Knowing that youre making a difference to peoples lives is rewarding in itself and our role offers much more than that. As well as helping you grow and develop your skills, we want you to feel proud of where you work and what you do. The Adult Community Eating Disorders Team (CEDS) in Bedfordshire and Luton are in the fortunate position of being able to offer a band 7 Clinical or Counselling Psychologist or Psychological Therapist post. This is a brilliant opportunity to join our team of dedicated, compassionate, skilled people with a shared sense of purpose to support people in Bedfordshire and Luton to a life worth living and improved health, via reduced eating disorder symptoms and distress, and improved functioning and safety.

We work with service users whose difficulties are at the moderate to severe range of presenting concerns, providing assessment, support and therapy to service users and to their families and carers, in an award winning stepped care partnership with local charity Caraline. We also provide consultation and advice to other services and GPs.

Main duties of the job

Through the adult community mental health transformation and as a key collaborating Trust in the East of England New Care Model we a growing and developing service which means that we transforming to a modern community eating disorder service that provides psychological, psychiatric, medical and dietetic and nursing services to our clients.

One of the most important function is and will remain our effective psychological therapies through which individuals with severe and complex eating disorders recover to experience joy and meaning more fully in their lives. We will retain our strengths in being a team that is supportive and treats every patient with respect as an individual with whom we are working together to achieve recovery.

We are looking for an enthusiastic full time (37.5 hours) Band 7 Clinical or Counselling Psychologist or Psychological Therapist accredited in models recommended for treatment of eating disorders with a keen interest in service development and delivery to join our thriving and innovative multi-disciplinary CEDS. We are willing to consider candidates who work part-time or job share arrangements permanently or on a fixed term basis. We are particularly interested in and welcome applications from people with lived experience of eating disorders.

We are based in Dunstable and travel is expected to clinics across Bedfordshire and Luton as required.

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

You will have opportunities to develop your interests. For example currently we are:

Providing training and supervision in evidence based therapies (CBT-E)

Running and evaluating an online eating disorder Yoga course

Through our links with the University of Hertfordshire and other training courses in counselling psychology we are involved in teaching and training, hosting original research and service evaluations.

We are looking for somebody with qualifications and experience looking for their next step at band 7. However, if you have a strong interest in eating disorders but would be suited to work clinically at a higher or a lower level currently we would welcome a conversation with you to discuss other potential opportunities, or get in touch to find out more about us.

We asked our service users and carers what they would expect from staff joining the team:

Provide a safe space where they feel they can talk without being judged

Be respectful, professional and trustworthy

Be supportive and provide constructive help and advice

Be patient, emphatic and understanding

Be kind, positive, caring and sympathetic

Be open and easy to talk to, as well as being firm but fair when needed

What people say about us:

My experience of working with several members of the team as a parent/carer representative is that they are always thinking of what else they could do for their patients, and are always prepared to listen to an idea. If youre looking for stimulation and challenge this would be a great team to work for.

I really like that everyone in the team is really passionate about their work and helping clients. As a new team member I find the team all very helpful, supportive and approachable.

Working within an integrated multidisciplinary team means that I can learn so much from every and all team members which I feel leads to better patient care and a very interesting job day to day!

My sessions are a safe space where I can talk about anything I am feeling

I feel no matter what is discussed on how I feel nothing is judged but instead understood and explained to me

For further details please contact:

Anna-Lize Botha, Senior Psychologist 01582 293333 or

elft-tr.eatingdisorder.service@nhs.net

Person Specification Education/ Qualification/ Training Essential

• oDoctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology or equivalence and able to demonstrate eligibility for BPS CPsychol (Chartered Psychologist) . HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist. Or both oCore Health/Care Profession (or demonstrated equivalence), with postgraduate level training in a recognised model of psychological therapy (e.g. CBT, CAT) and demonstrated eligibility for accreditation as a practitioner/therapist with the relevant accrediting body (e.g. BABCP/ACAT).
• oEvidence of continuing professional development relevant to the specialty as required by professional accrediting/registration body (e.g. BPS/ HCPC/ BABCP/ ACAT).

Desirable

• oFurther training or qualifications in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice relevant to the post, e.g. supervision, therapeutic models used in eating disorder etc.

Experience Essential

• oExperience of specialist assessment, formulation and treatment of clients experiencing eating disorders.
• oExperience of working with a wide variety of client groups, presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the range of care settings.
• oExperience in working in multidisciplinary settings and representing a psychological / psychotherapeutic perspective in teams and services

Desirable

• oExperience of providing teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• oExperience of the application of psychological interventions in different cultural contexts.
• oExperience in contributing to service development, redesign and improvements in secondary mental health services.
• oExperience working in the NHS.

Knowledge and Skills Essential

• oHighly developed knowledge of the theory and delivery of specialised psychological practice relevant to eating disorders.
• oAble to draw upon a theoretical knowledge base in the analysis of highly complex facts and situations, to arrive at appropriate formulation and compare and select from a range of treatment options.
• oAn in depth knowledge and skills in applying clinical risk assessment and management in own and others' clinical caseload, including eating disorder related risk.
• oAble to use highly specialist skills of empathy to overcome barriers to understanding and acceptance.
• oAble to communicate at a high level verbally and in writing highly complex, technical and sensitive information to clients, families, carers, and a range of professionals and lay people within and outside the NHS.
• oInterpersonal and communication skills to facilitate forming effective collaborative networks within the trust and with external agencies in the interests of client care.
• oAble to

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

363-BED12391