Psychological Therapist HMP Aylesbury

Job responsibilities

• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based care plans.
• To integrate with the psychological formulation specialist knowledge of complex mental health disorders.
• To understand the role of physical treatments for complex mental health disorders, and to offer appropriate advice to the patient, carers and clinicians in the light of such understanding.
• To liaise closely with other members of the multidisciplinary team, giving authoritative specialist advice on psychological aspects of care, contributing directly to formulation, diagnosis and treatment planning.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all those who use the service.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users and to provide advice and training to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management.

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

Essential

• A good honours degree in Psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, equivalent to that accredited by the BPS.
• Evidence of post-qualification specialist training, experience and developing expertise in a specialist area of clinical practice.
• HCPC Registered

Desirable

• Pre- or Post-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE Paid/unpaid relevant to job

Essential

• oDemonstrate further specialist training / experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours, experience as a clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist, or an alternative agreed by the Chief Psychologist.
• oExperience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings
• oExperience 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, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• oExperience of working effectively in multidisciplinary settings and representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
• oExperience of working within a secure environment.
• oAdvanced knowledge, experience and expertise in at least one specialist area of clinical practice gained through specialist training and supervised practice (e.g. psychotherapy, neuropsychology, risk assessment, clinical supervision).

Desirable

• oExperience of teaching and training
• oExperience of working within a prison setting.

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES

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
• oDoctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• oPossesses range of clinical knowledge, skills & information technology expertise relevant to post.
• oCan demonstrate competence in supervision of junior qualified psychology and MDT staff and professional psychology trainees.
• oAbility to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
• oAbility 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.
• oBroad knowledge of models of assessment, management and treatment of mentally disordered and PD offenders.
• oAbility to work intensively with people who present challenges in the complexity of their problems and needs, including sexual and violent offending and self-harming and suicidal behaviours
• oHigh level of ability to plan and organise clinical service provision to meet service demands, and to maintain high quality professional practice.
• oContinually develop specialist knowledge and skills by engaging in relevant study and Continuing Professional Development relevant to the forensic population.
• oExcellent IT skills.

Desirable

• oKnowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult-to-treat groups (e.g. people with additional disabilities).
• oCan apply psychological knowledge creatively in developing new initiatives.
• oAbility to write reports for varied audiences, including courts and purchasers of services.

ATTITUDES, APTITUDES PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Essential

• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Team player.

Other

Essential

• Sickness (or attendance) record that is acceptable to the Trust: to be checked at interview. Declared medically fit by the Occupational Health Department to perform the duties of the post

Desirable

• Ability to work in a secure environment, in line with HMPS policy and procedure - to obtain and maintain enhanced security clearance.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).