Clinical Psychologist

Are you a Practitioner Psychologist with a clinical or forensic background and a passion for working with children and young people who have experienced early adversity and have complex mental health difficulties?

Are you motivated by a role where you can make a huge difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable individuals in the community?

If so, our Senior Practitioner Psychologist position at Lansdowne Children's Home in Hailsham, East Sussex may be just the role for you!

Lansdowne Secure Children's Home is a 12 bedded social care provision for young people aged 12-17. The young people have complex needs and are described as 'high need/high vulnerability/high risk'.

The health team's focus is informed by the Framework for Integrated Care (also known as SECURE STAIRS). This aims to support trauma-informed care and formulation-driven, evidence-based, whole-systems approaches to creating change for young people within the Children and Young People's Secure Estate (CYPSE).

Main duties of the job

You will be joining our Integrated Health and Emotional Wellbeing Service (IHEWS) at Lansdowne Secure Children's Home in Hailsham, East Sussex. We are a small and welcoming multi-disciplinary health team whose role is to support both the young people and the residential staff within the centre.

Your main duties will involve being responsible for the assessment of, and some therapy with, the young person consultation to, and support and training of, the care and education staff group including supervision of other Psychological Professional staff when applicable (e.g., Practitioner Psychologist, Assistant Psychologist and Trainee Psychologist). You will work closely with the wider multi-disciplinary health team and will receive supervision from a Principal Clinical Psychologist within SPFT CAMHS.

This is a 30 hours per week role working days will ideally include Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Discussion will take place on appointment.

About us

Sussex Partnership provides mental health and learning disability care for all age groups across Sussex and for children and young people in Hampshire.

We encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/ life balance brings about huge health-related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, flexible start/ finish times or anything else. If it works for you and works for the role, we'll do our best to make it happen.

We'd love you to join our Trust, rated 'good' overall and 'outstanding' for caring by the CQC. Our staff agree, in our recent staff survey 82% told us that they recognise that care for patients is our top priority.

Job responsibilities

We welcome applications from Clinical or Forensic Psychologists who have experience post qualification in working with children and young people, and experience of supervising other psychological professionals, for example, Assistant Psychologists.

Preceptorship:

This role can be offered as a Band 7-8a preceptorship, providing a structured and supportive transition for newly qualified practitioners. You will receive dedicated mentorship from an experienced practitioner to build your confidence and refine your skills. The preceptorship process typically takes between 20 months and 2 years to complete, enabling you to smoothly progress to a Band 8a position.

Note: The specific band (8a or 7) will be determined based on your qualifications and experience.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or outside the UK], including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, approved by the HPC.
• Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HPC).
• *For forensic psychologists working in forensic settings: Masters degree (with the award of the British Psychological Society qualification in forensic psychology or equivalent).

Desirable

• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Knowledge/Experience

Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
• Demonstrate specialist experience gained postqualification 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).
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• 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 the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• 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).
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HPC.

Employer details

Employer name
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Lansdown Secure Children's Home
Hawks Road
Hailsham
BN27 1NP