Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

The 5 "must haves" for you to be considered for this role:

1. Postgraduate doctoral qualification in Clinical or Counselling Psychology (or equivalent)

2. You will have experience working with adults and/or older adults with complex mental health problems, dementia or other disabilities and have excellent therapeutic and management skills.

3. You will enjoy working in teams and providing psychological consultation, teaching and supervision.

4. Calm, confident and assertive in emotionally demanding situations, you will be astute at setting and maintaining professional boundaries and will be efficient at dealing with distressing or hostile situations and behaviour.

5. Self-motivated and confident, you will show initiative and a determination to support clients and their families through creative engagement. This includes an ability to work integratively in your clinical work.

Inpatients Psychology Team overview

There are currently 14 Psychologists and an art therapist working across the hospital, where we support people experiencing a mental health crisis across seven wards: adult acute, older adult acute, older adult dementia and Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

Job satisfaction can come from numerous areas in this diverse role. Under supervision of a Principal psychologist you will take on a clinical caseload with older adults with complex mental health presentations and dementia. You will provide regular input to the multi-disciplinary team on your ward in the form of consultation, team formulation sessions, teaching and joint working. You will be part of the Inpatients Psychology team, supervise the Assistant Psychologist on your ward, and also receive peer support from the other ward Clinical/Counselling Psychologists. You will contribute to and/or lead on service development projects. This developmental post offers a fantastic opportunity for career development; if you demonstrate that you meet the competencies specified for band 8a then you will progress to band 8a.

The work of the Psychology team is highly valued by the staff, service users and carers at Prospect Park Hospital. A current member of the Psychology team said As a psychologist I have felt like a highly appreciated member of the team on the wards and my opinion is often requested.

There is also a supportive Psychology department across the hospital which offers opportunities for peer support, CPD and joint working. Currently we have members working at both 8a and 8b levels which allows for career progression and continued service development. You will have an opportunity to contribute to the development of the team as it grows.

You will spend time working on the wards and also from home.

For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.

We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted.

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.

We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don't hesitate to call: Dr Claudia Kustner on 01189605257 or email: claudia.kustner@berkshire.nhs.uk who will be delighted to help.

Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications/Training for Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Essential

• Post graduate doctoral qualification in clinical or counselling psychology (or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996 or for those who completed their training overseas) which provides eligibility for Chartered Membership of British Psychological Society (BPS)
• Registered and accredited with Health Care Professional Council (HCPC) as a Practitioner Psychologist

Education/Qualifications/Training for All

Essential

• Additional training/ accreditations (or working towards these) to reflect post qualification interest/ specialism (e.g., Health Psychology, Neuropsychology, BABCP, UKCP, ACAT, BPS).

Continuous Professional Development

Essential

• Evidence of training and/or interest and knowledge in psychological models and therapeutic approaches relevant to the post.
• Commitment to continuing professional development as recommended by the relevant accrediting body.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working in evidence-based ways with services users (and their carers/families) presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the range of settings, 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 dealing with highly distressing or emotional circumstances, such as serious mental illness, child and sexual abuse, exploitation, and complex family dynamics
• Experience of working effectively in a multi-disciplinary team and multi-agency environment
• Experience of service development and carrying out clinical audit, evaluative research and applying the findings
• Experience of working with, and addressing issues of diversity, including experience of working with diversity, multiculturalism, and equality of access to service.

Desirable

• Experience of delivering teaching and training to staff
• Experience of providing clinical supervision, mentoring, or providing structured guidance to other staff

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Essential

• Demonstrable knowledge, skills and abilities in the practice of psychological/neuropsychological or psychotherapeutic assessment, formulation and intervention, relevant to the service area.
• Knowledge and understanding of service evaluation, audit and research and completing this in the NHS.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, technical and/or sensitive information to service users, their carers/families and other professional colleagues, both within and outside the NHS
• Well-developed interpersonal skills, with the ability to support, influence and engage with clinicians, stakeholders and service users to create change and improvement
• The ability and skills to act as an advocate for the service, to engage and foster good professional relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of this service with the wider health care system.
• Advanced IT skills and the ability to navigate various systems and software packages (such as RiO, Outlook, databases, MS office/Teams, One Consultation and the internet).

Additional Requirements

Essential

• Able to work flexibly around working patterns as required, and ability to travel independently between locations in Berkshire to fulfil the requirements and duties of the position

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust

Address

Prospect Park Hospital

Honey End Lane

Reading

RG30 4EJ

Employer's website

https://www.berkshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)