NHFT have an exciting opportunity to join our expanding perinatal psychology pathway with a particular focus on developing perinatal specialist group interventions for women open to the service with emotional regulation difficulties which are comorbid with a perinatal mental health condition which may impact mental health and bonding and attachment during the perinatal period. NHFT has an established award-winning Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service which has expanded in line with the Long Term Plan for Mental Health.

We are looking for a Applied Psychologist or Psychological Therapist who has skills and experience in working with people with emotional regulation needs and/ or personality disorder and an interest in working with women/birthing people experiencing perinatal mental health conditions including post-natal depression, post-partum psychosis and maternal OCD. This is a multi-disciplinary service with lots of opportunities for joint working and service development. Psychological interventions are provided on both a group and 1.1 basis and include compassion focused therapy, CBT, EMDT and IPT. Both remote and face-to-face interventions are available.

The service has also been selected as one of 10 Early Implementer sites to deliver a Maternal Mental Health Service (MMHS) which is a psychology lead provision.

Main duties of the job

Following a period of induction and training within the specialist perinatal mental health service, the postholder will lead on the development, implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive assessment and group intervention pathway for women under the care of the specialist perinatal mental health service who present with emotional regulation difficulties. We are also recruiting a full time assistant Psychologist to support this pathway development.

The main clinical work undertaken by the post-holder will be to provide specialist psychological assessment and intervention for women during pregnancy, mothers and their babies and families.The post-holder will receive supervision from a senior psychologist / psychological therapist (dependent on applicant) within the team and support the development of psychologically informed care across the multidisciplinary team and wider perinatal mental health local pathway.

The post holder will be involved in Multi-disciplinary team discussions to inform psychological thinking throughout the service and will work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the teams' policies and procedures. They will utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the service.

About us

There are a significant number of psychologists employed within the Trust working across different specialties and there are excellent opportunities for professional development through regular monthly psychology meetings and active peer supervision networks. The Trust enjoys good links with both Oxford and Leicester Doctoral training courses.

We are proud of the Psychology provision within the Trust, and feedback has consistently been that we have a well-developed Psychology network in the Trust which offers a strong sense of professional identity, support and strategic influence. Psychology and psychological approaches are highly valued in the Trust, and Psychologists have the opportunity to shape clinical and organisational strategy as well as provide clinical services. We believe that supporting and involving our staff means that they enjoy their work more, and that our clinical services are better as a result.

NHFT is an Outstanding rated integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools. We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire

Job description Job responsibilities

Training and experience of working on an individual and group basis with people with a diagnosis of personality disorder or emotional regulation difficulties is essential. Experience of working in the Perinatal Mental Health field is desirable but not required. We would expect the applicant to have developed their knowledge of Perinatal Mental Health Conditions, prevalence rates, treatment interventions and Safeguarding Policies and Procedures although formal training in these areas is not required. A keen interest and passion for working with women and their families is a must, as is the ability to work closely with a range of professionals from health visiting, Maternity, Childrens Services and the Third Sector. Although perinatal experience is not essential, we do expect that the applicant has an interest in this area and can demonstrate knowledge of perinatal services and evidence of transferable skills.

There will be opportunities for further training via local and regional delivered training programmes. We have strong links with the East Midlands Regional Perinatal Network. The post holder will also be expected to contribute to the development of a locally agreed programme that delivers training to health and social care professionals in Northamptonshire.

All our clinical psychology team have completed specialist Perinatal Clinical Psychology Training provided by NHSE. This opportunity may be available in future to clinical psychologists joining the services. Our psychological therapists are able to access additional training in psychological interventions for perinatal women to develop their individual skill sets.

The Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service also offers pre-conception advice for woman with a known mental illness wishing to conceive and provide training and education to professionals alongside experts by experience.

If you want to work as part of our expanding specialised multi-professional team, we want to hear from you.

We have developed an exciting induction programme to meet the Perinatal Competency Framework and provide regular supervision and training for all our staff.

The service has quickly mobilised during Covid-19 to offer video assessment and consultation in addition to face to face and is now looking towards moving to a hybrid model of face to face and online working.

Please ensure you read the job description and person specification attached and that your supporting information reflects the relevant skills and experience you have, as your application will be shortlisted against these criteria.

The post holder will help with assisting with service improvement and developing pathways of care to meet the service needs in line with National and Local strategies and evidence-based best practice.

The post holder will work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and may be called upon to work in various community settings (including womens homes and other community venues).

Person Specification Knowledge and Experience Essential

• oBritish Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Level 2 accredited Post Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or a recorded/registered doctoral level qualification in clinical or counselling psychology/ /a recorded registered qualification in one of the following - nursing, social work, occupational therapy, arts therapy or a psychological therapy - plus further post graduate qualification training in a psychological therapy which may be as EMDR, Trauma focused CBT, CBT for anxiety and OCD, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Compassion focused Therapy and Parent Infant Psychotherapy
• oCurrent professional registration with professional body such as NMC, HCPC or similar
• oExtensive experience of working in a community setting with people experiencing complex presenting difficulties
• oWell developed skills and post qualifiaction training in either Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, Structured Clinical Management
• oExperience of working therapeutically with groups.
• oExperience of working with a broad range of psychological and psychiatric problems within a core professional role.
• oExperience of multidisciplinary working and risk management.
• oAdvanced knowledge of psychological models of complex mental health presentations, and up-to-date techniques and treatment protocols relevant to psychological therapy with these groups. Knowledge of evidence-based practice and clinical governance in relation to this clinical area.
• oSignificant previous experience of working with women with emotional regulation difficulties and /or EUPD
• oExperience of developing, implementing and evaluating specialist interventions

Desirable

• oTraining in other methods of psychological therapy.
• oExperience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• oExperience of working with severe and complex mental health difficulties during the perinatal period.
• oExperience of risk assessment and risk management strategies and their application to practice, particularly in the perinatal period.
• oExperience of multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working across primary, secondary, tertiary and non-statutory organisations.
• oSpecialist Perinatal Mental Health Training
• oExperience of contributing to service development initiatives.
• oWell developed skills and post qualification training in either Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, Structured Clinical Management

Skills and Abilities Essential

• oKnowledge and understanding of diversity and equality issues and their application in perinatal mental health services.
• oSkills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessments, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• oProficiency in both individual and group therapy approaches.
• oBasic IT and keyboard skills
• oThe Full range of skills and competencies as laid out in professional guidelines e.g. the competence framework for CBT (Roth and Pilling 2007).
• oAbility to manage own caseload of SPMHS clients.
• oWell-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.
• oIT and keyboard skills.

Desirable

• oSkills creating and delivering presentations and training programmes. Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• oKnowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies relevant to the perinatal period.
• oKnowledge of specialist mental health services of mothers and their infants and the wider network of mental health services in the NHS.
• oKnowledge of policies and procedures relating to Child Protection.
• oFull, clean driving license

Behaviours and Values Essential

• oTo gain specialist experience and skills relevant to specialty through a comprehensive, planned programme of CPD in accordance with Professional Guidance.
• oAn ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive, distressing problems (e.g. acute psychotic states, childhood sexual abuse, infant loss, birth trauma)
• oWell-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.
• oAble to work autonomously within appropriate professional guidelines.
• oAble to utilise supervision appropriately and work within limits of
  
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