Job summary
We are seeking an HCPC registered Band 7/8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to join our well established multidisciplinary mental health and memory assessment services within Older People's Services in Richmond (0.3) and Sutton (0.2). The post is fixed term for 12 months (2026), providing cover for staff movement due to maternity leave elsewhere in the service. You will be joining other established Clinical Psychologists based within the same services, providing neuropsychological assessments for dementia and psychological therapies for older people.
Psychology is highly valued within our services and you will be well supported within Older People's Psychology, where CPD and career development are encouraged. We have specialist pathway psychologist leads in Neuropsychological Assessment, Therapies, and Distressed Behaviour in Dementia, and you will receive regular individual supervision and support from senior psychologists in the service as well as opportunities for regular peer supervision and CPD. Our psychologists practice a range of therapeutic models and we have staff working towards the Specialist Register of Clinical Neuropsychologists. The service has strong links with the University of Surrey Clinical Psychology Doctoral Training Program, providing regular placements and program teaching.
We are happy to support flexible working hours to fit with other commitments and would consider applicants who only wish to work in one of the locations.
Main duties of the job
Within the Recovery & Support Team you will provide direct therapeutic work for service users age 75+ with severe and enduring mental health problems and their families. Within the Memory Assessment Service you will work directly with service users of any age with suspected dementia providing neuropsychological assessments of dementia and therapeutic work. Both roles involve MDT working including providing consultation and complex case discussions. You will be encouraged to contribute towards service improvement, either by supporting local Quality Improvement Initiatives or larger Trust wide projects.
About us
We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.
We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.
This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.
We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.
We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.
Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.
Job description
Job responsibilities
1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members, and others involved in the clients care.
2. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
4. To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.
8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
9. To act as care coordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans under enhanced CPA including clients, their carers, referring agents and others involved the network of care.
10. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
11. To work with older people in community care homes and day centres who are displaying behavioural and psychological symptoms as a result of their mental health.
12. To undertake specific assessment of individual service users with challenging behaviour and to contribute to the formulation and implementation of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
Job description
Job responsibilities
1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members, and others involved in the clients care.
2. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
4. To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.
8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
9. To act as care coordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans under enhanced CPA including clients, their carers, referring agents and others involved the network of care.
10. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
11. To work with older people in community care homes and day centres who are displaying behavioural and psychological symptoms as a result of their mental health.
12. To undertake specific assessment of individual service users with challenging behaviour and to contribute to the formulation and implementation of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
Person Specification
Training and Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoral level training in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS - including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology - or alternative training outside of the UK that is recognised by the Health & Care Professions Council leading to registration in the UK as a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist.
- Registration with the HCPC under the appropriate domain specific title
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC
Desirable
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
- Further post graduate training in a specific type of psychological therapy, BABCP accredited CBT practitioner or eligibility for membership of the BABCP as a CBT practitioner
- Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology (QICN)
Experience
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course, presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems
- Experience of assessing and treating older people with mental health difficulties and/or dementia across a variety of care settings
- Experience of working in Inpatient services
- Experience of delivering NICE adherent psychological interventions especially CBT for psychological problems
- Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist over a minimum of 18 months, or an alternative agreed by the Trust Head of Psychology and Psychotherapies
Desirable
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
- Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
- Experience of working with behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia.
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
- Well 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
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
- Ability to demonstrate excellence in NICE adherent psychological interventions especially CBT for psychological problems.
- Doctoral level knowledge of neuropsychological assessment.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
Desirable
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
Person Specification
Training and Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoral level training in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS - including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology - or alternative training outside of the UK that is recognised by the Health & Care Professions Council leading to registration in the UK as a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist.
- Registration with the HCPC under the appropriate domain specific title
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC
Desirable
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
- Further post graduate training in a specific type of psychological therapy, BABCP accredited CBT practitioner or eligibility for membership of the BABCP as a CBT practitioner
- Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology (QICN)
Experience
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course, presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems
- Experience of assessing and treating older people with mental health difficulties and/or dementia across a variety of care settings
- Experience of working in Inpatient services
- Experience of delivering NICE adherent psychological interventions especially CBT for psychological problems
- Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist over a minimum of 18 months, or an alternative agreed by the Trust Head of Psychology and Psychotherapies
Desirable
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
- Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
- Experience of working with behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia.
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
- Well 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
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
- Ability to demonstrate excellence in NICE adherent psychological interventions especially CBT for psychological problems.
- Doctoral level knowledge of neuropsychological assessment.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
Desirable
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
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).
