Job Purpose The principal purpose of the job is to improve the psychological health & wellbeing of people within the post holders specialist field of practice. To support the overall ward team and their leadership to deliver high quality services in line with national professional guidance, NICE recommendations and other national policy documents, as part of an overall acute care pathway. This will be achieved in this post through undertaking the following areas of responsibility: 1. Contributing a psychological perspective to the leadership, organisation and operation of Adult Urgent and Inpatient Care services. 2. To ensure the systematic provision of a high quality psychological service in specialist field of practice in in-patient wards, as a key component of integrated mental health and wellbeing services across Devon Partnership NHS Trust. 3. Providing clinical leadership and supervision for less experienced staff, trainees and volunteers employed by or attached to the psychology service. 4. Carrying a specialist caseload of clients, and providing advice and consultancy to patients and professionals. 5. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within professional and Trust guidelines as lead specialist. 6. The post holder with receive regular professional and clinical supervision in accordance to Trust policy and to Professional Practice Guidelines set out by the British Psychological Society or appropriate designated Professional Body. 7. Observe, and abide by all relevant Professional Codes of Conduct and Practice including the British Psychological Society. The post holder will be fully registered with the Health Professions Council as a condition of employment Duties and Responsibilities Communication and Working Relationship Skills Clients, family and carers: To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner with clients who may have specific difficulties in understand and/or communicating and who may be hostile, antagonistic or highly emotionally disturbed. Multidisciplinary team colleagues: To work closely with colleagues in the multi-professional integrated mental health and wellbeing services on a day to day basis Health & social care staff: To communicate with a wide range of health & social care staff in hospital and in community settings in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, complex and sensitive information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under the services care. To provide support & guidance in the application of psychological principles and techniques, and to foster reflective practice. Senior managers & professional staff: To maintain and build good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers across the Trust. To foster a positive approach to the integrated mental health and wellbeing service and to enable effective negotiation. Analytical and Judgemental Skills To provide specialist clinical/counselling psychology expertise and advice. To provide psychological therapies, developing specialist psychological formulations and assessments of clients, formulating plans for their psychological treatment and implementing specialist psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups. Proficiency in in both individual and group therapy approaches is desirable. To support the Professional Head, General Manager, Practice and Strategic Development Leads and Professional Leads by undertaking service development and redesign projects and coordinating the resulting work within the team/s. To provide complex assessment, including neuropsychological assessments, of specialist conditions Planning and Organisational Skills The psychology service: To plan and organise own work within the service setting and to contribute to the development and improvement of provision of psychological services within the commissioned integrated mental health and wellbeing service to best meet the organisations strategy and priorities. The multidisciplinary service: To provide psychology/therapy supervision to the multi-professional planning, development and marketing of mental health and wellbeing services Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy Assessment & intervention: To provide expert psychological therapies, developing specialist psychological formulations and assessments of clients, formulating plans for their psychological treatment and implementing specialist psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, and to demonstrate awareness of diversity issues. Consultation & guidance: To provide advice, guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of patient care to colleagues, other service providers, patients, supporters and families To ensure that psychological interventions delivered within the acute setting are connected and integrated with provision beyond the acute service Responsibility for Policy and Service Development Implementation The post holder is accountable for their own professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines. Policy & service: To implement policies and procedures for the provision of psychology and therapy services within own service and other services within the Trust. R & D: To support the R&D activities of the psychology and psychological therapy service. Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources To be responsible for the safe keeping of equipment under own use. Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g. Supervision, Training, HR Advice and Management Leadership & supervision: To lead and professionally supervise less experienced psychology/therapy staff, trainees and volunteers. To provide placement responsibilities for trainee staff. To contribute to the provision of therapy supervision for non psychology/therapy staff providing psychological therapies within other Trust teams. To support placements for trainee staff in line with professional guidelines Responsibility for Information Resources and Administrative Duties To maintain accurate records, compliant with Trust Practice Standards. To be responsible for using an email account to generate, monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by which the Trust conducts much of its internal communication. Responsibility for Research and Development To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work within the PPT and local mental health services. To conduct project work including specific areas of audit, research or service evaluation As a clinician to be responsible for collecting clinical practice and outcome data that contributes to building practice based evidence and service evaluation. To participate in service audits and relevant research projects. Freedom to Act The post holder is accountable for their own professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines To work autonomously within clinical professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the governance of psychological practice within the locality/specialty. Interpretation of professional and Trust guidelines, and implementing policies in conjunction with peers, Head of Profession and General Manager. To provide expert and specialist clinical psychology expertise and advice guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of patient care to colleagues, other service providers, patients, supporters and families. Any Other Specific Tasks Required To ensure all clinical care and treatment provided by psychologists/psychotherapists/therapists is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership. To ensure that all relevant staff groups continuously update the skills and techniques relevant to their clinical work