Job summary
Would you like to join a friendly, supportive and innovative psychology team who are celebrating 10 years of providing an excellent service for older teenagers and young adults with cancer? Are you keen to work at 8a level and develop your strategic and leadership skills alongside your clinical work?
This is a new post working alongside the lead psychologist and another 8a psychologist within the award-winning Teenage and Young Adult Cancer (TYA) Service. This is an exciting time to join the team as our new TYA unit opens later on in 2026, so there is scope to develop what the psychology service offers, in conjunction with patients, families and the wider team, and to broaden your skills in teaching, staff support, supervision, research and service development.
Main duties of the job
In joining our team you will contribute to our multidisciplinary clinic for patients aged 18-25 with cancer or a brain tumour as well as offer one-to-one and group interventions using a range of approaches and both virtual and face-to-face appointments.
This is a really varied role, with the chance to develop therapeutic groups, to expand the psychology provision to families, to teach and support staff across the unit, and to use audit and research skills to assess the impact of this and make the case for further development. The service is also a popular placement destination for Doctoral Clinical Psychology trainees and MSc psychology students.
We are looking for someone with:
Good clinical skills in more than one therapeutic approach
A passion for working with young people and their families
Enthusiasm for developing groups or family work
Keen audit and research skills
A wish to build on their supervisory abilities
An interest in working within a broad systemic approach
About us
The Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Service is a close and supportive multidisciplinary team caring for people with a diagnosis of cancer or a brain tumour aged 16-24 years at the time of diagnosis. The team consists of our consultant haematologist service lead, lead nurse, specialist dietitian, fertility consultant, social workers and administrator as well as the lead psychologist and another practitioner psychologist. We have a systemic, holistic focus and all contribute to the weekly MDT at which patients spend some time with each profession, before we formulate their needs together. This is a very exciting time to join the TYA team as our brand new TYA unit is due to open later this year, creating a special environment for young people and staff, and the TYA psychology team will be integral in developing the unit, including training and supporting staff.
We have very close links with and benefit from the expertise and support of both the Dimbleby Cancer Care Service at Guy's and the Haematology Health Psychology Service. We contribute to national and international TYA Cancer Networks so there are many opportunities to collaborate with colleagues from other centres. The wider Trust has a large and well-connected psychology workforce so you will also be able to enhance your own practice via professional development and contact with other psychologists across the Trust.
Job description
Job responsibilities
As one of three psychologists in the TYA team the post holder will work closely with the other psychologists, as well as with the other professionals who make up the wider MDT.
Our vision is to develop outreach to patients family members, and this post will support the development of this arm of the already established TYA multidisciplinary clinic. This will involve engaging and screening family members with a view to identifying those with a need for referral. This will also involve audit and evaluation of this new service development. Assessment and interventions of referrals resulting from this service development will be shared among the psychology team but experience in family therapy is desirable for this post.
The post will also support the development of a group therapy programme. This will involve prioritising the therapy groups in line with service leadership, direction and patient need. It will require assessment for suitability for groups, the designing, setting up, delivery, evaluation and write-up and presentation of therapeutic groups. There will be overlap within the psychology team which works closely together, and most groups will require more than one practitioner psychologist for delivery, but experience in delivering a group therapy programme would be very helpful.
The post holder will ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality and highly-specialist psychology service for young people in haemato-oncology, cancer and brain tumour services within GSTT and Kings College Hospital. The post holder will deliver therapeutic and systemic interventions and resilience-enhancing practices at multiple time points for families from diagnosis, during and after treatment, into survivorship, death and bereavement.
Alongside the above clinical work, the post holder will provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate to other members of the service and work effectively within the multi-disciplinary TYA health team. The post holder will support the development of psychologically-informed working practice within the service and work effectively as a senior member of the multidisciplinary team and a senior member of the wider haematology directorate. With the opening of the new unit in particular there is scope to deliver training to other staff, and facilitate reflective practice groups and other initiatives to promote staff competencies and wellbeing.
The post holder will be expected to support the implementation of policy and contribute to service development for the provision of clinical health psychology in TYA. They will be required to carry out service evaluation, audit, research and service development within the Teenage and Young Adult Cancer service, and to apply and implement national TYA psycho-oncology strategy and create effective partnerships with other agencies relevant to our patient population, e.g. charities and TYA schemes.
The post holder will be expected to work autonomously within professional practice and Trust guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the designated area of responsibility.
