Job summary
Band 7-8a preceptorship post for a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist (Full time, Permanent) - High Weald Community Mental Health Service, Uckfield, East Sussex.
We are looking for a creative and enthusiastic, HCPC-registered Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to join our friendly and innovative Assessment and Treatment team. This is a permanent full-time post and we welcome applicants hoping to develop their skills at Band 7 as a preceptorship route to 8a. We will also consider those with more experience starting at 8a.
The next 5 years are going to be an exciting period of change for community mental health services. The successful candidate will join a welcoming, highly-skilled and enthusiastic community of psychologists and psychological therapists working as part of the High Weald Assessment and Treatment Service for adults of all ages. The service is multi-professional and commissioned to work with service users with complex mental health needs, their families and carers.
We are based at Millwood in Uckfield which is an attractive small town just south of the Ashdown Forest. Uckfield has direct train links to London and is commutable from Eastbourne and Brighton
Main duties of the job
You will be supported to develop specialist interests and skills in line with the local service priorities. This could include working with clients with psychosis, trauma, managing complex emotions and mood and anxiety difficulties.
We recognise the importance of offering evidence based psychological therapy and experience of offering Cognitive Behavioural Therapy within adult mental health services is essential. We also have local interests in third wave approaches within psychological therapy including Compassion Focused therapy, EMDR, and ACT and support the wider team to offer Family Interventions for psychosis. We would welcome the successful candidate to bring their own interests and experiences to this post and help us to continue to develop our psychological therapy provision.
Psychologists and psychological therapists also support the team by offering psychological formulation and team consultation and staff reflection. The successful candidate will have skills in offering neuropsychological as well as formulation-based assessment to help develop a comprehensive understanding of a client's needs and guide care planning.
About us
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust strives to realise the potential of everyone who uses its services as well as the staff that provide those services. Sussex Partnership has teaching status and is developing into one of the country's leading teaching mental health trusts. Working here offers continued training and development, variety and a rewarding challenge, plus all the benefits of living in Sussex. We have close links with Sussex and Surrey universities and have been national innovators for psychological work with trauma, voice hearing, MBCT and Family interventions for Psychosis to name a few.
As a Psychologist in our service we can offer you the following:
- Access to numerous wellbeing and support programmes, run by our internal wellbeing team
- Excellent supervision programmes, with ongoing opportunities for training and development
- Flexible working patterns
- Access to a host of discount schemes (including gyms, shopping, restaurants and cars)
- A position within a trust rated as 'Outstanding' for caring and 'Good' overall by the CQC
- Generous holiday entitlement (starting at 27 days + 8 bank holidays)
Job description
Job responsibilities
1. To provide a qualified, high-quality specialist psychology service to individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams, in line with best, evidence-based practice and trust care pathways.
2. To be responsible for holding and managing a clinical caseload and to exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the planning and prioritising of own workload and the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, within the bounds of the service operational policy.
3. To use analytical and judgment skills and be responsible for taking clinical management decisions in complex clinical issues.
4. To clinically supervise assistant psychologists and trainee psychologists.
5. To professionally supervise and, when appropriate, manage, assistant psychologists and trainee psychologists
6. To provide consultation and advice about psychological issues to other members of the team/service and other professionals working with service users.
7. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team.
8. To contribute to local service developments under the supervision of the professional lead.
9. To utilise research skills to undertake service evaluation, audit and research as appropriate and disseminate the results in the service and nationally.
10. To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the service.
Job description
Job responsibilities
1. To provide a qualified, high-quality specialist psychology service to individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams, in line with best, evidence-based practice and trust care pathways.
2. To be responsible for holding and managing a clinical caseload and to exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the planning and prioritising of own workload and the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, within the bounds of the service operational policy.
3. To use analytical and judgment skills and be responsible for taking clinical management decisions in complex clinical issues.
4. To clinically supervise assistant psychologists and trainee psychologists.
5. To professionally supervise and, when appropriate, manage, assistant psychologists and trainee psychologists
6. To provide consultation and advice about psychological issues to other members of the team/service and other professionals working with service users.
7. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team.
8. To contribute to local service developments under the supervision of the professional lead.
9. To utilise research skills to undertake service evaluation, audit and research as appropriate and disseminate the results in the service and nationally.
10. To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the service.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or outside the UK], including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as approved by the HPC
- Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HPC)
Knowledge/Experience
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological working (assessment, formulation and treatment) with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, inpatient and residential care settings, maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
- Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of applied psychology
- High level of knowledge and skills in neuropsychology and evidence of further practice and/or training since qualification.
- Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HPC.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or outside the UK], including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as approved by the HPC
- Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HPC)
Knowledge/Experience
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological working (assessment, formulation and treatment) with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, inpatient and residential care settings, maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
- Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of applied psychology
- High level of knowledge and skills in neuropsychology and evidence of further practice and/or training since qualification.
- Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HPC.
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
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).
