Band 8A Practitioner Psychologist - Youth First

Band 8A Practitioner Psychologist - Youth First

Band 8a

Main area: Secure Care and Offender Health

Grade: Band 8a

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 22.5 hours per week

Job ref: 436-6962486

Site: Ardenleigh, Birmingham

Salary: £53,755 - £60,504 per annum, pro rata

Salary period: Yearly

Closing: 17/02/2025 23:59

Please note that this post may close earlier than the indicated closing date if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Job overview

We are looking for an enthusiastic, compassionate and innovative Clinical or Forensic psychologist to join our team at Youth First. The team is based at Ardenleigh Hospital site and has dedicated administrative staff and consists of multi-disciplinary clinicians, which include Psychiatry, Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Nursing, and Social Work, and can access other expertise, including a Speech and Language Therapist.

Youth First is part of the national NHS(E) community forensic child and adolescent mental health service (FCAMHS) which comprises of 13 teams across England. We cover the West Midlands region which includes Birmingham and Solihull, the Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, and Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Community FCAMHS is commissioned to provide a forensic service for young people who present a significant risk of harm to others in the context of complex mental health and/or neurodevelopmental difficulties.

Youth First primarily offers advice and consultation to professionals and agencies working with risky young people living in the community, local authority care, secure estate or inpatient setting. When deemed appropriate, we also undertake forensic and mental health assessments and a range of assessments within our Learning Disability Autism (LDA) pathway.

Main duties of the job

The main duties of the role include supporting the duty system, holding a small clinical case load, service development, research and evaluation, and teaching and training. Clinical practice and quality improvement are embedded within a robust Secure Care Offender Health governance framework. The team ethos actively promotes staff progression and staff well-being including dedicated time for reflective practice, supervision and continuing professional development.

In addition to being located within Youth First, the post holder will also be part of the Trust’s wider Secure Care and Offender Health (SCOH) psychology service. This will provide an opportunity to connect with and seek support from a range of psychological practitioners, participate in division-wide service development and quality improvement forums and access model-specific supervision groups.

This is an exciting opportunity for a psychologist to join an established and dedicated forensic team and in doing so develop their skills and expertise, contribute to service innovation and quality improvement of local and national FCAMHS and be part of making a difference in the lives of young people and their families.

Working for our organisation

Welcome to Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Our 4000 clinical and support staff help us to improve mental health wellbeing and meet the needs of the 70,000 people we serve each year. We provide a range of mental healthcare services across Birmingham and Solihull, as well as specialised services nationally. We also offer medical, nursing and psychology training and are proud of our international reputation for both research and innovation.

Our population is culturally diverse, characterised in places by high levels of deprivation which create an increasing demand for our services and a necessity for us to make sure everyone can access the help they need. We are a team of compassionate, inclusive and committed people working together to provide excellent care to support our community. If you are looking for a place to belong, where you can make a real difference to people’s lives, join our team where our warm welcome is waiting for you.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information about the main responsibilities please view the attached job description and person specification.

Minimum Requirements

• Satisfactory completion of a British Psychological Society accredited Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training course in clinical/forensic psychology, including the study of models of psychopathology, psychometric and neuropsychological assessment, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Eligibility for entry onto the Register of Chartered Psychologists.

Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and individual and group-based treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including primary and secondary/specialist care and inpatient/residential, outpatient and community team settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, including forensic contexts with clients of all ages across the lifespan and of wide-ranging presenting problems that reflect the full spectrum of clinical complexity and severity.
• Experience of working therapeutically with ‘difficult to treat’ clients.
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.

Knowledge

• Skills commensurate with doctoral level training in the formulation of problems from a psychological perspective and in the implementation of highly specialist psychological therapies, interventions and management techniques that are appropriate for use with complex presenting problems.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) including the ability to empathically, sensitively and effectively communicate clinical and condition-related information to clients, their families, carers and professional colleagues (within and outside the NHS) that is extremely complicated or technical; extremely sensitive and potentially distressing to the recipient; or that is extremely contentious or challenging.
• Skills in providing consultation and advice from a psychological perspective to members of other professional and non-professional groups.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific ’difficult to treat’ groups (e.g. personality disorder, challenging behaviour, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).

Personal

• Ability to interact and to build and sustain relationships with people with mental health problems and associated disabilities.
• Is a ‘team player’ and has demonstrated ability to work and deliver to team and organisational objectives.

Other

• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
• Awareness and understanding of the purpose and mechanisms of clinical governance and an ability to employ such mechanisms to maintain and improve standards of clinical practice.

Our Trust is committed to treating individuals fairly and ensuring they have the same opportunities to fulfil their potential, even if this means doing things differently for different people sometimes. We are working hard to ensure our workforce reflects the diversity within Birmingham and Solihull and that our services meet the needs of all diverse service users and carers.

The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. As part of our safe recruitment practice, pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. As part of the selection process, you may be required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check; however, all cases of criminal record history are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

All successful applicants will be required to complete the Trust’s induction programme. The Fundamental (Statutory and Mandatory) training will be in an e-learning format. You will be required to complete training modules online (approx. 9-14 hours depending on the post) by the end of your second week with us.

If you are successful at the shortlisting stage of the recruitment process, we may contact you via email to advise you of the interview details. Please ensure you access your email account from which you applied regularly once the position has closed.

Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the United Kingdom (UK) are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.

Please note that if you are applying for a role within the Prison service, due to Police Vetting requirements you must have been a UK resident for the last years.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name: Carrie Ambrose

Job title: Principal Clinical Psychologist

Email address: carrie.ambrose@nhs.net

Telephone number: 0121 301 4535

Please note that the Secure Care and Offender Health (SCOH) psychology service have several vacancies across the division currently out to advert. If you would like to be considered for multiple roles, please submit one application and indicate which other roles you would like to be considered for in your supporting information. We will be interviewing for all posts on the same day(s).