Clinical / Counselling Psychologist (NHS AfC: Band 7) - Gender Health - Chelsea and Westminster[...]

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; London; On-site; GBP 54,000 - 61,000; Full time

Job summary

Join an award-winning healthcare organization dedicated to providing specialized psychological services for clients on the Gender Affirmation Surgery pathway. This role involves assessments, therapy, and collaboration within the multidisciplinary team in a supportive environment, promoting the mental wellbeing of trans and non-binary individuals.

Qualifications

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment across different care settings.
• Knowledge of issues affecting gender diverse populations.
• High level knowledge of various psychological therapies.

Responsibilities

• Provide evidence based psychological assessment and therapy for clients with gender dysphoria.
• Contribute to group psychoeducation interventions focused on mental wellbeing.
• Supervise non-psychologist staff and provide consultation.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Therapeutic interventions

Autonomous practice

Clinical supervision

Understanding gender diversity

Education

Doctoral level training in clinical/counselling psychology

Job description

We are an award winning organisation providing care at two main hospital sites—Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital—and a number of community-based services across London, such as sexual health and HIV clinics.

With 6,700 members of staff, we are proud to care for a diverse population of one million people. We are committed to ensuring that our workforce is just as diverse with a strong mix of skills and abilities.

Our staff are at the very heart of our organisation and we recognise the valuable contribution that each and every person working at the Trust makes. One of our Trust priorities is to be an employer of choice—a place where people want to start their career and to grow with us through continued education, professional development and support .

Site Parkside Hospital / New Victoria Hospital Town London Salary £54,320 - £60,981 per annum incl. HCAS. Salary period Yearly Closing 16/07/2025 23:59

Job overview

These t wo roles will require t he post holders to provide a specialist psychology service to clients with gender dysphoria on the Gender Affirmation Surgery pathway under CWFT and will be based at either New Victoria Hospital or Parkside Hospital. They will provide specialist psychological therapy to trans and non-binary service users around any aspect of their mental health or well-being connected to their surgical journey and recovery. This can include, but is not limited to, managing anxiety associated with healthcare settings, managing low mood or depression during the initial stages of recovery, processing bodily changes post-surgery, developing coping skills and resources, or dealing with surgical complications. The post holder s will offer advice and consultation on clients’ psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other, non-professional carers or external agencies. They will work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.

Main duties of the job

The post holder s would be expected to provide short- to medium term evidence based psychological assessment and therapy to clients for a range of presenting difficulties including issues related to living with gender dysphoria who are undergoing gender affirmation surgery . We also anticipate that the post holder s may contribute to the design and running of group psychoeducation interventions on mental wellbeing related to gender affirmation surgery under the supervision of the senior psychologist based at CCGS .

They will provide supervision to non-psychologist staff within the team, as well as offering advice and consultation on clients’ psychological care to colleagues and to other, non-professional carers; working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.

The post holder will need to work autonomously within professional practice guidelines.

Working for our organisation

New Victoria Hospital (NVH) is situated in Kingston-Upon-Thames, we have been providing excellent, patient-centric care for over 125 years. Our size enables us to respon d quickly, innovate, and provide personalised, team-based care . Whil e we have fantastic facilities , it is the dedication and experience of our staff and Consultants that is the secret to our success.

NVH has been commissioned by NHS England to provide gender affirmation lower surgery and is one of the leading healthcare providers for masculinising lower surgery, including metoidioplasty and phalloplasty, since December 2021.

Par kside Ho spital , established in 1983, is situated on Wimbledon Parkside (SW19) . There are eighty-two beds, four operating theatres and four p rocedure rooms. We have extended clinical settings on site including ‘The Lodge’ where we run the l ower feminising surgery c linics and the c hest w all surgery c linics.

Parkside Hospital has been commissioned by NHS England to provide gender affirmation surgery , including for lower feminising surgery and masculinising chest wall s urgery . We strive to provide a high - quality patient service to all our patients within our setting.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health , well-being, and psychological aspects of their surgical journey and recovery , based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups; adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account queer and trans affirmative models and considering the impact of wider systems on that person's experience of gender dysphoria and gender affirming surgery.

To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose difficulties are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.

To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management, and to support other members of the MDT in risk management.

To contribute to multi-disciplinary team meetings; to communicate and reflect using a psychologically based framework.

To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni - and multi-disciplinary care.

To act as a named designated professional for clients within each service.

The post holders ar e expected to adhere to all local and national safeguarding policies, identif y and appropriately escalate concerns, and work in a trauma-informed, patient-centred manner with individuals who may be at risk or have experienced abuse, neglect, or discrimination.

Person specification

Essential and Desirable Criteria

• Doctoral level training in clinical/ counselling psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• 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.
• 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.
• Experience of working with gender diverse patients.
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
• Knowledge of the issues affecting gender diverse populations
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
• Further training and qualifications in clinical supervision
• Experience of planning and implementing service development.
• Experience of providing supervision to non-psychologists

Important

• The closing date given is a guide only. There may be some occasions when we have to close a vacancy once sufficient applications have been received. You are therefore advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
• Please check your emails regularly as this is how we will communicate with you throughout the recruitment process.
• If you have not heard from us within 3 weeks after the closing date, we regret that this usually means your application was not successful.
• In submitting an application, you authorise the Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process, should you be appointed to the post.
• During the recruitment process your identity documentation (ie passport, driving licence, visa etc) will be scanned using a device which recognises UV, infrared and machine-readable zone security features of the documents provided.
• Employment at the Trust is offered subject to successful completion of a six month probationary period.

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.

• Looking for flexible work? Why not join our StaffBank .

The recruitment team are available to provide support from 9am–5pm, Mon–Fri. To contact the team please call the Trust switchboard and ask for ‘Recruitment team, Human Resources Department’.