Practitioner Psychologist (Wrexham)

About the role

• Location: Home based position with travel required to services within your region.
• Ideal candidate location: Wrexham
• Region: Services grouped by location and may be up to approximately 90 mins travel dependent on candidate location, Full UK Driving Licence required 

Are you a Practitioner Psychologist looking for something new? Do you enjoy supporting therapeutic and trauma-informed practice and services? Do you want to help support care experienced young people and the teams around them to thrive? Do you want to be part of an organisation that lives by, promotes and delivers their EPIC values (Excellence, Passion, Integrity, Caring)?

You will be providing supportive and reflective therapeutic practice within the homes in your dedicated region, embodying our Keys Connect model. Primarily through consultation, assessment, formulation, therapeutic plans, training and, where appropriate, direct work with young people. We have a strong focus on CPD and research at Keys, so will be encouraged to engage in regular CPD and research interests appropriate to the Keys Group. This is a great opportunity to be part of embedding our trauma-informed model of practice and care to enhance the support we provide to our children and teams.

About you

As a HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist, you will share our view that all children and young people deserve to be fully included and supported to feel safe and experience a real sense of connection in their homes and community. You will ideally have experience and knowledge of working with care experienced children and the teams that support them (teams around the child), particularly an understanding of the difficulties and risks our children and teams encounter.

This is a flexible and varied role that will appeal to Psychologists with a keen interest in child and adolescent mental health, creating innovative, therapeutic, trauma responsive and caring environments and share the goal of enabling and inspiring our children.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Clinical

• To provide specialist psychological input with teams within the designated region.
• To develop a detailed knowledge and understanding of the Keys Connect clinical model and to promote and support therapeutic practice in the designated region.
• To oversee the assessment, formulation and implementation of therapeutic plans to support the children and young people’s needs, based upon a multi-factorial psychological understanding and current evidence-based best practice.
• To undertake a range of psychological interventions as appropriate, drawing on a range of psychological methods, models and tools appropriate to the delivery of therapeutically informed care.
• To provide a specialist psychological perspective regarding children referred to the Keys Group to support our operational colleagues and guide appropriate placements.
• To undertake psychologically based risk assessment and risk management for relevant children and provide advice on the psychological aspects of risk management to practice teams.
• To consult with and provide specialist psychological guidance to carers, teachers and, where appropriate, families and other professionals.

Teaching/Training/Supervision/Consultation

• To provide training in therapeutic approaches and associated applied psychology subjects and to share skills and learning with internal and external professionals.
• To consult with and advise colleagues from other professions on psychological assessment, management and treatment/intervention methods.
• To teach, advise and consult with colleagues across different services on the psychology of child trauma, attachment and recovery consistent with Keys Connect.
• To supervise and line manage colleagues in the team as required (e.g. Assistant Psychologist and Therapist).

Policy and Service Development

• To participate in meetings concerned with the delivery and developments of clinical services and contribute a psychological perspective as appropriate.
• To contribute as required to the planning and development of operational policies and service delivery through undertaking agreed project work.
• To advise service and professional management on areas of service where issues of psychological need should be addressed and support with implementing required changes.
• To develop and maintain good communication links with Local Authorities, NHS services  and other appropriate agencies.

Evaluation/Research

• To remain informed of and critically evaluate current research to support evidence-based practice in own professional work and to contribute this perspective in the practice and development of the Keys Connect clinical model.
• To help to coordinate administration of agreed outcome measures.
• Following approval from the Governance Committee, initiate and conduct psychologically based research relevant to the care and education of children and young people with complex needs.
• To provide advice to members of other professions as required on research design and methodology.

Professional/administrative

• To engage in regular supervision and continued professional development in line with registration body guidelines (e.g. HCPC).
• To work within the Code of Ethics, relevant professional practice guidelines and the professional guidance frameworks of the Health Care Professions Council and other relevant professional bodies (e.g. British Psychological Society).
• To work within the framework of the policies and procedures of the Keys Group.
• To be responsible for relevant data collection on work activities, as required, and to maintain a high standard of record keeping.
• Understanding key principles of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) on a practice and knowledge level. To promote and support awareness of EDI.  To ensure that bullying, harassment and intimidation are not tolerated.
• To be aware of issues relating to the safeguarding of children and young people  and to report any untoward incidents immediately to the appropriate person.
• To undertake reasonable travelling requirements in order to fulfil the tasks and responsibilities of the role.

Personal development and training

• Continuously develop professional knowledge and expertise, attending and participating in learning and development events, meetings, conferences, and events to ensure up to date knowledge relevant to the role and service development.
• Attend and participate in regular team and other meetings, both internal and external.

Confidentiality

• All colleagues are required to respect the confidentiality of all matters they may learn relating to their employment, other colleagues and the general public.

This job description is intended to be a dynamic document, subject to agreed alteration and development in line with the evolution of the role.

To assist with any other ad hoc duties commensurate to the job role and pay scale, as directed by management.

What you’ll need

Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical, Forensic, Counselling or Educational Psychology or equivalent
• Professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• Knowledge of the impact of developmental trauma and adverse childhood experiences on life trajectories

Desirable

• Other clinical training such as CBT; Systemic Psychotherapy; DBT; DDP; EMDR

Informal discussion

For further information or informal discussion about the role, please contact:

• Liz Utting – Associate Clinical Director – Children’s Service | Consultant Forensic Psychologist
  Liz.utting@keys-group.co.uk
• Charlotte Hale- Management Resourcing Partner
  Charlotte.hale@keys-group.co.uk

Due to the nature of the role, it is necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken (DBS).