Senior Clinical or Counselling Psychologist

Job Summary

Band 8A Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

We are happy to consider interest from newly qualified applicants or those currently working as a Band 7 Psychologist who would be interested in a development post, working towards becoming an 8A psychologist.

We are looking for a highly motivated and innovative Practitioner Psychologist to join a friendly team in our Addictions service: ARCH (Addiction Recovery Community Hillingdon). This is an exciting and rewarding opportunity for a practitioner psychologist who is enthusiastic about working in a multi-disciplinary setting, who is adaptable and enjoys variety and working independently as well as within a team context. You will have excellent clinical skills and ideally possess supervision experience. You will work alongside a range of professionals including psychiatrists, mental health nurses, social workers, drug and alcohol practitioners, experts by experience, criminal justice staff, recovery workers, and group facilitators.

Main Duties of the Job

CNWL through its Addictions Directorate provides expert services to a variety of London Boroughs and beyond. Specifically in Hillingdon, the ARCH service is an NHS and third-sector partnership providing comprehensive health care for local people with drug, alcohol, and other addictions.

A significant percentage of addiction clients also present with diagnoses of Trauma, Personality Disorder, and Complex Mood and Anxiety Disorders. The team is expected to deliver a range of evidence-based interventions as recommended by NICE Guidance including MI, MBT, DBT, CFT, EMDR, and CBT. Other modalities are used dependent on patient need and best practice. The successful applicant will be involved in the provision of therapy and supervise both qualified and trainee psychology staff.

About Us

Liaising and developing effective collaborative relationships with other services such as social care and mental health is a key part of the role. The post holder will have some management and clinical supervision responsibilities for assistant and trainee psychologists and other staff as required, and will assist in embedding a psychologically informed environment (PIE) across all levels of working. The post holder will be responsible for screening and assessing referrals, managing wait lists, and providing psychological consultation to colleagues and other services about the mental health and psychological needs of clients. You will be expected to work with clients individually and in groups, and with carers and families as required.

Job Responsibilities

You will have assessment, formulation, therapy, and leadership and supervision skills; and you will have (and/or want to develop) experience, training, and knowledge in working with addictions and associated complex presentations. Although experience of working with people with addictions would be valuable, we recognize that not all applicants will have had this opportunity. Tailored induction and training will be provided to enable you to work effectively with this client group.

You will have good research and audit skills, be familiar with care quality and clinical governance and be expected to contribute to service development in this way.

You will be operationally responsible to the team manager and receive regular clinical supervision, support, and reflective practice from your Professional Lead for Addictions, as well as peer support and guidance from other senior team members.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies, and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• HCPC registration

Desirable

• CBT-p
• Post-graduate training in an evidence-based therapeutic technique of use to the service
• Post-graduate training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training, and/or other fields of applied psychology.

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.
• Experience of working in secondary care mental health services with clients presenting with comorbidity, such as chronic mood disorders, psychosis, personality difficulties, and trauma.
• 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 carrying out psychological assessment, developing theory-driven psychological formulation, and delivering evidence-based psychological interventions to clients presenting with complex mental health difficulties.
• Experience of working with patients from socially-deprived and multicultural backgrounds.
• Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours of clinical supervision of working as a qualified clinical/counselling psychologist.

Desirable

• Experience of teaching, training, and/or supervision.
• Experience of the application of psychology and psychological therapy in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of representing psychological therapies within the context of multidisciplinary care.
• Experience of delivering family interventions.
• Experience of setting up and running groups.
• Experience of working within an MDT setting.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention, and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Ability to establish and maintain a psychotherapeutic relationship with clients presenting with complex needs, particularly those with chronic emotional difficulties, complex trauma, and comorbid personality difficulties.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. psychosis, personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
• Well-developed skills in the ability to 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.
• Knowledge and awareness of the trauma-informed approach.
• Doctoral-level knowledge of research methodology, research design, and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of psychology.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and/or HCPC.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists/psychological therapists.
• Awareness of the impact of working with clients with complex mental health difficulties on self and others.

Desirable

• High level 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.
• Ability to remain calm and reflective in a crisis.

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.
UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.
Employer Details

Employer Name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Address

Old Bank House
64 High Road
Uxbridge
UB8 1JP
Employer's Website