Job summary
CLINICAL/FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST OR PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPIST , BAND 7
Full time, 37.5 hours/week, Permanent
LONDON PATHWAY PARTNERSHIP (LPP) - PATHWAYS SERVICE, HMP SWALESIDE - PIPEForensic Psychology
The Forensic Psychological Therapies Service at the Bracton Centre (Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust), in partnership with London Pathway Partnership, has a jointly commissioned service to deliver a treatment provision service in HMP Swaleside for high risk, high harm personality disordered offenders from the south of England. The service involves assessment, formulation, treatment, psycho-social interventions, the development of an 'enabling' and psychologically-informed environment, and active service user involvement as well as training, case consultation and pathway management.
This is an exciting opportunity for a clinical or forensic psychologist, or psychological therapist, with an interest in personality disorder and/or complex care, to work in a highly innovative service. The post-holder will work in the service within HMP Swaleside and be involved in all aspects of delivery, working alongside prison and clinical staff to support prisoners to progress through their sentence. There are numerous opportunities to develop formulation , treatment and desistance planning skills and for involvement in teaching, consultation and multi-agency liaison. T
Main duties of the job
You will work alongside prison, probation and psychology colleagues in the provision of personality disordered offender services within HMP Swaleside, as funded by Dept of Health and Ministry of Justice. To include specialist assessments and formulation, treatment interventions, joint-working with prison staff, case management, advice, consultation and training. You will have a responsibility for collaborating with an evaluation of the service.
You will work to the Trust's vision and values, and focus on enabling all staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.
You will promote an environment in which therapeutic relationships facilitate safety and change, by offering psychological perspectives and emotional support to non-psychology colleagues, promoting psychological thinking in teams. You should have interests in working with personality difficulties and complex trauma, including providing direct psychological assessments and interventions, and working in mutli- disciplinary and multi-agency contexts.
You will supervise and manage assistant psychologists, supervise psychological interventions delivered by MDT colleagues, and supervise psychology students and doctoral trainees.
We welcome applicants who are newly qualified or are approaching qualification who are enthusiastic and dedicated to working in this field, with or without prior experience in secure or forensic services.
About us
Oxleas - About Us
Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people living in South East London and Kent and to people in prison. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,000 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, children's centres, schools and people's homes. We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations across the London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent and manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital in Woolwich as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are one of the largest providers of prison health services providing healthcare to prisoners across Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people
Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:
- We're Kind
- We're Fair
- We Listen
- We Care
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
KEY RESULT AREAS
KR 1 Clinical and Client Care
- To provide direct psychological care (assessment and intervention) and support the delivery of psychologically informed care by all disciplines within the service.
- To provide highly specialist psychological therapy assessments, formulations and interventions.
- To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of community clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans, including taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans with input from clients, their carers, referring agents and others involved in the network of care.
- To provide culturally appropriate psychological therapy interventions with service suers, carers or families of referred clients when required.
- To communicate, in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, to clients, family carers and others as appropriate, information that may be contentious or highly distressing concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care.
- To produce reports on clients, in a timely manner, that convey the key findings of psychological assessment and formulation and treatment outcome in a way that does justice to the complexity of the problems described, but that are understandable to the recipients of the reports, including clients and referrers.
- To undertake risk assessment, risk monitoring and risk management for individual clients in line with Trust and inter-agency policies and procedures, and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
- To work in partnership with other disciplines and to maintain links with statutory and non-statutory agencies as appropriate.
KR 2 Responsibilities for team and service clinical functioning
- Attend and contribute to directorate level meetings and forums, as directed.
- Contribute to the delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse communities.
- To be proactive in challenging discrimination.
- To advise other colleagues on specialist psychological care of clients.
- To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
- To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
- To liaise with the service/s MDT and other professionals.
- Implement relevant policies and procedures for the safe running of the service.
KR 3 Service development
- To engage in service improvements through audits and quality improvement initiatives.
- To ensure the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
- Advise professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.
- To participate in Trust and Directorate strategic development and implementation of new initiatives (e.g. national guidelines), including through membership of committees and/or working parties.
- Apply clinical governance standards within the service and ensure that these are maintained and improved.
- Provide high quality services that are managed efficiently, according to the overall requirements of the Trust, NHS and government guidance and standards.
- Participate in service outcome monitoring.
KR 4 Management and supervision
- To provide line management to designated assistant psychologists.
- Provide supervision to students and trainees and to multi-disciplinary colleagues delivering psychological interventions.
- To support recruitment of assistant psychologists to the service.
- For those line managing, to ensure local standards are implemented for the allocation and review of work, job planning, review of performance, sickness management and initial stages of grievance or disciplinary action.
