Job Description

We are looking to appoint a full-time CBT Therapist / Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to join Older Adult Psychology and Psychotherapy (P&P) and work within the Lewisham Older Adults Community Mental Health Team.



SLaM Older Adult mental health services provide assessment and intervention for people aged over 65 with mental health difficulties. Around one third of the multi-disciplinary team's caseload has a diagnosis of dementia. Our Older Adult P&P community workforce provides a range of NICE recommended Step 1, 2 and 3 interventions for depression, anxiety, personality disorder, psychosis and trauma. W e have expanded our Older Adult P&P workforce to include new roles to support the development of a stepped model of care in our CMHTs and this post is crucial in this regard.



The post holder will consolidate and further develop therapy skills by regularly assessing for and providing psychological therapy to older adults known to the CMHTs with severe and complex mental health needs. The postholder will be expected to work as part of the CMHT delivering CBT and supporting older adults to receive the right care. The postholder will also contribute to the MDT by care coordinatingkey-working and contributing to initial assessments, risk assessment and the duty system.



We are looking for an enthusiastic Cognitive Behavioural Therapist / Clinical or Counselling Psychologist with experience of andor interest in, working within mental health services for older people as part of multi-disciplinary teams. You will be expected to work autonomously to promote access to psychological interventions and to encourage psychologically informed care coordination. We are looking for someone that can offer a dynamic and creative approach to service delivery.

Our Values:

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users within our Trust values of Kindness, Respect and Together.

About the location:

The post is based at Lewisham Community Mental Health Team, 91 Granville Park, Lewisham, SE13 7DW. The postholder will be expected to do home visits across the borough of Lewisham and to travel to other Trust sites for some meetings.

Benefits:

We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance. There is an extensive range of excellent benefits for you and your family. We want you to feel like you are part of a close knit team at SLaM. It's important to us that you valued and appreciated and that are why we have a comprehensive benefits package on offer.

Career progression:

We are committed to get the very best out of our staff and support staff in their career aspirations. South London & Maudsley NHS Trust is a large Trust with a range of career as well as training and development opportunities.

Flexible working:

We are proud to offer flexible working as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to talk flexible working during Monday - Friday at the interview stage.



This role is essential in providing a quality service to people seen by the Older Adults Community Mental Health Teams. Older Adults present with a wide range of mental health problems and benefit from psychosocial approaches that this post will be supported to deliver.

Job Purpose:

To provide specialist CBT to Older Adults with complex mental health needs including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes. To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment. To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate. To promote service evaluation, audit and research. To work as an autonomous professional within registration body guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by the policies and procedures of the service, taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions with support of clinical supervisor To be active in the provision of staff support within their area, including but not limited to Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve. To participate, as a recipient, in staff support work when appropriate.

Main Responsibilities:

Clinical and Client Care



To provide specialist CBT assessments, formulations and interventions for clients (individuals, couples, families and social networks where the identified client has complex mental health needs) within in the Older Adult CMHT . To provide culturally appropriate psychotherapeutic interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required. To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans. To provide reports, including relevant formulation, opinion and interventions, in order to inform referrers and, where appropriate, service users and their families. To deliver evidence-based specialist CBT, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions as necessary, based on the highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, couple, family or group. To promote psychological support for carers (or families as appropriate) of referred clients. To act as care co-ordinator taking responsibility for initiating planning and reviewing care plans, CPA co-ordination and meetings. To contribute to the generic duties of the CMHT including initial assessments and duty.

Contributing to team or service clinical functioning



To contribute to the effective working of the Older Adult CMHT and to a psychologically/psychotherapeutically informed framework for the service. To contribute to the team or service's delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities. To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services. To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans. To liaise with the service/s MDT and other professionals.

Policy and service development



To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes. To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities. To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.

Care or management of resources



To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust's equipment and physical resources. To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed. To ensure the cleanliness and safe functioning and use of equipment that will be used by clients or other persons. To monitor and advise clients on the safe use of materials and processes. To ensure adequate confidential and safe storage for artefacts produced during the therapy process in line with professional guidelines. To be responsible for obtaining, storing and maintaining all materials and equipment for the provision of therapy in work setting within budgetary constraints.

Management and supervision



To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of a paid assistant if required, under supervision from a more senior therapist. To supervise trainees within own area of specialism after completion of the relevant Supervision Training.

Teaching and Training



To provide occasional specialist training in psychological/psychotherapeutic approaches to care to other professions as appropriate. To disseminate research/service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

Record-keeping and Information Governance



To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures. To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

Research and development



To undertake regular complex service evaluation, audits or research relevant to service needs.

Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development



To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior therapist according to discipline, professional body and Trust guidelines. To maintain own Continuing Professional Development in line with professional body and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and professional Standards for Continuing Professional Development. To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies. To comply with professional body Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics/Standards of Proficiency.

General



To travel to home visits if required and appropriate, and across the Trust when required. To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management. * To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations (such as challenging behaviour, abuse etc) and to support others involved in such situations through Trust-wide approaches including Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve.