Band 8a Clinical, Counselling or Forensic Psychologist

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust; Bristol; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 47,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider is seeking an experienced Band 8a Clinical, Counselling or Forensic Psychologist in Bristol. The role involves providing specialized psychological services in secure settings, including assessments and interventions. The ideal candidate will possess a Doctoral qualification in Psychology, be HPCP registered, and demonstrate considerable engagement skills. This position offers opportunities to work with diverse populations and contribute to service development in a supportive environment.

Benefits

Regular supervision and support

Opportunities for professional development

Supportive team environment

Qualifications

• Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge in psychology.
• Ability to think systemically and organizationally.
• Self-awareness and emotional resilience.

Responsibilities

• Provide a high-quality clinical psychology service.
• Undertake highly specialist assessments.
• Develop and implement treatment plans.
• Provide psychological interventions for individuals and groups.
• Participate in training and supervision arrangements.

Skills

Psychological assessment skills

Evidence based therapeutic interventions

Risk assessment and management

Empathy and engagement skills

Clinical supervision/consultation with professionals

Education

Doctoral Clinical Psychology qualification

Chartered Psychologist status

HPCP Registered

Post qualification specialist training

Job description

Band 8a Clinical, Counselling or Forensic Psychologist - Bristol

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced 8A Clinical, Forensic, or Counselling Psychologist to join AWP Secure Services.

This role offers opportunities to work across our medium and low secure hospitals for men, women, and individuals with learning disabilities and autism, who present significant risks and mental health difficulties such as psychosis.

You will work as part of a broad MDT, including medics, nursing, occupational therapy, social work, and speech and language therapy colleagues, contributing senior psychological leadership to shared formulation and care planning.

You will also join a diverse group of psychological therapists and contribute to embedding a coherent, integrated PTS. The team includes Clinical, Forensic, and Counselling Psychologists, and Art, Drama, and Music Therapists, alongside students, trainees, and assistants.

Secure Inpatient Services consists of Fromeside, an 81-bed medium secure unit, and Wickham, a 30-bed low secure unit, both based on the Blackberry Hill Hospital site in north Bristol. The service includes a specialist women\'s ward and a ward for men with learning disabilities and/or autism. Our large, friendly psychology team has expertise in working with violence, sexual offending, fire-setting, learning disabilities, autism, personality disorders, and psychosis.

Main duties of the job

The role will involve providing direct clinical work, consultation, teaching, staff support, and supervision for assistant psychologists and Band 7 psychologists, as well as working collaboratively with other members of the MDT, including psychiatry, nursing, arts psychotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech and language therapists. The role will also involve completing specialist assessments, developing complex formulations, and designing and delivering individualised therapeutic interventions, as well as facilitating therapeutic groups and engaging in complex systemic work. There will also be opportunities to engage in service development projects.

The successful post-holder will need to be adaptable and creative, have good communication and team-working skills, and have experience and/or an interest in working with people with significant mental health difficulties, such as psychosis, who present a significant risk to others. There will be regular supervision and support for the role.

Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities

About us

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust);a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Job responsibilities

To provide a highquality and largely autonomous and systematic clinical/counselling psychology service.

To undertake highly specialist assessments, including neuropsychological assessment, risk assessment, and assessment for suitability for specialist psychological therapies with clients and their carers (as appropriate to the role).

To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of clients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients difficulties, and employing methods based on evidence of efficacy across the full range of care settings.

To be responsible for providing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, and groups, within and across teams, employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations, drawing upon different explanatory models, and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

To provide at least one specialist evidencebased psychological intervention as dictated by the needs of the service.

To provide highly specialist consultation to members of the various teams in the area and beyond regarding formulation and psychological management of clients of those teams.

To use highly specialist psychological knowledge and skills to contribute to the more effective management of patients by teams.

To be involved in the development and delivery of training within the Trust.

To participate in clinical and caseload supervision arrangements provided by the Service.

To maintain accurate records and to monitor clinical workload using agreed systems.

To support the full implementation of CPA or equivalent, including acting as care coordinator as appropriate to the needs of the service.

To enter data as requested by the Trust in a timely manner.

Because of the seniority of this post, the postholder may be required to participate in oncall arrangements after suitable training.

Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities

Person Specification

Qualifications/Registration

• Doctoral Clinical Psychology/ Counselling/ Forensic Psychology qualification or equivalent
• Eligible for Chartered Psychologist status
• HPCP Registered
• Post qualification and further specialist training in specified specialist intervention

Experience, Knowledge and Skills

• Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge in the specialism. Ability to use this knowledge to think systemically/organizationally
• Psychological assessment skills and knowledge
• Evidence based therapeutic interventions with client group
• Empathy/engagement skills with the client group
• Experience of risk assessment and management
• Clinical supervision/consultation with other professionals
• Ability to work effectively and flexibly as an integral member of a team
• Ability to work independently
• Self-awareness and emotional resilience

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.