Consultant Clinical or Forensic Psychologist - New Hire Bonus

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

• To work in partnership with the Clinical Lead and the two other core treatment leads to design, develop and deliver a trauma focussed treatment programme with special responsibilities for Responsivity ensuring clear leadership, attention to equality, diversity and inclusion, quality, safety and utilising service user experience
• To provide highly specialist psychological assessments and treatments of prisoners referred to the team including interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychometric tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care.
• To use the findings of complex assessments to develop psychological formulations of presenting problems and offending behaviours that integrate information from assessments within a coherent framework that draws upon psychological theory and evidence and which incorporates interpersonal, societal, cultural and biological factors. Treatment priorities to be clearly defined, measurable and in line with risk reduction and improved wellbeing.
• To provide leadership to the Community and Belonging Committee by chairing the meeting and taking a strategic role in actualising the Community and Belonging vision which is to strengthen environmental conditions that helps us heal trauma and neglect together. Seeing equal value in all lives, the community and belonging strategy also aims to encourage all residents and staff to emotionally invest in each other and be active citizens who commit their skills and resources to contribute to community life and initiatives that enrich and transform lives, both in and outside the Fens Services.
• To communicate, using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills, the results of this assessment, formulation and treatment reviews to the prisoner, wider multidisciplinary team and other agencies involved in the care of the resident. who may be hostile and antagonistic to receiving this information. There are almost always significant barriers to men accepting that they meet the criteria for treatment within the Fens High Secure Offender Personality Disorder Pathway Service. The findings of these assessments are so contentious that they may be challenged by the prisoner who may instigate legal proceedings.

• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

• To ensure the development, implementation and evaluation of appropriate group-work programmes in conjunction with the core treatment leads; both structured and unstructured intervention groups as required by the treatment programme. As a result of the evaluation to formulate any necessary changes and adjust the programme.
• To exercise full autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, and manage and maintain a caseload in line with service guidelines.
• To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan. This to include HMPPS partners and other agencies linked to the OPD pathway and care of the residents.
• To ensure that all members of the clinical team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and treating prisoners within the Fens Services at HMP Whitemoor, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory.
• To work in partnership with other disciplines to help to establish and maintain multi-disciplinary team working and care programme approach.
• To take a leading role within the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meetings providing direct input to those meeting and communicating information on psychological assessments, formulations and interventions collected by other psychologists and psychotherapists within the Fens Service, and other core MDT members.
• To, where appropriate, act as care coordinator, ensuring the provision of a care package appropriate for the prisoners needs, coordinating the work of others involved with care, tasking responsibility for arranging CPA reviews as required and communicating effectively with the prisoner and all others involved in the network of care, and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions.
• To contribute to prison service process of reviews of prisoners, providing written or verbal reports as appropriate to the specific reviews. Such reviews include those that relate to suicidal behaviour (ACCT reviews), lifer treatment progress reviews , Category A reviews and parole reviews as directed.
• To contribute to the wider Offenders with Personality Disorder Pathway by sharing information with other sites and developing services that will provide for these prisoners once they have left the high secure service.
• To provide expertise, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care, working with NHFT, and Social Care & Justice providers.
• To produce reports on clients, in a timely manner, that convey the key findings of psychological assessment and formulation and treatment outcome in a way that does justice to the complexity of the problems described, but that are understandable to the recipients of the reports, including prisoners and referrers.
• To manage the treatment work and service caseloads of psychologists who contribute to the agreed psychological treatment programme.
• To work in partnership with other disciplines and to maintain links with statutory and non-statutory and primary care agencies as appropriate.

• To collect and communicate specific information as required by the commissioners and as the NHS E contract dictates.

• To work alongside the Service manager and other band 8 clinical staff in ensuring the team have a sufficiently robust workforce development plan and an active wellbeing strategy and supporting initiatives to maintain optimum staffing resources who are adequately trained and supervised to deliver the required interventions and services within the NHS E contract.

All clinical work on the responsivity services to be well documented, researched and written into clear theoretical framework to allow for annual peer group scrutiny across a panel of experts

Essential

Essential

• oEither doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS.
• oOr be a qualified registered Applied Psychologist with a significant post-Chartership experience and training in at least one model of psychological therapy and an understanding of the implications of attachment theory for clinical practice.
• oUndertaken training in the supervision of Trainee Clinical/ Forensic/Counselling Psychologists.
• Post qualification training in working with people with complex histories within an attachment focused treatment approach and with a significant post qualification experience.

