Senior Clinical or Counselling Psychologist - EIP Service

Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust; England; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 70,000

Job description

About Us

EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:

• We are among the largest employers in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
• We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.

EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.

Our Vision

"To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care".

Our Purpose

"We care for people every day. What we do together, matters".

Our Values

• We Care
• We Learn
• We Empower

Our strategic objectives

• We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
• We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
• We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
• We will help our communities to thrive.

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to join our team as a 1 year maternity cover within the First Episode of Psychosis Service in West Essex. We are a small, supportive multidisciplinary team working across West Essex covering Harlow, Loughton/Epping and Stansted. You would be joining two qualified psychologists, a Systemic Family Therapist, an assistant psychologist and trainee psychologists in an MDT that values psychological working, to deliver assessment, intervention, MDT support and supervision.

Newly qualified clinical/counselling psychologists, or those seeking to gain experience in an EIP service, are invited to apply.

Main duties of the job

This post will be based with our West Essex multi-disciplinary team First Episode of Psychosis team, primarily covering the Harlow and Stansted locations.

This post offers you diversity in clinical practice, supporting and enabling your professional development. You will provide direct psychological assessment and interventions in the community for people experiencing their first episode of psychosis. The psychology team within the wider MDT offer a range of psychological therapies including CBTp, psychodynamic working, trauma therapy and CFT. You will offer support for the wider MDT offering reflective practice and contributing to formulation and care planning for clients. There are opportunities for work with families and carers and to contribute to service audits. You will provide supervision for assistant and trainee psychologists (dependent on experience).

You will receive regular clinical supervision from a Principal Clinical Psychologist and peer group supervision, depending on previous training. You will be part of the wider network of EIP psychologists across Essex and more locally in West Essex for peer support and CPD opportunities.

Working for our organisation

EPUT are looking for motivated staff who share our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;

• Season Ticket Loans
• NHS discounts for staff
• Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
• Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
• The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
• Day One Flexible Employer

The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification for a detailed list of responsibilities.

Person specification

Education/ Qualifications/ Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Professional qualification in the form of a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent.
• HCPC Registered
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Experience of working in adult mental health and with complex and serious mental health problems.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.

Desirable criteria

• Post accreditation training in additional specialised areas of psychological practice e.g. CBT, CBTp or other.
• Training in family interventions.
• Experience of working in psychosis services.

Skills/Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist for a minimum of two years (or if less an application would be welcomed from a band 7 looking for the opportunity to complete their preceptorship before moving up to an 8a).
• 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.

Desirable criteria

• Demonstrate further specialist training and/or experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist over a minimum of 18 months, or an alternative agreed by the Director of Psychological Services.

Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered 'suitable alternative employment' to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Important Professional References

Make sure that as a part of your application you have professional references with business contract information covering your last three year employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.

As a newly appointed employee you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post, the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.

Applications for Job Share are positively welcomed.

Equal Opportunities Employer

Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email [e-mail] and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.

The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.

Covid Vaccination

Although Covid vaccinations are no longer a mandatory requirement within the NHS we continue to encourage and support the vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against Covid19. The safety of our staff and patients is a top priority for us at EPUT.

If you would like to book a Covid vaccination or would like more information please contact us by emailing [e-mail].

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

• Job Description (PDF, 664.5KB)
• Person Specification (PDF, 376.6KB)
• EPUT Pledge - Step into Health (PDF, 211.0KB)
• Candidate Privacy Policy (PDF, 336.6KB)
• Right to Work Information (PDF, 293.6KB)
• Employer Recognition Scheme - Gold Award (PDF, 27.7KB)
• Trust Vision and Values (PDF, 168.9KB)
• Values of the NHS Pension (PDF, 151.3KB)