Post title: Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Accountable to: Director of Operations
To ensure the systematic provision of a high quality psychological service to Danshell units. To work
autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of
psychological practice within the service/team. A major requirement of the job is to act as a highly specialist
resource to the wider professional community and to carry out audit, policy and service development and
research activities and/or programs. To propose and implement policy and service development changes
within Danshell as served by the team/service.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Responsible to the Regional Operations Director; you will be required to carry out the following duties as
required, including the following:
Clinical : Direct
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Working within a highly specialised clinical area, to provide psychological assessments of clients.
To formulate plans for formal psychological interventions based upon an appropriate conceptual
framework of the client’s problems
Clinical : Indirect
As a member of the Clinical Team and working by consultation:
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To support the clinical, nursing and direct care teams in making skilled evaluations and decisions
about clinical options.
To be responsible for implementing a range of highly specialist psychological interventions for
individuals and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations.
Where agreed, to exercise clinical leadership for clients who problems are managed as a
psychologically based care plan.
To ensure that all members of the Clinical Team have access to a psychologically based framework for
the understanding and care of clients of the service.
To contribute to multidisciplinary risk assessment and risk management for relevant individual clients
and to provide both general and specialist advice for psychological aspects of risk assessment and
management
To communicate information concerning the clinical plans of clients and to monitor and evaluate
progress during the course of both uni-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary care.
To provide expertise and advice to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological
are by all members of the team.
To provide consultation about the psychological care of the client group to staff, families and other
agencies.
Teaching, Training and Supervision
Where appropriate:
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To ensure appropriate systems for the clinical and professional supervision of qualified and unqualified
psychologists across the service.
To provide clinical and professional supervision to qualified and assistant psychologists working in the
service.
To provide specialist clinical placements for trainee Clinical Psychologists.
To provide specialist advice, consultation and training and clinical supervision to other members of the
Danshell team for their provision of psychologically based interventions.
To provide pre and post qualification teaching and clinical psychology.
To continue to develop expertise in the area of professional pre and post graduate training and clinical
supervision.
Management, Recruitment, Policy and Service Development
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To participate in the development of a high quality, responsive and accessible service for clients, their
carers and families within the service.
To exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the sector/service.
To initiate and implement service developments and projects within the service.
To advise and participate in appropriate professional psychology recruitment within the service/sector
Research and Service Evaluation
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To work with colleagues from across the service to plan and implement systems for the valuation,
monitoring and development of the service.
To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual
work, work with other team members and across the service.
To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research within
the service.
General
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To ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standard of
practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes.
To ensure the development and articulation of best practice in psychology within the service area. To
ensure the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording,
report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance, in accordance with
professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society and Danshell policies and procedures.
To work alongside other members of the team to ensure that all professionals within the service/sector
maintain up-to-date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues.
To observe guidelines, policies and procedures around the safeguarding of vulnerable adults.
Additional Information
This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities and the post holder may be required to undertake other
duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with the Manager.
This job description will be reviewed regularly, in light of changing service requirements and any such changes will
be discussed with the post holder.
The post holder is expected to comply with all relevant Danshell policies, procedures and guidelines, including
those relating to Equal Opportunities, Health & Safety and Confidentiality of Information.
SPECIALIST CONSULTANT CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST PERSON SPECIFICATION
Qualification
Essential
Post-graduate doctoral level training in Clinical
Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained
prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS
Desirable
Post-doctoral training in one or more
additional specialised areas of psychological
practice
Experience
Essential
Assessed experience of working as a qualified
Clinical Psychologist, normally within services
for people with learning disabilities
Desirable
Experience of multi-professional
management of teams or services within the
designated speciality
Highly developed knowledge of the theory and
practice of specialised psychological therapies
in specifically difficult to treat groups (e.g.
people with additional disabilities and severely
challenging behaviours etc)
Skills in providing consultation to other
professional and non-professional groups
Experience of representing the profession in
wider contexts
Doctoral level knowledge of research and
design and methodology, including complex
multivariate data analysis as practiced within
the field of Clinical Psychology
Formal training in supervision of other
Knowledge of legislation and its implication for Psychologists.
both clinical practice and professional
management in relation to the client group
Record of having published in either peer
and mental health.
reviewed or academic or professional
journals and/or books
Evidence of continuing professional
development as recommended by the BPS
A commitment to the evaluation of services
enthusiasm for both multi-professional and
uni-professional audit and a wish to continue
to develop