Practitioner Psychologist Band 8b - Forensic Psych Services

Job summary

1 x Band 8b Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologist Post - (0.8wte)

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Psychologist, with considerable clinical experience working in forensic inpatient services, to join EPUT's Forensic Psychological Service in a combined clinical and leadership role.

Main duties of the job

This role will involve providing highly specialist clinical services to forensic patients (0.5 wte) as well as providing operational leadership (0.3 wte) within the service. The post will be based at Brockfield House (Wickford, Essex) and will also include some clinical and management responsibility for staff at EPUT's other forensic inpatient units: Edward House (Chelmsford, Essex), Robin Pinto Unit (Luton) and Wood Lea Clinic (Bedford).

About us

BENEFITS AND CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

• Up to £8,000 relocation support for those that meet the criteria
• Excellent Training and CPD opportunities for career development
• Season Ticket Loans
• NHS discounts for staff
• Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
• The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work

Day One Flexible Employer, the Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment.

As well as applicants from the UK, we encourage overseas candidates to apply for this role. We welcome diversity within our organisation. We can offer guidance for candidates coming from overseas about settling into working in the UK and we have a programme to provide a 'buddy' for you, i.e. a member of the Psychological Services Directorate who has also emigrated to join us at EPUT and can guide you through as you settle into your new home. We understand that, as an overseas candidate, you will have gone through excellent training in your country of origin and we encourage you to join us.

Job responsibilities

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES CLINICAL

1. To provide highly specialist psychological assessments of service users referred to the team, based upon the appropriate use, analysis, interpretation and integration of highly complex psychological data from a variety of sources including: psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations, semi-structured interviews with service users, family members and others involved in the service users care.

2. To be responsible for formulation and implementation of complex plans for formal psychological treatment and/or management of service users offending behaviours, mental health/developmental disability/behavioural problems, based on an appropriate conceptual framework of the problems and employing methods of evidence based efficacy across the full range of care settings.

3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups based on formulations and drawing on different explanatory psychological models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

4. To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options and any adjustment to plans, as treatment progresses, taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical, developmental processes, which have shaped the individual, family or group

5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for psychological assessment, treatment and discharge of service users, communicating with MDTs and others involved in care on a regular basis

6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to colleagues in the team, carers from the public, private and voluntary sector and families, as well as courts and solicitors where required

7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group

8. To ensure members of the clinical team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding care of service users through provision of advice and consultation and dissemination of psychological research and theory. To advise, support and facilitate effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the team

Please see full 'Job Description' and 'Person Specification' attachments for full details of the role.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral training in psychology
• Postgraduate training including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by HCPC.
• HCPC Registered as practitioner psychologist
• Post graduate level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practised within the clinical or forensic fields of psychology.

Skills/experience

Essential

• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, 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 in the administration and interpretation of Structured Professional Judgement risk assessments (including the HCR-20, RSVP and SARA), as
• Experience of providing clinical supervision to staff carrying out group and individual work with forensic mental health or forensic learning disability patients
• Significant experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client's psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified psychologist and also within the context of multidisciplinary care plan

Desirable

• Experience of initiating and taking an active role in service-development

Personal

Essential

• The ability to create and maintain effective relationships within the clinical team and with a range of professionals.
• Team Player, inspirational to others, ability to negotiate 'win win' situations.
• Ability to work independently
• Confident and approachable.

Desirable

• Personal experience of mental health problems.

Knowledge

Essential

• Formal training in the supervision of other psychologists
• Knowledge of legislation, and its implications in relation to the client group and mental health
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and HCPC by completion of CPD log demonstrating a minimum of 40 hours per year
• Well-developed knowledge of theory and practice of highly specialised forensic psychological assessment methodologies
• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc.)