- To oversee quality line management and supervision within the team structure, ensuring that staff and trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to health care, and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.
- To provide highly specialist advice, consultation and training of staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate. This may include work with the Criminal Justice System and Childrens Services.
KR 5 Teaching and Training
- To provide and support specialist clinical placements for students and trainees in applied psychological practice.
- To contribute to the delivery of teaching and training to junior psychological practitioners and specialist training to other professions.
- To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychological therapy and risk assessment / management and to implement knowledge gained in practice.
- To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.
- To continue to gain wider post-qualification experience of psychological therapies and risk assessment / management, over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post-holder is employed.
KR 6 Record-keeping and Information Governance
- To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
- To ensure the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry, in those parts of the service for which the post-holder has management or leadership responsibility.
KR 7 Research and development
- To undertake the planning, initiation and completion of research, service evaluation and audits, and quality improvement projects relevant to the service and the directorate research agenda.
- To oversee the planning, initiation and completion of research, service evaluation and audits by students and trainees.
- To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
KR 8 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development
- To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a senior psychological practitioner according to professional and Trust guidelines and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.
- To attend Reflective Practice reliably.
- To maintain own Continuing Professional Development in line with registered body and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements.
- To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
- To comply with the registered body Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics/Standards of Proficiency.
- To ensure that all psychological practitioners for whom the post-holder has leadership or management responsibility maintain professional standards, adhere to all organisational HR policies and procedures.
- To ensure that all psychological practitioners for whom the post-holder has management responsibility continue professional development, assessing and evaluating to ensure they acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to health care.
- Maintaining registration and standards of practice according to the employer and any regulating bodies eg the UKCP, BABCP & HCPC etc.
- Ensuring all aspects of confidentiality relating to both the service and individuals are maintained at all times.
KR 9 General
- To travel to clinical venues, training activities and meetings as appropriate and across the Trust when required.
- To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow Trust policies relating to its management.
- To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations of people in distress or in crisis and who may be abusive and to support others involved in such situations.
- To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics or weekend working, within the overall Job Plan.
- To be proficient in the use of IT for purposes such as email, electronic calendar, intranet, video calls and electronic clinical records.
- To be familiar with word processing, database and statistical packages, and to use such packages appropriately as necessary.
- To maintain high standards of clinical record keeping, including electronic clinical records and report writing, in accordance with professional codes of practice and Trust policies and procedures.
- To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues pertaining to the client group.
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
KEY RESULT AREAS
KR 1 Clinical and Client Care
- To provide direct psychological care (assessment and intervention) and support the delivery of psychologically informed care by all disciplines within the service.
- To provide highly specialist psychological therapy assessments, formulations and interventions.
- To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of community clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans, including taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans with input from clients, their carers, referring agents and others involved in the network of care.
- To provide culturally appropriate psychological therapy interventions with service suers, carers or families of referred clients when required.
- To communicate, in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, to clients, family carers and others as appropriate, information that may be contentious or highly distressing concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care.
- To produce reports on clients, in a timely manner, that convey the key findings of psychological assessment and formulation and treatment outcome in a way that does justice to the complexity of the problems described, but that are understandable to the recipients of the reports, including clients and referrers.
- To undertake risk assessment, risk monitoring and risk management for individual clients in line with Trust and inter-agency policies and procedures, and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
- To work in partnership with other disciplines and to maintain links with statutory and non-statutory agencies as appropriate.
KR 2 Responsibilities for team and service clinical functioning
- Attend and contribute to directorate level meetings and forums, as directed.
- Contribute to the delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse communities.
- To be proactive in challenging discrimination.
- To advise other colleagues on specialist psychological care of clients.
- To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
- To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
- To liaise with the service/s MDT and other professionals.
- Implement relevant policies and procedures for the safe running of the service.
KR 3 Service development
- To engage in service improvements through audits and quality improvement initiatives.
- To ensure the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
- Advise professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.
- To participate in Trust and Directorate strategic development and implementation of new initiatives (e.g. national guidelines), including through membership of committees and/or working parties.
- Apply clinical governance standards within the service and ensure that these are maintained and improved.
- Provide high quality services that are managed efficiently, according to the overall requirements of the Trust, NHS and government guidance and standards.
- Participate in service outcome monitoring.
KR 4 Management and supervision
- To provide line management to designated assistant psychologists.
- Provide supervision to students and trainees and to multi-disciplinary colleagues delivering psychological interventions.
- To support recruitment of assistant psychologists to the service.
- For those line managing, to ensure local standards are implemented for the allocation and review of work, job planning, review of performance, sickness management and initial stages of grievance or disciplinary action.
