Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to provide psychological expertise across both inpatient and community multidisciplinary team settings. One half of the post is based on one of the wards at the City and Hackney Centre for Mental Health (CHCMH.) The community half of the post is based in the Community Mental Health Service (CMHS.)

For the inpatient work the post holder would be responsible for providing psychological expertise to a male acute ward through providing assessments, individual and team formulations, individual and group therapy, work with families, staff consultation, reflective practice, supervision and teaching. The inpatient unit is committed to trauma-informed care and inpatient psychology makes an important contribution to this. The post holder would also contribute to psychologically-informed discharge planning as this has been identified as a factor in the service user’s recovery after discharge. Part of the community component of this post would be to pilot psychology continuity work with vulnerable service users post-discharge.

Within the CMHS, the post holder would be based in one of the quadrant teams, working mainly with service users with psychosis and/or bipolar affective disorder, providing both direct clinical work and indirect work including clinical supervision, line management, consultation, team formulation and teaching.

Main duties of the job

To ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist psychology service to service users admitted to City and Hackney Centre for Mental Health, or under the care of the Community Mental Health Service.

To supervise, support, and co-ordinate the psychological work provided by other psychologists and other clinical members of the service who provide psychologically based care and treatment.

To promote and facilitate psychological capability within the inpatient and community teams (e.g. via consultation, staff support and reflection, training and leadership).

To forge effective links and working relationships with colleagues across the inpatient-community pathway in order to understand the psychological needs within these settings and across this interface.

To provide specific psychological expertise and input around complex case presentations.

To engage in regular clinical and operational supervision with a senior psychologist /psychological therapist.

To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the team.

To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research.

To support and lead when required, co-production and service user involvement in psychology-related service development projects.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached Job Description for the detailed job description and main responsibilities.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Person specification:

Experience

Essential

• At least two years experience of work in the NHS.
• Relevant experience of working as a specialist clinical/counselling psychologist e.g. experience working in a multi-disciplinary teams for adults with severe and enduring mental health problems including working within inpatient mental health settings and working with people with psychosis/BPAD
• Experience of development and delivery of therapeutic groups.
• Experience of teaching, training and supervision.
• Experience of the application of psychology in a multi-cultural setting, including working with interpreters
• Experience of developing collaborative, effective risk assessment and management plans.

Desirable

• Experience of line managing.
• Experience of service improvement

Knowledge and skills

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management, including the use of theoretical models to analyse information and to develop formulations upon which to base choice of treatment
• Highly-developed skills in the effective communication of highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to a wide variety of recipients in a range of settings within and outside the NHS, including the ability to produce comprehensive and coherent letters, reports and associated documentation.
• Highly-developed communication skills at overcoming barriers to understanding and acceptance.
• Skills in working in multidisciplinary settings.
• Skills in providing advice and consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Working knowledge of the practices and approaches of other key disciplines, professions and agencies involved in the care and management network, including medical, employment, social, educational and criminal justice systems.
• Doctoral-level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.
• Ability to provide a culturally-competent and non-stigmatising service including an awareness of the potential impact of discrimination and disadvantage on mental health
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific groups of people with complex mental health needs (e.g. complex trauma, self harm, personality disorder, psychosis, dual diagnosis, persons with additional disabilities etc).

Desirable

• Knowledge of the academic literature of the specialism.
• Capacity to work calmly and thoughtfully when addressing traumatic psychological issues, demonstrating an awareness of the sensitivity and unpredictability of individuals who have experienced complex trauma , and a capacity to tolerate the strong emotions evoked by such work.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to mental health

Education, training and qualifications

Essential

• Postgraduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS. Or Postgraduate Doctorate in Counselling Psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• Registered with Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Psychologist Practitioner
• Clinical supervision training for doctoral psychology trainees

Desirable

• Additional relevant clinical and/or managerial knowledge and skills acquired through formal training, long or short courses, formal supervision (individual and/or group), structured self-study or experience (or a combination of these.)
• Post-doctoral training in at least one therapeutic modality relevant to complex mental health.