Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We are offering an exciting opportunity to be part of a rapidly developing Perinatal Mental Health Team.  In line with the NHS Long Term Plan commitments, Perinatal services are now able to offer increased access to psychological therapies for women and their families across Nottinghamshire.  This post would appeal to someone who would like to work systemically across maternity, statutory and voluntary sectors, and who is interested in further service development and co-production.  An interest in supporting and supervising a developing staff team with a range of therapeutic interests is also key.

1.    To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of highly complex psychological 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 clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.

2.    To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s psychological problems including developmental background, long term personality adaptations, interpersonal patterns of relating, service and diagnostic issues.  These plans will be based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods of proven efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

3.    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  which draw upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses. 

4.    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.

5.    To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based care plans.

6.    To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.

7.    To ensure that all members of the treating team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of clients of the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory.

8.    To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide general advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management.

9.    To act as care coordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans under CPA including clients, their carers, referring agents and others involved the network of care.

10.  To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, highly complex/sensitive information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

11.  To provide expertise, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the treatment team, particularly where there are conflicting opinions about the multiple options available for assessment and intervention.

12.  To provide formal and informal clinical advice and support to clinical psychologists and senior clinical psychologists developing their specialist expertise. 

13.  To assist with waiting list management and allocations across T&B and PMHT.

14.  To provide line management of staff where necessary.

15.  To assist with the ongoing development of service pathways both within perinatal mental health teams and between perinatal teams and other agencies/ services.