The essential days for this post are Mondays and Wednesdays.
For further details please refer to the attached documents.
Job description
Job responsibilities
As one of three psychologists in the TYA team the post holder will work closely with the other psychologists, as well as with the other professionals who make up the wider MDT.
Our vision is to develop outreach to patients family members, and this post will support the development of this arm of the already established TYA multidisciplinary clinic. This will involve engaging and screening family members with a view to identifying those with a need for referral. This will also involve audit and evaluation of this new service development. Assessment and interventions of referrals resulting from this service development will be shared among the psychology team but experience in family therapy is desirable for this post.
The post will also support the development of a group therapy programme. This will involve prioritising the therapy groups in line with service leadership, direction and patient need. It will require assessment for suitability for groups, the designing, setting up, delivery, evaluation and write-up and presentation of therapeutic groups. There will be overlap within the psychology team which works closely together, and most groups will require more than one practitioner psychologist for delivery, but experience in delivering a group therapy programme would be very helpful.
The post holder will ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality and highly-specialist psychology service for young people in haemato-oncology, cancer and brain tumour services within GSTT and Kings College Hospital. The post holder will deliver therapeutic and systemic interventions and resilience-enhancing practices at multiple time points for families from diagnosis, during and after treatment, into survivorship, death and bereavement.
Alongside the above clinical work, the post holder will provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate to other members of the service and work effectively within the multi-disciplinary TYA health team. The post holder will support the development of psychologically-informed working practice within the service and work effectively as a senior member of the multidisciplinary team and a senior member of the wider haematology directorate. With the opening of the new unit in particular there is scope to deliver training to other staff, and facilitate reflective practice groups and other initiatives to promote staff competencies and wellbeing.
The post holder will be expected to support the implementation of policy and contribute to service development for the provision of clinical health psychology in TYA. They will be required to carry out service evaluation, audit, research and service development within the Teenage and Young Adult Cancer service, and to apply and implement national TYA psycho-oncology strategy and create effective partnerships with other agencies relevant to our patient population, e.g. charities and TYA schemes.
The post holder will be expected to work autonomously within professional practice and Trust guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the designated area of responsibility.
The essential days for this post are Mondays and Wednesdays.
For further details please refer to the attached documents.
Person Specification
Knowledge
Essential
- Evidence of awareness and commitment to integrating ongoing learning about inequalities and sensitivity to people's lived experiences within approach to care
Desirable
- Evidence of innovation, passion and dedication to a patient population
Experience
Essential
- Experience working in a multidisciplinary team using psychological formulation in different ways
Desirable
- Experience presenting psychological work in multiple formats
Experience
Essential
- Experience of providing supervision (clinical and/or research) to other psychologists at various stages of professional development
Desirable
- Experience providing supervision and/or training to non-psychologist multidisciplinary healthcare staff
Experience
Essential
- Experience managing mixed therapeutic caseloads working with high distress
Desirable
- Experience delivering staff support, debriefs and training
Skills
Essential
- HCPC Registration as Practitioner Psychologist
Desirable
- Experience working with patients who have a diagnosis of cancer or a brain tumour
Skills
Essential
- Doctorate level qualification in clinical, educational, counselling or health psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS)
Desirable
- Post-doctoral training in one or more specialised areas of psychological practice (i.e. systemic therapy, CBT, CFT, ACT)
Person Specification
Knowledge
Essential
- Evidence of awareness and commitment to integrating ongoing learning about inequalities and sensitivity to people's lived experiences within approach to care
Desirable
- Evidence of innovation, passion and dedication to a patient population
Experience
Essential
- Experience working in a multidisciplinary team using psychological formulation in different ways
Desirable
- Experience presenting psychological work in multiple formats
Experience
Essential
- Experience of providing supervision (clinical and/or research) to other psychologists at various stages of professional development
Desirable
- Experience providing supervision and/or training to non-psychologist multidisciplinary healthcare staff
Experience
Essential
- Experience managing mixed therapeutic caseloads working with high distress
Desirable
- Experience delivering staff support, debriefs and training
Skills
Essential
- HCPC Registration as Practitioner Psychologist
Desirable
- Experience working with patients who have a diagnosis of cancer or a brain tumour
Skills
Essential
- Doctorate level qualification in clinical, educational, counselling or health psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS)
Desirable
- Post-doctoral training in one or more specialised areas of psychological practice (i.e. systemic therapy, CBT, CFT, ACT)
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
