Clinical / Counselling Psychologist or Psychological Therapist

Job summary

An exciting opportunity for a Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical or Counselling) or Psychological Therapist to join the Portsmouth & Southeast Hampshire Acute Care Pathway, blending roles to provide a connected approach in working with patients who are acutely unwell. The role is an opportunity to work part time within the Acute Psychology Service based at The Orchards Psychiatric Unit, working with inpatients and outpatients under the Portsmouth Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team.

This is an excellent opportunity for the right person to help build psychological skills within a well-established team. The post-holder will contribute to shaping the vision and delivery of the Acute Psychology Team assessment and intervention. This role will also enable you to build on your service evaluation and research skills as well as supervising Assistant Psychologists, HCSWs and trainee clinical psychologists on placement.

We are looking for a motivated and committed person, who will have an interest in or experience of working with people with complex mental health problems and developing psychologically informed practice within a multi-disciplinary team.

Portsmouth & Southeast Hampshire Psychological Services have well established clinical supervision structures and an excellent track record of CPD, as well as good links with Southampton University, particularly with the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology and the Post Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will be required to work as an autonomous, independent member of the acute psychology team. They will be responsible for their own work and for implementing agreed guidelines and policies in providing a highly specialist psychological service to individuals in the acute inpatient unit and crisis resolution and home treatment team. Individuals will primarily present with acute, complex psychological problems that would benefit from acute care services.

The postholder will undertake assessments, formulations and treatment, offer consultancy and provide expert advice to colleagues within the acute inpatient unit and crisis team under the guidance of the Consultant Clinical Psychologist.

The post holder will be expected to comment and propose change to policy or service development within the psychology team as necessary.

The post holder will place an emphasis on co-production and demonstrate an attitude which respects and values clients' and their carers and the core values of the trust: clients and people first; partnership; and respect.

The post holder will contribute to audit, service development and research within the area served as agreed with the Consultant Clinical Psychologist

The post holder will provide teaching and training in line with the service needs identified in agreement with the Consultant Clinical Psychologist

The post holder will adopt a trauma-informed approach in their work with patients and staff

About us

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides joined-up mental and physical healthcare for around two million people across our communities. With over 13,000 staff working in the community and local hospitals, we deliver care at every stage of life, helping people live their best and healthiest lives.

Our mental health services include community-based support and early intervention in psychosis (EIP) for both adults and young people, alongside a network of specialist inpatient wards covering forensic, learning disability, eating disorder and older person's care.

We deliver extensive physical health services too, from urgent community response teams helping frail and older patients remain safely at home, to hospitals at home teams providing acute-level care in familiar surroundings. Our neurological services offer rehabilitation and treatment for conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Head Injury, Cerebral Palsy and Stroke. Across Hampshire, our community hospitals provide inpatient rehabilitation as a step down from acute care, and our dedicated teams also staff Treetops Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Portsmouth, offering expert, compassionate support.

Everything we do is underpinned by our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect and excellence

Job responsibilities

Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.

We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS.
• Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist
• Or
• Diploma in CBT Therapy or equivalent
• Accreditation by an appropriate psychotherapy organisation (e.g. BABCP, SFDBT, ACAT).
• At present, the Trust is unable to offer Skilled Worker visa sponsorship for this post. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK at the time of application.

Desirable

• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
• Post-qualification training in a specific psychological modality relevant to the role.
• Training in DBT, EMDR, ACT or CFT.
• Training in supervising others.

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.
• 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.
• Well-developed skills in the ability 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 non-professional groups.

Desirable

• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.