Job Description

This is a rare opportunity to join the Greater Manchester Specialist Support Team (GMSST) as part of a growing and developing psychology specialism. This 0.6 wte (22.5 hours per week) 8a clinical psychologist role offers the chance for career development in a complex, challenging and rewarding area of work. We are a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and social workers working across Greater Manchester with service users who have autism and/or a learning disability and present with a broad range of risks and challenges. We are expanding our psychological offer to include time-limited 1:1 therapy whilst continuing to provide complex risk assessment, formulation, systemic intervention and advice & consultation in multi-agency settings. The role will give the successful candidate the chance to develop specialist skills, knowledge, experience and expertise with a unique overview of learning disability, mental health, criminal justice and inpatient settings. We welcome applications from candidates with a commitment to compassionate, person-centred practice that upholds their legal and ethical rights.



This post is advertised as a band 8a; however, we will accept applications from newly qualified Clinical Psychologists who, if successful, would be appointed on a band 7 preceptorship with a programme of development to gain the competencies required to reach the level required for the 8a post.



To provide a qualified clinical psychology service according to a plan agreed with the multi-disciplinary team and within the overall framework of GMSST's policies and procedures. To provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation and therapy at the same time as offering advice and consultation on service user's psychological care to psychologist and non-psychologist colleagues and to non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines. To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the team/service. GMSST is a highly specialist service providing assessment and intervention to service users with learning disabilities and/or autism who have a history of complex problems and high-risk presentations, including behaviours of concern, offending and mental health difficulties.



Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.



We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.



At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.



Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Job responsibilities:

1. To work with the Clinical Lead and Service Manger to deliver safe and effective specialist support services including the following:

a. Delivery of 1:1 psychological therapy to service users with trauma, emotional dysregulation, behaviours of concern, offending behaviour and mental health diagnoses

b. Risk assessment and formulation

c. Advice and Consultation to external agencies

d. Attendance at multi-agency meetings (including CTRs, MAPPA, MARAC etc)

e. Contribute to the service's Intensive Support Function

2. To provide specialist psychological assessments of people referred to GMSST based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, family members and others involved in the person's care.

3. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a person's mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the person's problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

4. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining several provisional hypotheses.

5. To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

6. To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to formulations, diagnoses and treatment plans.

7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically-based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all service users, across all settings and agencies serving them.

8. To actively undertake risk assessment and risk management for service users and to provide advice and liaise with other teams and professions across Greater Manchester on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management. To participate in multi-disciplinary and multi-agency risk assessment in complex service networks.

9. To communicate, in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of people under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

10. Has line management responsibility for assistant clinical psychologists.

11. To manage the workloads of assistant clinical psychologists, within the framework of the team/service's policies and procedures.

12. To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior clinical psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.

13. To provide professional and clinical supervision of assistant clinical psychologists.

14. To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical and/or counselling psychology and other disciplines, as appropriate, including the supervision of clinical psychologists in training.

15. To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with service users across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.

16. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team's operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.

17. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

18. To initiate and undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.

19. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of GMSST's operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.

20. To lead the relevant research activity within GMSST as required by the service.

21. To develop research bids and coordinate applications for the research funding, as required by the service.

22. To establish and maintain research partnerships with relevant internal and external individuals and groups.

23. To foster and inspire innovative ideas and developments aimed at enhancing the experience of service users and carers, and support their development through research and/or project management methodology.

24. To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.

25. To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

26. To be involved, as appropriate, in the short listing and interviewing of assistant / graduate psychologists, and of team members from other professions, where appropriate.

27. To exercise delegated responsibility for managing the psychological resources available to the team, in the form of psychological materials employed in the assessment and treatment of service users; and to assist in clinically related administration, conduct of audits, collection of statistics, development of audit and/or research projects, training and project work.

28. To contribute to the training and support of other staff in psychological care, including contributing to the organisation of training seminars and conferences for others.

29. To maintain up to date knowledge of clinical and policy related best practice and new developments in the field of personality disorder.

30. To manage information resources relating to this and ensure their wide availability, working closely with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust knowledge, services and relevant external partners.

31. To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning the historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

32. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users.

33. To contribute to the development of systems to support, mentor and supervise service users working in the service.

34. To be engaged and participate in the future development of GMSST and promote a culture of continuous service improvement.

35. To help develop effective clinical pathways for people who have a learning disability and/or autism with complex needs within the wider health and social care community across Greater Manchester.