Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a qualified Band 7 Clinical or Counselling Psychologist t to work in City and Hackney Early Intervention in Psychosis Team (EQUIP) offering a service to residents following a first episode of psychosis. Through EQUIP's subsidiary service, Heads Up, it also offers a service for young people who may be at risk of developing psychosis. The teams work with diagnostic uncertainty and focuses on addressing associated distress and disability. The purpose is to minimise the risk of future relapse and maximise the quality of life.

The psychology team works with individuals, couples, families and networks and aims to flexibly offer a plurality of approaches that fits the particular context of the person, including CBT therapies, family therapy approaches (e.g. systemic psychotherapy, behavioural family therapy), and trauma informed and focussed therapies.

There are numerous development opportunities for the successful candidate - there is an active continuing professional development programme within the team, reflective practice spaces, in-service working groups, audit and research projects, and the post holder will receive specialist supervision and support from the wider City and Hackney Psychology department, in which there are also supervision/special interest spaces (e.g. EMDR Supervision; Trauma Supervision and Journal Club).

Main duties of the job

EQUIP offers a service to adult residents of Hackney and the City aged 18 - 65 following a first episode of psychosis. Through its subsidiary service, Heads Up, it also offers a service for people who are at risk of developing psychosis. The team works with diagnostic uncertainty and focuses on addressing the associated distress and disability. The purpose is to minimise the risk of future breakdowns and maximise the quality of life for the individual. This is achieved by working in active partnership with service users, carers and with local voluntary and community groups, in addition to statutory services. The post holder will work alongside clinical psychologists already in post to support individuals and their families in line with NICE guidelines for psychosis and schizophrenia.

The post holder will work in EQUIP to provide a psychology service to service users with a first episode psychosis.

The purpose of the role is to:

• Provide specialist assessment and formulation of service users.
• Provide specialist evidence-based intervention to service users, including CBT for psychosis and Family Intervention.
• Offer psychotherapeutic insights, consultation, and teaching to team members as appropriate.
• The post holder will be committed to supporting the work of the wider psychology service in seeking to provide a high quality, equitable, culturally competent and trauma informed service.

About us

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Kindly refer to the job description and person specification that is attached to the vacancy profile.

Person Specification

Education/ Qualification/ Training

Essential

• Postgraduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by BPS or Doctorate in Counselling Psychology

Desirable

• Must be registered with Health Professions Council as a (Clinical/Counseling) Psychologist

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with a wide variety of service user groups across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity.
• Experience of work in a multi-cultural setting, including working with interpreters.
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of receiving clinical supervision across a range of client needs

Desirable

• Experience of working in an Early Intervention Service with first episode psychosis
• Experience of delivering CBT-based psychological assessment and intervention within context of at-risk mental state and/or early intervention for psychosis.
• Experience of working with families and carers, and of delivering family therapy following a theoretical model

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• 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.
• Knowledge of psychological assessment and intervention with clients experiencing a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in early psychosis
• Skills in working in multidisciplinary settings.
• Skills in providing advice and consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Doctoral-level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex, multivariate data analysis as practised within the field of clinical psychology

Desirable

• 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.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

363-CH5229355