Clinical/Counselling Psychologist/Psychological Therapist

Job responsibilities

Clinical Psychologist / Counselling Psychologist

• To provide a qualified specialist clinical psychology service to the long term conditions service including inpatients and outpatients across all sectors of care; providing specialist psychological assessment, formulation and therapy.
• Offering advice and consultation on clients psychological care to colleagues from other disciplines and to other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the teams policies and procedures.
• To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the team/service.

Psychological Therapist

• Post holder will relate to the Psychology in Healthcare Service Referrals are allocated/selected.
• The post holder does not have standalone responsibility for a service area.
• Frequent intense concentration necessary in highly distressing and highly emotional circumstances, including occasional exposure to patients with severe physical and psychological trauma, aggressive/traumatised families.
• Managing conflicting demands upon time whilst delivering agreed objectives.
• Working constructively when there may be conflicting priorities within the team.
• High level of responsibility when working with people who are expressing suicidal ideation, or who are deliberately self-harming and/or those who could potentially cause harm to others.
• Ever present possibility of verbal or physical aggression.
• Range of clinical demands and settings e.g., organising workload to accommodate regular outpatient appointments, community-based groups and prompt responding to ward consults. Ward consults may be time-consuming, involving meetings with relevant staff as well as patients and families in order to assess the best point at which to intervene. Indirect work through staff requires flexibility to meet up around staff rotas and may require some negotiation before it is seen as an acceptable solution.
• Will provide signposting to other services, and act as a source of mental health expertise to non-mental health staff.
• Will provide training, education and support to team members.
• Specialisation in specific therapeutic intervention or conditions e.g., Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and depression.

Meets All Clinical-Counselling Psychologist Criteria

Essential

• Doctoral level training in Clinical Psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society
• Registered with HCPC (eligible for HCPC registration at appointment)
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation 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 with presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity
• In addition to obtaining the necessary qualifications and experience to practice as a clinical psychologist, has additional knowledge of National Good Practice of working as a clinical psychologist in Health Services
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
• Well developed skills in the ability to empathise and 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
• Doctorate level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
• Computer literate - competent use of email/internet

Desirable

• Training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or fields of applied psychology
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnosis, people with additional disabilities, etc.)
• High level of 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
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework
• Car driver

Meets All Psychological Therapist Criteria

Essential

• oMaster's Level Qualification in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or Post Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy recognised by the BABCP or full IPT qualification and IPT supervision (as recognised by NHS Talking Therapies) or EMDR qualification and accreditation (as recognised by the EMDR association)
• oCurrent professional registration to practice as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, or a professional registration and accredited in EMDR, working towards/ have consultancy status or accredited IPT therapist with an IPT supervision qualification
• oTo be eligible for accreditation in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with the BABCP, or a professional registration and accredited in EMDR, working towards/ have consultancy status or accredited IPT therapist with an IPT supervision qualification
• oEvidence of Continuing Professional Development
• oSignificant experience of delivering a wide range of therapeutic approaches to mental health problems in a healthcare setting
• oUnderstanding of common mental health problems and their impact on social functioning & interaction with physical health
• oExperience of running groups/classes of a psycho-educational nature
• oKnowledge of medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems
• oHas received risk management training (either formal or through experience) and has carried out risk assessments within scope of practice
• oThorough understanding of issues surrounding clinical risk
• oExperience of delivering training to a range of professionals
• oWorked in a service where agreed targets are in place demonstrating clinical outcomes
• oExperience of developing user/carer initiatives
• oKnowledge of NHS policies, procedures and guidelines
• oAbility to manage own caseload and time
• oAbility to write clear reports and letters to referrers
• oAppropriate IT skills to enable smooth working within modern NHS environment including email and excel and patient information systems
• oAble to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients
• oAbility to meet the travel requirements of this post (community service)
• oAbility to use clinical supervision and personal development positively and effectively
• oAbility to work under pressure
• oAbility to be self-reflective, whilst working with service users, and in own personal and professional development and in supervision
• oThe ability and skills to act as an advocate for a new 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
• oAble to work collaboratively and develop positive relationships with multidisciplinary team colleagues

Desirable

• oTo hold an accredited registration in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with the BABCP, or IPT qualification and IPT supervision (as recognised by NHS Talking Therapies) or EMDR training and accreditation (as recognised by the EMDR association)
• oA qualification or substantial experience in Professional Supervision
• oExperience of clinical audit
• oExperience of supervising others within a therapy setting
• oTrained in provision of supervision for CBT, or EMDR or IPT

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).