Job summary
Interview will be held on 12th Aug 2025
This is an excellent opportunity to workin a split post in two well-established Older People's Mental Health services which include Community Mental Health Teams, Home Treatment Teams and Memory Clinics accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatry. We are looking to recruit an enthusiastic, highly motivated Clinical/Counselling Psychologist dedicated to providing high quality formulation-based care for older people with complex mental health needs and people with dementia. There will be opportunities to further develop clinical skills through CPD, as well as leadership opportunities through service development projects, supervision experience and training. The postholder will be able to work from the team bases (Reading and Thatcham) and home, with visits to clients' homes in the Reading and West Berkshire areas. Travel across Berkshire for meetings and training will occasionally be required.
Work bases:
0.5WTE: Hazelwood, Prospect Park Hospital, Honey End Lane, Reading, Berkshire
0.5WTE: Beechcroft, Hillcroft House, Rooke's Way, Thatcham, Berkshire
Parking: Free parking on both sites.
Working pattern + Service operating hours : Normal rota hours are 9-5pm, total 37.5 hrs a week (18.75hrs in each service), and there is some flexibility regarding working days, within the needs of the service.
Main duties of the job
-
To communicate in a skilled and sensitive way, oral and written form assessment results, formulation, outcome data, treatment plans and other sensitive and complex information.
About us
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated 'outstanding' by the CQC, we're committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire. As an employer, we're committed to offering an inclusive and compassionate environment where our people share in a sense of belonging and are supported to flourish.
Our values at Berkshire Healthcare are:
- Caring for and about you is our top priority
- Committed to providing good quality, safe services
- Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions
Your wellbeing is important to us. Some of the benefits of working for us include:
- Flexible working options to support work-life balance
- 27 days' annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
- Generous NHS pension scheme
- Excellent learning and career development opportunities
- 'Cycle to Work' and car leasing scheme including electric vehicles
- Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
- Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
- Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities, the environment and armed forces community to support equality
- Generous maternity, paternity, adoption and special leave
- Free parking across Trust sites
Job description
Job responsibilities
The must haves for this role:
- Doctoral level training in Clinical/Counselling Psychology, with HCPC registration
- Experience in, and passion for, working with older people and their families/carers.
- Experience in offering a psychological perspective in an MDT setting.
- Ability to work with people with complex and comorbid presentations, including cognitive impairment or physical health conditions.
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're 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: Fleur Newton (Principal Clinical Psychologist; Hazelwood team, Reading) on 0118 9605959 or email: Fleur.Newton@berkshire.nhs.uk or Linda Piper (Clinical Psychologist; Beechcroft team, West Berkshire) on 0118 9043100 or email: linda.piper@berkshire.nhs.uk who'll 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.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The must haves for this role:
- Doctoral level training in Clinical/Counselling Psychology, with HCPC registration
- Experience in, and passion for, working with older people and their families/carers.
- Experience in offering a psychological perspective in an MDT setting.
- Ability to work with people with complex and comorbid presentations, including cognitive impairment or physical health conditions.
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're 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: Fleur Newton (Principal Clinical Psychologist; Hazelwood team, Reading) on 0118 9605959 or email: Fleur.Newton@berkshire.nhs.uk or Linda Piper (Clinical Psychologist; Beechcroft team, West Berkshire) on 0118 9043100 or email: linda.piper@berkshire.nhs.uk who'll 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
Essential
- Post graduate doctorate in clinical or counselling psychology (or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996 or for those who completed their training overseas)
- Accreditation with Health Care Professional Council (HCPC) as a Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical/Counselling)
- (Eligibility for) Chartered Membership of British Psychological Society (BPS)
Desirable
- Additional training and accreditations (or working towards these) in relevant models to reflect post qualification interests/ specialism (e.g., particular therapy models and accreditations, Health Psychology, Neuropsychology).
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 audits, 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 the 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 assessment, formulation and intervention, relevant to specialist modality and service area
- Knowledge and understanding of service evaluation, audit and research and how to undertake these activities in an NHS context, including how to implement learning
- Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, complex, technical and/or sensitive information to service users, their carers/families and other professional colleagues, both within and outside of an NHS setting
- 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 positive relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of the service within 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
- Ability to travel independently between locations in Berkshire to fulfil the requirements and duties of the position
Person Specification
Education/Qualifications/Training
Essential
- Post graduate doctorate in clinical or counselling psychology (or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996 or for those who completed their training overseas)
- Accreditation with Health Care Professional Council (HCPC) as a Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical/Counselling)
- (Eligibility for) Chartered Membership of British Psychological Society (BPS)
Desirable
- Additional training and accreditations (or working towards these) in relevant models to reflect post qualification interests/ specialism (e.g., particular therapy models and accreditations, Health Psychology, Neuropsychology).
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 audits, 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 the 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 assessment, formulation and intervention, relevant to specialist modality and service area
- Knowledge and understanding of service evaluation, audit and research and how to undertake these activities in an NHS context, including how to implement learning
- Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, complex, technical and/or sensitive information to service users, their carers/families and other professional colleagues, both within and outside of an NHS setting
- 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 positive relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of the service within 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
- 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).
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).
