Job summary
Experienced forensic, clinical, or counselling psychologist is required to join a strong multi-disciplinary team in a community Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway service providing specialist care to men and women who have personality difficulties, mental health needs, neurodiversity and forensic histories. There is one part time fixed term position to cover maternity leave.
The role will be primarily clinical although it is hoped that the successful applicant will actively pursue research and evaluation within the forensic field and contribute to the provision of supervision and training to other psychologists and professions.
The main task is to provide specialist consultation/formulation and supervision to the Probation Service in East/West Kent PDU for their work with offenders with severe and complex personality disorders. This includes case screening, consultation, formulation and joint working. In addition to providing reflective practice groups and developing and delivering training.
You will be joining a diverse and dynamic multi-disciplinary team including psychology, occupational therapy, social work and probation staff who are actively engaged with the development of trauma informed, recovery centred best practice in forensic mental health.
Main duties of the job
The OPD pathway includes the Psychologically Informed and Planned Environment (PIPE) Unit at Fleming House in Maidstone, a team of psychologists undertaking case consultation, formulation and joint working in the probation offices across Kent and the highly regarded Kent Chiron Community IIRMS (Intensive Intervention and Risk Management Service).
The service has strong links with the local training scheme and other academic bodies with opportunities to get involved in teaching and lecturing. There are opportunities to develop specialist skills in a number of areas such as EMDR, reflective practice and personality disorders. There is also a requirement within the role to provide clinical supervision and management to psychologists and assistants.
The Service Line specialises in the assessment and treatment of mentally disordered offenders, serving the county of Kent and a population of approximately 1.5 million. There are close working links within the medium secure services in Maidstone. The service works closely with local Probation, Social Services, the Courts and local NHS services. The service has an excellent multidisciplinary ethos, enjoying good working relationships as demonstrated by the high level of morale among staff. CPD and supervision are supported and valued in the Trust.
About us
Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life.
We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people across the county.
The Trust (rated Good overall by the CQC and Outstanding for care) has 3,283 staff working in 66 buildings across 33 locations, covering an area of 1,450 square miles.
You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones.
The nature of our work attracts kindness and compassion as standard and everyone from our cleaners and porters to the chief executive and chairman are recognised as playing a vital role in providing an exemplary service.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Provide specialist consultation/formulation and supervision to the Probation Service East/West Kent PDU for their work with offenders with severe and complex personality disorders.
Undertake work with the Probation Service East/West Kent PDU for offenders with severe and complex personality disorders. To record and submit performance data in a timely fashion.
Undertake high quality direct (assessment and therapeutic) and indirect(consultative, advisory and evaluative) specialist psychology interventions in theseservices taking substantial professional responsibility and exercising autonomous judgement in their professional practice.
Ensure the clinical effectiveness of own practice and of service functioning by undertaking research and development activities relevant to the service area.
Be regularly responsible for providing supervision to trainee psychologists in this specialism.
Please see the attached Job Description for full details and main responsibilities of the role.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Provide specialist consultation/formulation and supervision to the Probation Service East/West Kent PDU for their work with offenders with severe and complex personality disorders.
Undertake work with the Probation Service East/West Kent PDU for offenders with severe and complex personality disorders. To record and submit performance data in a timely fashion.
Undertake high quality direct (assessment and therapeutic) and indirect(consultative, advisory and evaluative) specialist psychology interventions in theseservices taking substantial professional responsibility and exercising autonomous judgement in their professional practice.
Ensure the clinical effectiveness of own practice and of service functioning by undertaking research and development activities relevant to the service area.
Be regularly responsible for providing supervision to trainee psychologists in this specialism.
Please see the attached Job Description for full details and main responsibilities of the role.
Person Specification
Training, Qualifications and Registration
Essential
- The post holder will be a chartered psychologist (Forensic, Clinical, Counselling) with a minimum of two years post qualification experience in working in a variety of mental health settings.
- Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained before 1996 or outside the UK*] as approved by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology. *For forensic psychologists working in forensic settings: Masters degree (with the award of the British Psychological Society qualification in forensic psychology or equivalent).
- Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with Health Care Professions Council.
Desirable
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
Experience
Essential
- They will have experience of working successfully in a team context, providing direct clinical services in a team setting, including dealing with complex cases. They will be able to work independently within the general guidelines set by the Psychology Service.
