Clinical or Forensic Psychologist

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

This job is now closed

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity for a Senior Applied Psychologist role (Band 8a, permanent contract) based at The Hellingly Centre. We would also consider appointing at Band 7, with a comprehensive package of support and training to progress to 8a.

We are looking for someone who is committed to the provision of excellent clinical interventions for service users and can support teams who are working with complex clinical presentations. The post holder will dedicate time to the a male medium secure ward but would have the opportunity to work across all four wards of the Hellingly Centre and to assist with delivery of a centralised group programme.

You will offer clinical supervision to Assistant Psychologists, and receive a comprehensive supervision package. There will be opportunities to be involved in service development, evaluation of the outcomes of our work and submitting this for publication.

You will join a friendly Psychological Professions (PP) team which prides itself in being highly supportive, with regular opportunities to think together in team meetings, reflective practice and team days.

Main duties of the job

You will be the named ward psychologist for Ash ward, holding an overview of the patients on the ward and contributing to MDT discussion and decision-making about psychological assessment and treatment need. You will undertake complex assessments of mental health need and risk/offending behaviours, develop formulations of need and risk, and deliver evidence-based interventions focused on mental health and offending behaviour. There is a significant opportunity to develop your assessment, and specifically forensic assessment, skills. There will be opportunity to work across the four wards, in order to develop skills with different presentations and to practise in your own therapeutic specialism. There will be the opportunity to be part of the delivery of groups such as DBT-informed groups and offending behaviour groups. You will have opportunities to become involved in service-user involvement initiatives, quality improvement projects and staff support structures.

About us

Proximity to the South Downs, the sea, the vibrant city of Brighton and Hove whilst only an hour train ride from London!

We have a thriving, well-funded, friendly and highly skilled psychological professions department. We strive toward compassionate leadership and flexible support. We offer the opportunity to train in, and deliver the very best psychological therapies, in a safe therapeutic environment, with a challenging and often traumatised and marginalised client group.

The Hellingly Centre is a low and medium secure unit for people between the ages of 18-65 who have mental health problems and who have become involved with the criminal justice system. We offer assessment and treatment for people whose conditions cannot safely be treated other than in a secure or supervised environment. There are three medium secure inpatient wards and one low secure ward, housed in a recently built unit in the beautiful surroundings of the Sussex countryside.

Date posted

23 September 2024

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£50,952 to £57,349 a year pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

354-FH-20486

Job locations

Hellingly Centre

The Drive

Hellingly

BN27 4ER

Job description

Job responsibilities

Main responsibilities:

To provide direct and indirect specialist clinical intervention for service users at the Hellingly Centre.

To undertake and/or contribute to highly complex risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management, including assessments of individuals who are frequently aggressive.

Provide expert advice, consultation, training and clinical supervision to other members of the service.

To provide clinical and professional supervision to psychological professions team members.

Scope and Authority:

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.

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.

To use analytical and judgment skills and be responsible for taking clinical management decisions in complex clinical issues.

To clinically supervise assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists, and junior psychologists, psychological therapists or counsellors and other staff as appropriate.

To provide consultation, mentorship, supervision and advice about psychological issues to other members of the team/service and other professionals working with service users, across a range of agencies/ settings as appropriate.

To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team.

To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the teams operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit, and to advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing

To utilise research skills to undertake service evaluation, audit and research as appropriate and disseminate the results in the service and nationally.

To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the service

Key knowledge and skills:

Specialist experience gained post-qualification, whilst working as a registered psychologist. However, we would consider applications from newly qualified psychologists on a preceptorship basis, with a development plan to work towards 8a.

Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients.

High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies or a high level specialist knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapy as applied to the client group using this service.

Experience of representing psychology/psychological professions within the context of multi-disciplinary care.

Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.

Demonstrate support for the values and beliefs of the Care Group and those of the Trust.

Please see the job description for full details of duties, responsibilities and requirements.

For further information or to talk about the post please call 0300 304 0818 and ask to speak to Jane Roberts, Consultant Forensic Psychologist, or Andy Cook, Consultant Clinical Psychologist (or email jane.roberts@spft.nhs.uk or andy.cook@spft.nhs.uk).

Job description

Job responsibilities

Main responsibilities:

To provide direct and indirect specialist clinical intervention for service users at the Hellingly Centre.

Provide expert advice, consultation, training and clinical supervision to other members of the service.

To provide clinical and professional supervision to psychological professions team members.

Scope and Authority:

To use analytical and judgment skills and be responsible for taking clinical management decisions in complex clinical issues.

To clinically supervise assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists, and junior psychologists, psychological therapists or counsellors and other staff as appropriate.

To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team.

To utilise research skills to undertake service evaluation, audit and research as appropriate and disseminate the results in the service and nationally.

To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the service

Key knowledge and skills:

Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients.

Experience of representing psychology/psychological professions within the context of multi-disciplinary care.

Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.

Demonstrate support for the values and beliefs of the Care Group and those of the Trust.

Please see the job description for full details of duties, responsibilities and requirements.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained before 1996 or outside the UK*] as approved by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
Masters degree (with the award of the British Psychological Society qualification in forensic psychology or equivalent).
Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HCPC).

Desirable

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

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.
Demonstrate specialist experience gained postqualification of working as an applied psychologist with evidence of having received a substantial amount of clinical supervision (normally in the region of approximately 50 hours).
Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
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, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
Experience or demonstrable knowledge of working with the particular client group served by the team/service.
Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained before 1996 or outside the UK*] as approved by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
Masters degree (with the award of the British Psychological Society qualification in forensic psychology or equivalent).
Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HCPC).

Desirable

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

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.
Demonstrate specialist experience gained postqualification of working as an applied psychologist with evidence of having received a substantial amount of clinical supervision (normally in the region of approximately 50 hours).
Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
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, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
Experience or demonstrable knowledge of working with the particular client group served by the team/service.
Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.

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).