Band 8A Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Psychosis Pathway, Brent Psychology and Psychotherapy Service, Brent CMHT

We are happy to consider interest from applicants currently working as a Band 7 Psychologist who would be interested in a development post, working towards becoming an 8A psychologist in six months.

We would also encourage applicants who are looking for additional hours to this post as there is scope for us to be able to provide these in our other pathways

We are looking for an innovative, motivated and enthusiastic Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to work with people who are experiencing psychosis. The Psychosis pathway is part of an integrated multi-disciplinary service which provides mental health services for adults within the community. Theteamprovides psychological input, including assessment and treatment (group, individual and family), for people aged 18 and over who present with severe mental health problems including psychosis, personality disorder (and associated co-morbidities) and complex mental health difficulties. Our Psychosis pathway offers CBT-p, Family Therapy, groupwork, Open dialogue, and we have close links with the Brent art therapy service.

Main duties of the job

Our service is committed to investing in the development of excellent clinicians and there are opportunities for career development including post-qualification training in an evidence-based model. Alongside relevant CPD opportunities and access to opportunities within the borough and wider trust for development of special interests and the sharing of specialist knowledge, clinical and management supervision is available to support flexible and skilled practice.We also have good links with, and have trainees from, all the Regional training courses. The post holder will have supervision responsibilities for pre-qualified Psychologists and/or trainee CBT Therapists.

The successful candidate will have contact with colleagues who deliver individual, group and family therapies from a wide range of interesting theoretical models.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate a real commitment and compassion for working with this client group and across a diverse population. The successful applicant will also ideally have experience of working within a secondary care context and will demonstrate a commitment to working alongside our Advanced Lived Experience Practitioners and Peer Support workers to promote co-production within the service. They will have a strong commitment to recovery principles, multi-disciplinary working, service user involvement, and working with people who are cautious about engaging with mental health services.

About us

This is an exciting time to join our growing service and contribute to the delivery of psychological services to improve short and long-term outcomes for service users experiencing problems associated with complex mental health problems. The post-holder will be expected to provide specialist psychological assessment and effective NICE-recommended interventions (including formulation and care planning where appropriate) and advice, consultation and training on aspects of psychological care to colleagues from other disciplines as well as advice, family interventions and consultation to non-professional carers. This is a developing area of service provision and the post holder will have an opportunity to be involved in shaping and developing the service.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

For further information or an informal discussion about the role, please contact Dr Paul Boyden, Principal Clinical Psychologist & Psychosis Pathway Lead on paul.boyden@nhs.net

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post-holder will be primarily located in the Psychosis pathway within the Adult Integrated Psychology and Psychotherapy Service in Brent. The service aims to deliver high quality integrated, recovery-focused and evidence-based health and social care interventions to individuals who experience complex mental health problems.

The post-holder will provide a qualified highly specialist psychological therapy service, including clinical assessments and interventions, to clients presenting with personality difficulties, complex mental health needs, and recovery from trauma. They will work as a key member of the Adult Integrated Psychology and Psychotherapy Service in the provision of consultation, teaching, training, supervision and research as well as developing specific training programmes for staff if and when required by the Operational Managers and as appropriate with grading and experience. The post holder will work closely with colleagues to support the trauma informed approach and the role will include working alongside an Advanced Lived Experience Practitioner promoting/developing coproduction with in the service. They will be expected to use research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the teams as required.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• HCPC registration

Desirable

• CBT-p
• Training in Family Interventions.
• Training in other psychological therapies such as EMDR, CAT.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
• Experience of working in secondary care mental health services with clients presenting with comorbidity, such as chronic mood disorders, psychosis, personality difficulties and trauma.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of carrying out psychological assessment, developing theory-driven psychological formulation and delivering evidence-based psychological interventions to clients presenting with complex mental health difficulties.
• Experience of working with patients from socially-deprived and multicultural backgrounds.
• Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours of clinical supervision of working as a qualified clinical/counselling psychologist.

Desirable

• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Experience of the application of psychology and psychological therapy in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of representing psychological therapies within the context of multidisciplinary care.
• Experience of delivering family interventions for psychosis
• Experience of setting up and running groups.
• Experience of working within an MDT setting.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Ability to establish and maintain a psychotherapeutic relationship with clients presenting with complex needs, particularly those with chronic emotional difficulties, complex trauma and comorbid personality difficulties.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. psychosis, personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Knowledge and awareness of the trauma informed approach
• Doctoral-level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of psychology.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and/or HCPC.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists/psychological therapists
• Awareness of the impact of working with clients with complex mental health difficulties on self and others.

Desirable

• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Ability to remain calm and reflective in a crisis.

Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Bell House

147A High Rd, Willesden Green

London

NW10 2SJ

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

333-J-BR-0611