists. Alongside the direct delivery of psychological care you will have opportunities to develop the psychological pathways as Weight Management Services undergo exciting new developments across Coventry and Warwickshire.

You will join Psychological Services at UHCW which delivers psychological care within UHCW, outpatients and Coventry community health provision. We are a welcoming team the successful applicant will work collaboratively with psychological colleagues across GEH and UHCW.

Closing Date: Please be advised that this job advert will close as soon as sufficient applications have been received. Please apply for this job as soon as you can, if interested.

Successful applicants will be required to provide an immunisation and vaccination report, from either their current UK occupational health provider or their UK GP.

Main duties of the job

• To take full clinical responsibility for the provision of high quality psychological services to individuals referred to the weight management service for support to lose weight with and without bariatric surgery. This will predominantly be in an outpatient setting but may also include inpatient settings for those undergoing surgery.
• The post holder will be expected to have advanced theoretical and practical knowledge in order to deliver highly specialist psychological assessments of patients, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological and physical health information collected from a variety of sources including psychometric tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct observations and semi-structured interviews with patients, family members and others involved in the care.
• To formulate, make decisions and implement highly specialist plans for the psychological treatment and/or management of a patient's mental health/physical health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patient's difficulties, and employing evidence-based, effective interventions.
• To be responsible for devising and implementing a range of highly specialist psychological interventions for individuals, families and groups with the service, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses

About us
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, rated as good by the Care Quality Commission, is one of the largest teaching Trusts in the UK.

We are extremely proud of our employees across our hospital sites, with high quality patient care at the heart of everything we do.

Boasting some of the most modern facilities in Western Europe, the Trust is renowned for being at the forefront of research and innovation as part of its blossoming reputation as a worldwide leader in healthcare.

We are proud to be recognised as a Pathway to Excellence designated organisation - please click the link for further details about this prestigious award. Pathway To Excellence - University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire (uhcw.nhs.uk)

By joining our exciting journey, you will form part of a passionate, talented team and will be able to access a wide range of learning and development opportunities. There has never been a better time to join our team.

The Trust is committed to building an organisation that makes full use of the talents, skills, experience, and different perspectives available in our diverse society. We want everyone to feel they are respected, valued, can achieve their potential and receive the most appropriate and relevant care. We will create an environment where the equality and human rights principles of fairness, respect, equality, dignity and autonomy are promoted and are part of the organisation's core values.

Job responsibilities

• To make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical culture and developmental and physical health processes that have shaped the individual or system.
• To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals and agencies outside the Trust when necessary, contributing directly to the patients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
• To ensure that all members of the multidisciplinary team to have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding the issues for the patients under our care, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory. This may include the provision of clinical supervision and reflective practice as appropriate.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual patients and to provide general advice to other professional on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management.
• To provide clinical supervision to qualified psychologist, trainee clinical/counselling psychologists on placement, assistant psychologists, volunteers and other colleagues, including doctoral and PhD research supervision as required.

Person Specification

Qualifications
Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical, Counselling or Health Psychology (or recognised equivalent)
• Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council.

Desirable

• Evidence of continuing professional development in the area of health psychology.

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working with a range of clients, presenting with a range of clinical severity and maintenance of professionalism in challenging circumstances.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatients, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
• Experience of tailoring psychological assessment and intervention to individual needs.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for work.
• Experience of team working
• Experience of applying psychology in different cultural contexts.

Desirable

• Experience of working within a health setting, in particular, weight management/bariatric surgery.
• Experience of teaching, training and clinical supervision of psychological and non-psychological colleagues
• Experience in providing consultancy to colleagues.

Knowledge
Essential

• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical/counselling/health psychology theory and practice, including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group.
• Doctoral level knowledge of audit/research design and methodology.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialist assessment methods and therapeutic approaches in relation to long-term health conditions, weight management and bariatric surgery.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practised within the field of clinical health psychology.

Skills
Essential

• Skills in the use of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• A high level ability to communicate effectively, at both a written and oral level, complex and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.

Desirable

• Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to other team members and staff exposed to highly distressing situations.

Commitment to Trust Values and Behaviours

• Must be able to demonstrate behaviours consistent with the Trust's values. (As detailed in UHCW's Values in Action document below)
• Applicants applying for job roles with managerial responsibility will be required to demonstrate evidence of promoting equal opportunities through work experience

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).