Eating Disorders: Senior Counselling Psychologist, Clinical Psychologist, or CBT Therapist

We are excited to advertise 2 posts: A full-time (or part-time) substantive 8a post, plus a full-time (or part-time) 8a maternity cover in the newly established ELFT Community Eating Disorders service.

We are looking to recruit Senior Clinical or Counselling Psychologists / CBT therapists to join an expanding team of psychologists, therapists, clinical associates in psychology and dieticians working to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan to meet the psychological needs of East London residents. This post will support people who meet diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder whose relationship with food, eating, and body image is problematic for them or those who care about them, and will specifically focus on residents whose eating disorder has a mild/moderate impact on their physical health.

Our aim is to expand the community-focused hub over the next 3-5 years. The successful candidate will be joining a vibrant, progressive team, and will be able to use this leadership role to affect meaningful change.

The successful candidates will contribute to the development and management of a FREED-informed model of care (First episode Rapid Early intervention for Eating Disorders)(see https://freedfromed.co.uk/) across the East London care pathway, and also have input into the Community Eating Disorder Hub.

Main duties of the job

In ELFT we have developed an innovative and dynamic way of supporting residents who are struggling with and eating disorder or patterns of disordered eating, which spans across our IAPT services, Neighbourhood (Primary Care Networks) teams, a new Community ED team, and a national specialist eating disorder service (St. Ann's), along with voluntary sector organisations.

This post will exist in our local eating disorder 'hub', the community eating disorder team. In this role, the characteristics of the core population receiving direct services are: those who meet diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder, whose relationship with food, eating and body image is problematic for them or those who care about them. Psychological based provision is offered to the local/identified population at the individual, group, couple and family level through to teams, systems and community level.

The post-holder will work with people who use our services to develop a shared understanding of the complex issues the person is facing, how they cope and the impact this has on their mental, physical health and well-being and those around them (psychological assessment and formulation).

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

• Qualifications: Doctorate in Counselling Psychology and able to demonstrate eligibility for BPS CPsychol (Chartered Psychologist) Or Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) or BPS statement of Equivalence and able to demonstrate eligibility for BPS CPsychol (Chartered Psychologist) Or Accredited training as a CBT Therapist, and Core mental health profession, or a demonstrable working knowledge of NHS values, clinical structures in secondary mental health care, referral pathways, how services are funded and the roles of NHS professionals
• Registration: Full registration with one of: 1. HCPC (Psychologists and Arts Therapists) 2. BABCP 3. UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
• Evidence of continuing professional development relevant to the specialty as required by professional accrediting/registration body (e.g. BPS/ HCPC/ BABCP).
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.

Desirable

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

Experience Essential

• Substantial experience of specialist assessment, formulation and treatment of clients experiencing eating disorders
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the range of care settings, including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the treat of physical abuse.
• Experience in working in multidisciplinary settings and representing a psychological perspective in teams and services

Desirable

• Experience of providing teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Experience of the application of psychological interventions in different cultural contexts.
• Experience in contributing to service development, redesign and improvements in secondary mental health services
• Record of having published in either peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books
• Experience of research in eating disorders or highly relevant related fields.
• Experience working in the NHS.

Knowledge and Skills Essential

• To be able to deliver highly specialist therapy using
• Able to take a lead on service developments and projects with delegated responsibility.
• Able to draw upon a theoretical knowledge base in the analysis of highly complex facts and situations, requiring sustained and intense concentration, to arrive at appropriate formulation and compare and select from a range of treatment options
• Up to date knowledge of psychological research and national guidance relevant to the delivery of eating disorder services.
• An in depth knowledge and skills in applying clinical risk assessment and management in own and others' clinical caseload, including eating disorder related risk.
• Able 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.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Able to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance, including supervision, to support and improve clinical practice.
• Able to plan, organise and prioritise own workload in the face of periods of competing demands.

Desirable

• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and delivery of highly specialised psychological practice relevant to eating disorders.
• Good understanding of the theoretical perspectives on eating disorders of other professionals.

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

363-TH5095209