- To oversee quality line management and supervision within the team structure, ensuring that staff and trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to health care, and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.
- To provide highly specialist advice, consultation and training of staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate. This may include work with the Criminal Justice System and Childrens Services.
KR 5 Teaching and Training
- To provide and support specialist clinical placements for students and trainees in applied psychological practice.
- To contribute to the delivery of teaching and training to junior psychological practitioners and specialist training to other professions.
- To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychological therapy and risk assessment / management and to implement knowledge gained in practice.
- To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.
- To continue to gain wider post-qualification experience of psychological therapies and risk assessment / management, over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post-holder is employed.
KR 6 Record-keeping and Information Governance
- To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
- To ensure the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry, in those parts of the service for which the post-holder has management or leadership responsibility.
KR 7 Research and development
- To undertake the planning, initiation and completion of research, service evaluation and audits, and quality improvement projects relevant to the service and the directorate research agenda.
- To oversee the planning, initiation and completion of research, service evaluation and audits by students and trainees.
- To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
KR 8 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development
- To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a senior psychological practitioner according to professional and Trust guidelines and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.
- To attend Reflective Practice reliably.
- To maintain own Continuing Professional Development in line with registered body and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements.
- To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
- To comply with the registered body Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics/Standards of Proficiency.
- To ensure that all psychological practitioners for whom the post-holder has leadership or management responsibility maintain professional standards, adhere to all organisational HR policies and procedures.
- To ensure that all psychological practitioners for whom the post-holder has management responsibility continue professional development, assessing and evaluating to ensure they acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to health care.
- Maintaining registration and standards of practice according to the employer and any regulating bodies eg the UKCP, BABCP & HCPC etc.
- Ensuring all aspects of confidentiality relating to both the service and individuals are maintained at all times.
KR 9 General
- To travel to clinical venues, training activities and meetings as appropriate and across the Trust when required.
- To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow Trust policies relating to its management.
- To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations of people in distress or in crisis and who may be abusive and to support others involved in such situations.
- To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics or weekend working, within the overall Job Plan.
- To be proficient in the use of IT for purposes such as email, electronic calendar, intranet, video calls and electronic clinical records.
- To be familiar with word processing, database and statistical packages, and to use such packages appropriately as necessary.
- To maintain high standards of clinical record keeping, including electronic clinical records and report writing, in accordance with professional codes of practice and Trust policies and procedures.
- To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues pertaining to the client group.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Entry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy/mental health/social welfare profession or equivalent and demonstrable practice in this field (ie professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level/supervised practice/additional training) that has been accepted for the purposes of professional registration.
- Additional training beyond entry-level qualification in a specialised area of psychological practice (through formal post-qualification training
- Registered with professional body or regulatory body as appropriate to psychological therapy discipline ie HCPC/UKCP/BACP/BABCP.
Desirable
- Completed training course in clinical supervision
- Training or qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
Experience
Essential
- oExperience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of adult clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature under supervision
- oExperience working with and addressing issues of diversity, including experience of working within a multicultural framework
- oExperience of maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
Desirable
- Experience in forensic / secure settings
- oExperience of providing teaching and training
Skills and Knowledge
Essential
- oSkills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
- 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
- oSkills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
Desirable
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies
- oKnowledge of research methodology, research design and complex data analysis
Other
Essential
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
- Experience of working with diversity, including but not limited to a multicultural framework
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
- Ability to form good working relationships with others in a multi-disciplinary setting
- Interest and ability to contribute to service development
Desirable
- Personal experience of mental health problems
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Entry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy/mental health/social welfare profession or equivalent and demonstrable practice in this field (ie professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level/supervised practice/additional training) that has been accepted for the purposes of professional registration.
- Additional training beyond entry-level qualification in a specialised area of psychological practice (through formal post-qualification training
- Registered with professional body or regulatory body as appropriate to psychological therapy discipline ie HCPC/UKCP/BACP/BABCP.
Desirable
- Completed training course in clinical supervision
- Training or qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
Experience
Essential
- oExperience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of adult clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature under supervision
- oExperience working with and addressing issues of diversity, including experience of working within a multicultural framework
- oExperience of maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
Desirable
- Experience in forensic / secure settings
- oExperience of providing teaching and training
Skills and Knowledge
Essential
- oSkills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
- 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
- oSkills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
Desirable
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies
- oKnowledge of research methodology, research design and complex data analysis
Other
Essential
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
- Experience of working with diversity, including but not limited to a multicultural framework
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
- Ability to form good working relationships with others in a multi-disciplinary setting
- Interest and ability to contribute to service development
Desirable
- Personal experience of mental health problems
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).