Desirable

• oPost-qualification training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
• oAttended relevant Trust/national training on a)Leadership skills b)Management Training

Experience

Essential

• oAssessed experience of working as a qualified applied psychologist including significant post qualification experience with people with complex needs
• oExperience of multi-professional management of teams or services within the designated specialty
• oExperience of involving service users in service planning and development
• oExperience of exercising full clinical responsibility for service user's psychological care and treatment as a professional qualified care-coordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.ithin the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
• oExperience of working with a wide variety of client groups and presenting with the full range of clinical severity maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• oExperience of managing psychology resources for staffing and equipment.
• oExperience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• oExperience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• oExperience of representing the profession in local policy fora.
• oExperience of delivering psychological assessment and therapy with complex problems
• oExperience of using complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation, intervention and management.
• oExperience of planning and delivering group work.
• oExperience of providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• oExperience of managing qualified and unqualified psychologists/other professional therapists including recruitment and retention, professional management procedures, appraisals, sickness absence, maternity leave/paternity leave, annual leave.
• oExperience of supporting staff to develop appropriate care pathways.
• oExperience of conducting research using a variety of research methods
• oExperience of professional management of qualified and pre-qualified applied psychologists .
• oExperience of communicating effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical, contentious, highly distressing and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS.

Desirable

• oExperience of identifying and addressing barriers to inclusion
• oExperience of challenging oppressive or disrespectful practices

Skills & Abilities

Essential

• oAble to demonstrate commitment to high quality care and service provision
• oAble to establish relationships with individuals who are mistrustful and fearful of rejection
• oAble to be compassionate and work towards warm, collaborative relationships with service users who often present as hostile or with other barriers to closeness
• o Working in partnership with other agencies.
• oSkills in service improvement.
• oThe ability to lead teams effectively through significant service change demonstrating compassionate leadership
• oAbility to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to hold the stress of others.
• oSkills in self-management including time management.

Knowledge & Understtanding

Essential

• oMasters or Doctoral level knowledge of the applied theory and practice of specialised psychological assessments or interventions in relation to individuals with personality disorders, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities and severely challenging behaviours.
• oHave an awareness of relevant national polices and government publications and their implications for service development in the field of personality disorders and equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
• oHighly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies
• oKnowledge of complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation, intervention and management. This requires the use of high developed analytical and judgement skills.
• oA high-level ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical, contentious, highly distressing and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS.
• oKnowledge of relevant national guidelines and evidence base for therapies for working with those with personality difficulties, complex trauma and responsivity needs.
• oKnowledge in and evidence of providing consultation to other professionals and non-professional groups.
• oHighly developed understanding of other professionals perspectives of working within the speciality.
• oKnowledge of a variety of research methods.
• oKnowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health.
• oEvidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and/or UKCP
• oAdvanced keyboard skills.

Physical Requirements

Essential

• oExcellent interpersonal and communication skills enabling the formation of networks with professionals within the Trust and from other agencies to promote effective team working with clients.
• oEnthusiasm for developing the work of applied psychology and related health professionals in a broad range of settings. An interest in models of service delivery, and an ability to articulate the value added by clinical psychology and psychotherapy services within the context of multi-disciplinary mental health services.
• oDemonstrates an understanding and awareness of the involvement of service users in improving services and committed to engaging service users in service development
• oInterpersonally calm and able to diffuse difficult, volatile situations.
• oAble to tolerate ambiguity and to take decisions in situations of incomplete information.
• oAbility to exercise appropriate levels of self-care and monitor own state, recognising when it is necessary to take active steps to maintain fitness to practice.

Other

Essential

• oRecognise people's right to privacy and dignity, treating every person with respect
• oWillingness to embrace integrated model and new ways of working.
• oWillingness to be flexible in approach and attitude
• oAbility to identify provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours
• oAbility to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice
• oAbility to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
• oAbility to articulate and interpret clearly the role of the profession of psychology based upon a good understanding of the framework of government and national professional policy.
• oAbility to tolerate prolonged periods of sitting.
• oExperience of working within a multicultural framework.

Desirable

• oRecord of having published in either peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books

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).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).