Applied Psychologist (Clinical/Counselling)

Wye Valley NHS Trust; Hereford; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A health service provider in Hereford seeks an Applied Psychologist to join its Health Psychology Service. The ideal candidate will deliver psychological interventions, focusing on patients facing health challenges. Responsibilities include collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, conducting assessments, and supervising junior staff. A Doctoral degree in Clinical or Counselling Psychology and HCPC registration are mandatory. Opportunities exist for part-time roles, and adjusted hours can be discussed. This position offers a chance to work in a supportive environment in a beautiful rural area.

Benefits

Great work-life balance

Opportunities for professional development

Supportive work environment

Qualifications

• Holds BSc/BA Honours degree in Psychology.
• Holds a Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology or Counselling Psychology.
• Experience working with clients with physical health problems.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver timely evidence-based psychological interventions.
• Contribute to the delivery of a county-wide psychology service.
• Provide specialist psychological assessments and interventions.

Skills

Psychometric assessment skills

Effective communication skills

Advanced theoretical knowledge of psychological approaches

Education

BSc/BA Honours degree in Psychology

Doctoral Degree in Clinical/Counselling Psychology

HCPC registration as Clinical Psychologist

Job description

Applied Psychologist (Clinical/Counselling)

Working within the Health Psychology Service to provide psychological interventions to people affected by changes to health, predominantly working into our oncology and palliative care and long‑term conditions pathways, with some opportunities to also input into our stroke and acquired brain injury services. To hold clinical responsibility for a caseload and provide assessment and interventions focusing on identifying and treating psychological issues associated with these health challenges. To provide specialist advice, consultation and training as appropriate to service‑users, their significant others, and colleagues within the organisation, and to work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team. To contribute to service evaluation, audit, research and policy development. To offer appropriate clinical and/or research supervision and support to peers and less experienced psychologists, and to promote psychological thinking across the organisation.

We have two roles available 0.6 and 0.5 in our oncology and palliative care and long‑term conditions pathways, and there could be some potential to offer support to our stroke and acquired brain injury pathways. We would be open to considering adjusted hours for these roles – please do make contact with the service if you would like to discuss this further.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will:

• Develop and deliver timely evidence‑based psychological interventions to service‑users who are living with changes to their physical health and/or adjusting to living with an ongoing health condition. This will involve developing effective working relationships and close liaison with relevant health specialty services and community partners.
• Work as part of an established multidisciplinary team within the Health Psychology Service to contribute to the delivery of a county‑wide psychology service for clients living with changes to health.
• Play a key role in ensuring the systematic and equitable provision of high quality psychological assessment and interventions. This will involve providing specialist psychological assessment, formulation, interventions and evaluations of work undertaken.
• Offer advice, training and consultation on clients’ psychological care to colleagues and other professionals, working under clinical supervision within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.
• Work autonomously across a variety of settings. Most contact is offered through face‑to‑face consultations from our community base, with options for telephone/video consultations where this is particularly beneficial for the client. There may also be some potential to offer support into inpatient settings (which may also include telephone/video consultations).

About us

Wye Valley NHS Trust is a member of an NHS Foundation Group with South Warwickshire NHS FT, the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Located on the border with Wales in the shadow of the Black Mountains, we provide acute and community services across Herefordshire and into parts of Powys and run Hereford County Hospital and the community hospitals in Bromyard, Leominster and Ross‑on‑Wye.

We are a progressive and forward‑looking trust with ambitious plans to improve quality and integrate patient pathways through close collaborative working with our partners to deliver the quality of care we’d want for our family and friends.

More than 3,500 people work for the Trust – they tell us it’s a great place to work, blending the busyness of a DGH with the benefits of working in a beautiful rural and unspoilt county like Herefordshire.

We can offer a great work‑life balance and have a fine tradition of working with staff to help them achieve their full potential.

Our values – Care, Accountability, Respect and Excellence – are at the heart of all we do. We believe in providing the right care in the right place at the right time…all the time.

Job responsibilities

See JDPS document(s) for further information – outlines more fully the specific responsibilities of the job role.

Person Specification

Education & Qualifications

• Holds a BSc/ BA Honours degree in Psychology
• Holds a Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology or Counselling Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS)
• Holds HCPC registration as Clinical Psychologist or Counselling Psychologist
• Eligible for registration as a Chartered Psychologist (Clinical or Counselling) by the BPS
• Evidence of relevant post‑qualification training in specific, evidence‑based techniques for use with clients with complex psychological presentations and/or physical health difficulties across the age span
• Further post‑graduate qualifications in neuropsychology
• Evidence of further training/study days/conferences relating to psychology, neuropsychology and physical health conditions
• Further training in the provision of clinical supervision
• Evidence of Continuing Professional Development and willingness to continue this

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

• Knowledge required specific to this role and clinical area
• Advanced theoretical and applied knowledge of psychological approaches for people with psychological and neuropsychological difficulties including specialised psychological assessments and interventions for people with complex neuropsychological presentations and physical health difficulties
• Ability to work independently as an autonomous practitioner with an appropriate level of clinical and managerial supervision and maintain awareness of own limitations in managing a varied and demanding workload in line with clinical governance frameworks
• Psychometric assessment skills, and ability to use psychometric tests appropriately and competently
• Adapt creatively evidence‑based interventions relevant to the client group
• Ability to develop, maintain, and end therapeutic relationships
• Ability to represent a psychological perspective in multi‑disciplinary team and inter‑agency meetings, and in offering psychologically informed consultation, teaching, training and supervision to a variety of stakeholders
• Effective communication skills, both oral and written, including the ability to communicate highly complex, personal and sensitive information to a variety of recipients
• Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers/significant others and staff as necessary
• Maintain effective record keeping in line with Trust policy
• Evidence of Continuing Professional Development
• Ability to use IT equipment and programmes, including the internet, to carry out all aspects of the job including, electronic patient records, relevant databases, literature searches etc.
• Ability to use multimedia materials for presentations in professional, academic and public settings
• Doctoral‑level knowledge of research design and methodology
• Publications in either peer‑reviewed academic, or professional journals and/or books

Experience

• Experience of working with clients with physical health problems/health co‑morbidities and the range of presenting problems that commonly co‑occur with such diagnoses
• Substantial experience of working in multi‑disciplinary teams and multi‑agency multicultural environments
• Experience of working with clients and staff from a range of ethnic communities and ability to provide a culturally sensitive and competent services
• Experience of working with clients and staff from a range of ethnic communities and ability to provide a culturally sensitive and competent services
• Experience in report writing, including the conveyance of complex and sensitive information to a variety of recipients
• Experience of having conducted clinically‑relevant research and audit
• Experience of neuropsychological assessment, including the administration of cognitive assessments, their scoring, interpretation and report writing
• Experience of using psychological approaches for people with psychological difficulties including specialised psychological assessments and interventions for people with complex psychological presentations and physical health difficulties
• Experience of providing supervision and training to a variety of health and care professionals
• Experience of working with disadvantaged populations, or those for whom engaging with health and care services can be challenging
• Experience of working with families, carers, significant others

Travel Requirements

• Ability to fulfil the travel requirements of post

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.

Vaughan Building, Ruckhall Lane, Belmont