Clinical / Counselling Psychologist / Psychotherapist / Therapist

An exciting opportunity has become available for an enthusiastic and experienced Highly Specialist Psychological Practitioner to join the Multi-Disciplinary Team in a newly created role with the Croydon Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Service. The service operates from a Community Centre on Whitehorse Road and at Croydon University Hospital. Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia are red blood cell diseases which are passed from parent to child through genes. People affected mainly come from Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, Mediterranean countries, Eastern Europe and the Middle and Far East. When one unusual gene is passed on it is a healthy carrier state. When two unusual genes are passed on the individual can have chronic and life-threatening problems. The Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Service offers fully integrated dedicated care for patients with haemoglobinopathies. Specialist Nurses, Consultant Haematologists and other Medical Staffing offer advice and support in the sickle cell clinics at Croydon University Hospital as well as at the Community Centre. The unique set up of the service to include community and hospital-based care provides excellent continuity of care. · To provide a specialist psychological service and interventions according to discipline to adults with sickle cell disease or thalassaemia including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes, as well neuropsychological assessment if within the post holder's competencies · To hold a focus on the identification and treatment of psychological issues which have negative impact on symptoms, adherence to treatment plans, and on more general physical and psychological well-being. · To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment. · To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate, functioning as a lead specialist. · To promote service evaluation, audit and research. · To provide support to junior colleagues. · o agree outcomes/results with operation/clinical/professional leads and to decide how they are best achieved. · To be active in the provision of staff support within their area, including but not limited to Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve. To participate, as a recipient, in staff support work when appropriate. The Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Centre offers screening, advice on current treatments and counselling for affected individuals, their families and carers. There is a special group for parents of newly diagnosed babies and antenatal counselling for women at risk of having a child with sickle cell disease and Beta Thalassaemia. The Centre also offers home visits, a drop-in service for advice from nursing staff, welfare and benefits advice, education and training support, public awareness of sickle cell and thalassaemia. The Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Community Centre works closely together with the local voluntary Croydon Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Support Group. It also works closely with the paediatric team based at Kings College London. Croydon University Hospital is a specialist care centre for haemoglobinopathies and operates under the umbrella of the South Thames Sickle Cell & Thalassaemia Network. The services offer full outpatient, emergency and inpatient care for patients with Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassaemia. Outpatient services include full Annual Reviews, Hydroxycarbamide treatment and TCD clinics. Pathways are available within the network for automated exchange blood transfusions and iron overload monitoring and treatment. All patients have access to the network's multidisciplinary team approach. The available guidelines recommend the following considerations for the role of a psychologist in adult sickle cell services. Psychological interventions are advised to be offered as standard care and as an adjunctive to medical treatment and nursing care in both hospital and community-based settings:

• Provision of psychological assessments when indicated or at least annually,
and including an evaluation of subjective estimates and objective measure of emotional well-being and pain; physical and social function i.e. participation/non-participation or reduction in activities e.g. work, social (subjective estimates and objective measures); coping strategies and sources of support.
• Use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy including ongoing one-to-one work and group work.
• Neuropsychological assessment and management: Neuropsychological evaluation can establish the extent of cognitive damage, map this over time and offer treatment strategies.
• Support for patients who had an overt or silent stroke.
• Support for those without magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence of disease - cognitive impairments have been highlighted in adults with sickle cell disorder who have normal MRIs, suggesting the importance of neuropsychological assessments (Rawle et al., 2015; Vichinsky et al., 2010).
• Consideration of comorbidity with other health or mental health conditions as well as neurodevelopmental difficulties or neurodiversity i.e. Autistic Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Disorder of Intellectual Development, Developmental Delay.
• Pain management interventions.
• Interventions to help people build resilience and to enhance coping strategies.
• Interventions to develop ways to manage symptoms such as anxiety, depression and anger.
• Support for individuals to be able to engage in valued activity and roles and improve their quality of life.
• Support for patients seeking health-related behavioural change such as quitting smoking.
• Identification of severe mental health issues and referral to secondary mental health services.
• Psychological support fort patient and carer support groups.
· Community workshops/education/teaching and liaison with third sector and other community organisations. · Offering support to multidisciplinary teams including:
• Training
• Consultation
• Reflective Practice
• Supervision