Job Description

Would you like to gain experience in helping to break the intergenerational cycle of mental health problems through working psychologically with new mothers and their infants? If yes, then the perinatal mental health specialty could be for you! An exciting opportunity has arisen for a part-time Clinical Psychologist to join the Perinatal Community Mental Health Service (PCMHS) in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. This is an exciting time to gain experience in an expanding area of mental health care that offers the opportunity to contribute to reducing the inter-generational transmission of mental health problems. This opportunity will principally involve offering individual and group delivered psychological therapy to service users of the PCMHS and their infants and families, as well as Psychological consultation to MDT colleagues. The service has a strong track record in innovation and research and provides highly valued training opportunities for assistant psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists on elective placement. The post holder will join a service that highly values psychological ways of working and there will be opportunities to gain experience in leading on service improvement projects and research. There will be opportunities to pursue further training in psychological therapies that are tailored to the perinatal period (e.g. Video Interaction Guidance, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy).



We can offer a 7/8a developmental post, or an 8a post. The 8a is an excellent opportunity for those looking to progress their career, and we can support you with making the move from band 7. It is also a great opportunity for established 8as who want to gain experience in working in a new speciality. We are also keen to hear from applicants who are completing training this year: we have a well-established pathway for our 7/8a developmental posts within the UHB. We offer a professional development programme giving you the opportunity to consolidate your training, and to further develop skills and competencies to transition to 8a through successful completion of the programme.



The post holder will provide specialist psychological services within the Community Perinatal Mental Health service (PCMHS), where they will promote the use of psychological formulation and intervention in the care provided to the service's patients. Their work will include specialised psychological assessments, treatment and consultation to the team for patients. It also involves providing training and supervision to other disciplines in psychological approaches. The post holder will work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the UHB's and the PCMHS's policies and procedures. In common with all psychologists, the post-holder will receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with good practice guidelines.



Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is one of the largest Integrated Health Boards in the UK, employing over 17,000 staff, providing over 100 specialist services. Working across 6 hospital sites, we have a diverse range of career opportunities to offer. Serving over 500,000 people living in Cardiff and the Vale, we are focussed on the health and care needs of our local population whilst working with our partners to develop regional services. Together we are committed to improving health outcomes for everyone, delivering excellent care and support.



Our mission is "Living Well, Caring Well, Working Together", and our vision is that every person's chance of leading a healthy life should be equal. Our 10-year transformation and improvement strategy, Shaping Our Future Wellbeing, is our chance to work collaboratively with the public and our workforce to make our health board more sustainable for the future.



You will be able to find a full Job description and Person Specification attached within the supporting documents or please click "Apply now" to view in Trac



This is a fixed term post for 12 months to cover the needs of the service



1. To provide a highly specialised psychological service to the Perinatal Community Health service within Cardiff and Vale UHB and to be a core member of the team. This service will be to individual mothers and their families, and involving other people as appropriate, and this service might be provided at a range of locations, including patients' homes and other sites as appropriate.



2. To provide highly specialised psychological assessment to aid problem definition, understanding a diagnosis where appropriate and aid care planning. This may involve disclosing the outcome to the patient and/or family member and the provision of specialist psychological advice to facilitate adjustment to this information.



3. To advise on, provide specialist consultation to, and deliver appropriate psychological strategies to manage psychological problems impacting those with perinatal mental health conditions and to help patients and/or family members in their use.



T 4. To assess patients for psychological therapy and/or behaviour management across a broad range of mental health/psychological problems and to independently select and employ appropriate assessment methods (e.g. applied behavioural analysis, clinical interview, rating scales, etc.). This frequently involves gathering information from a variety of sources (e.g. the patient, her family and care staff) and examining the patient's difficulties in relation to these contexts. Frequent and prolonged periods of intense concentration will be necessary.



5. To individually formulate the patient's problems based on the highly complex information and perspectives gathered during the assessment and drawing on psychological theory and research. This will form the basis of therapy and will be guided by further review and reformulation.



6. To develop individual psychological therapy based on the formulation and to adapt this according to further review/reformulation.



7. To plan, coordinate and implement a range of different types of highly specialist therapies (e.g. cognitive-behavioural, systemic, etc.) according to the patient's problem/situation. This will frequently involve exposure to highly distressing and emotive information, e.g. regarding bereavement, trauma, abuse, etc. and will necessitate frequent and prolonged periods sitting in a constrained position. Frequent and prolonged periods of intense concentration will also be necessary.



8. To maintain and continue to develop high level therapeutic skills across a broad range of mental health/psychological problems and to adapt therapeutic input accordingly, especially those most relevant to perinatal mental health.



9. To plan and coordinate therapeutic group programmes where relevant and involving non-psychologist colleagues as fully as possible within the service.



10. To be responsible for the development and co-ordination of highly specialised programmes of psychological care for individual clients in various settings including the community, hospitals, and residential/nursing home settings. This will necessitate assessment and consultation to staff plus provision of psychological expertise for ongoing support, monitoring, adaptation and evaluation of programmes.



11. To provide regular clinical and professional supervision of assistant psychologists and clinical psychology trainees and manage and coordinate their day-to-day work within the CPMH service.



12. To provide specialist training for staff and carers on a variety of topics. This will require planning, organising and delivering training for a varied audience.



13. To provide specialist psychological consultation in relation to individual patients, including helping them to develop "team formulations" of patients problems.



14. To initiate and conduct service-related psychological research/audit into areas relevant to the work of perinatal mental health conditions within UHB/Directorate guidance. This may involve the input and storage of data on computer system.



15. To take an active part in evaluation and audit as part of clinical governance within UHB guidance.



16. To provide research opportunities to trainee clinical/counselling psychologists while on placement and to assist in developing and implementing a research idea within UHB guidance.