Job summary
Job Title:Clinical Psychologist
Band:Band 8a - Also available as a Preceptorship (Band 7) for recently qualified practitioner
This is an exciting opportunity for a Clinical Psychologist to work in Maternal Mental Health Service (MMHS), working collaboratively to deliver the ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan and Better Births in Cheshire and Merseyside (C&M). The role of the clinical psychologist is to provide clinical leadership, clinical supervision and psychological therapy to women and birthing people who have experienced perinatal loss, trauma and distress as a result of their maternity or neonatal journey and/or present with tokophobia. The team includes clinical psychologists, therapists, midwives, assistant psychologists and peer support workers - drawing on local expertise as required (e.g. obstetricians, reproductive health experts, IAPT, third sector etc).
Main duties of the job
The Clinical Psychologist will work to support the joint Service Leads (Lead Clinical Psychologist and Lead Maternal Mental Health Midwife) to focus on prevention, ensuring that trauma-informed care is delivered universally. There will be an emphasis on direct clinical work both individually and group facilitation within CFT, CBT and EMDR models, training, consultation, clinical supervision including supporting trainee clinical psychologist placements, co-production and community engagement, and leading MDT and multi-agency meetings to make clinical decisions about service referrals and pathways.
We are looking for a motivated, creative and compassionate clinician who has experience of working clinically with experiences of loss or trauma and/or with women and their families during the perinatal period. We are also seeking people who have a robust understanding of the impact of social inequalities on maternal mental health and are passionate about improving outcomes around health inequality. The successful candidate will have experience of working collaboratively with families and 'experts by experience' in support of co-production methodologies to inform service models. As a senior member of the clinical team, the ideal candidate will have great interpersonal skills and an ability to offer confident and sound clinical decision making on behalf of the team.
About us
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 11 million people.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The postholder will be supervised by the Lead Clinical Psychologist. The base is at Thomas House at The Hollins Park Hospital site but flexible/agile working is key to our service provision to support practitioners working where they can most effectively provide patient care across the patch. As a service we wish to support our colleagues and this post will offer flexibility in how the work can be delivered to help promote staff wellbeing alongside clinical outcomes. We welcome any conversation about this post
See job description and person specification for further details
Job description
Job responsibilities
The postholder will be supervised by the Lead Clinical Psychologist. The base is at Thomas House at The Hollins Park Hospital site but flexible/agile working is key to our service provision to support practitioners working where they can most effectively provide patient care across the patch. As a service we wish to support our colleagues and this post will offer flexibility in how the work can be delivered to help promote staff wellbeing alongside clinical outcomes. We welcome any conversation about this post
See job description and person specification for further details
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology accredited by the BPS or its approved equivalent. and Registration with Health Professions Council as Practitioner Psychologist OR
- To have a recognised qualification i.e., Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Therapy, Psychotherapy and Additional training in specialist interventions (e.g., CFT, EMDR,)
Desirable
- Postgraduate/doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
- UKCP, BABCP or BACP Accreditation (or equivalent)
Values
Essential
- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High professional standards
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Discreet
- Change oriented
Skills
Essential
- Well developed and effective communication skills, oral and written, 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 nonprofessional groups.
- Evidence of continuing professional development.
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist or senior psychotherapist at a specialist level for a significant period
- Significant experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
- Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
- Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
- Knowledge and skill development to meet KSF factor 2 Level 8 requirements
- Expertise in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Understanding of the philosophy and principles of care underpinning perinatal mental health
- Knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical psychology and psychotherapy.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
Desirable
- Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in perinatal or parent-infant mental health
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
- Knowledge of inequalities and their impact in the perinatal period
- Knowledge of perinatal trauma and loss
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology accredited by the BPS or its approved equivalent. and Registration with Health Professions Council as Practitioner Psychologist OR
- To have a recognised qualification i.e., Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Therapy, Psychotherapy and Additional training in specialist interventions (e.g., CFT, EMDR,)
Desirable
- Postgraduate/doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
- UKCP, BABCP or BACP Accreditation (or equivalent)
Values
Essential
- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High professional standards
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Discreet
- Change oriented
Skills
Essential
- Well developed and effective communication skills, oral and written, 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 nonprofessional groups.
- Evidence of continuing professional development.
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist or senior psychotherapist at a specialist level for a significant period
- Significant experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
- Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
- Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
- Knowledge and skill development to meet KSF factor 2 Level 8 requirements
- Expertise in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Understanding of the philosophy and principles of care underpinning perinatal mental health
- Knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical psychology and psychotherapy.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
Desirable
- Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in perinatal or parent-infant mental health
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
- Knowledge of inequalities and their impact in the perinatal period
- Knowledge of perinatal trauma and loss
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.
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.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