- 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.
- Demonstrate specialist experience gained post-qualification of working as an applied psychologist with evidence of having received a substantial amount of clinical supervision (normally in the region of approximately 50 hours).
- 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.
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
- Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
- Experience or demonstrable knowledge of working with the client group served by the team/service - The post holder will have a thorough understanding of personality disorder, trauma informed practice and neurodiversity.
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Knowledge of guidance and legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies. High level of knowledge and skills in neuropsychology and evidence of further practice and/or training since qualification.
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
- Approach/Values - Demonstrate support for the values and beliefs of the Care Group and those of the Trust.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the practices of Human Rights in the delivery of this role.
- Commitment to empowering service users, their relatives and carers at all levels.
- Commitment to multidisciplinary team working. The belief that people with mental and physical illness have the capacity for personal growth and learning, and the same goals as any other person.
- The belief that service users have the intrinsic right to be involved in all aspects of their care, including the development and evaluation of the service.
- Ability to travel across sites.
- Supports the values and beliefs of Biopsychosocial models of work.
- Punctual and flexible across hours of work when required.
- Emotional Effort: Ability to deal with distressing or emotional circumstances and take care of own well being on a very regular and frequent basis.
- Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours on a regular basis.
- Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Communication/Relationship skills: Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and 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.
- Analytical & Judgement skills: Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment formulation and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Planning & Organisational skills: Ability to work within a large geographical area effectively, managing travel arrangements and using creative working solutions.
- Ability to plan and manage a complex work load with competing demands.
- Ability to plan and implement projects.
- People Management/Leadership/Resources Skills in clinical supervision of others.
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
- IT skills Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
- Ability to use electronic clinical record systems. Experience of software e.g. SPSS, EXCEL and MS Teams.
- Physical skills: Ability to use a keyboard /computer.
Desirable
- Full, clean driving licence.
Person Specification
Training, Qualifications and Registration
Essential
- The post holder will be a chartered psychologist (Forensic, Clinical, Counselling) with a minimum of two years post qualification experience in working in a variety of mental health settings.
- Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained before 1996 or outside the UK*] as approved by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology. *For forensic psychologists working in forensic settings: Masters degree (with the award of the British Psychological Society qualification in forensic psychology or equivalent).
- Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with Health Care Professions Council.
Desirable
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
Experience
Essential
- They will have experience of working successfully in a team context, providing direct clinical services in a team setting, including dealing with complex cases. They will be able to work independently within the general guidelines set by the Psychology Service.
- 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.
- Demonstrate specialist experience gained post-qualification of working as an applied psychologist with evidence of having received a substantial amount of clinical supervision (normally in the region of approximately 50 hours).
- 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.
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
- Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
- Experience or demonstrable knowledge of working with the client group served by the team/service - The post holder will have a thorough understanding of personality disorder, trauma informed practice and neurodiversity.
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Knowledge of guidance and legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies. High level of knowledge and skills in neuropsychology and evidence of further practice and/or training since qualification.
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
- Approach/Values - Demonstrate support for the values and beliefs of the Care Group and those of the Trust.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the practices of Human Rights in the delivery of this role.
- Commitment to empowering service users, their relatives and carers at all levels.
- Commitment to multidisciplinary team working. The belief that people with mental and physical illness have the capacity for personal growth and learning, and the same goals as any other person.
- The belief that service users have the intrinsic right to be involved in all aspects of their care, including the development and evaluation of the service.
- Ability to travel across sites.
- Supports the values and beliefs of Biopsychosocial models of work.
- Punctual and flexible across hours of work when required.
- Emotional Effort: Ability to deal with distressing or emotional circumstances and take care of own well being on a very regular and frequent basis.
- Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours on a regular basis.
- Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Communication/Relationship skills: Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and 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.
- Analytical & Judgement skills: Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment formulation and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Planning & Organisational skills: Ability to work within a large geographical area effectively, managing travel arrangements and using creative working solutions.
- Ability to plan and manage a complex work load with competing demands.
- Ability to plan and implement projects.
- People Management/Leadership/Resources Skills in clinical supervision of others.
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
- IT skills Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
- Ability to use electronic clinical record systems. Experience of software e.g. SPSS, EXCEL and MS Teams.
- Physical skills: Ability to use a keyboard /computer.
Desirable
- Full, clean driving licence.
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).
