Clinical / Counselling Psychologist or Psychotherapist

Transformationunitgm; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 54,000 - 61,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a pioneering team at a forward-thinking healthcare provider dedicated to improving mental health for vulnerable populations. As a Clinical Psychologist or Psychotherapist, you will play a vital role in delivering trauma-informed psychological services to clients in homeless hostels. Your expertise will help develop innovative approaches that address complex needs, enhance recovery, and foster engagement. This role offers opportunities for professional growth, flexible working arrangements, and a chance to make a meaningful impact in the community. Embrace the chance to be part of an award-winning service committed to excellence and compassionate care.

Benefits

Generous pay and pensions

Flexible working options

Career development opportunities

Keyworker housing

NHS discounts

Counselling services

Long service awards

Cycle to work scheme

Season ticket loan

Staff restaurants

Qualifications

• Entry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy or mental health.
• Registered with professional body as appropriate to discipline.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychology service to homeless clients.
• Support assessment and referral to mainstream services.
• Train third sector partners in trauma-informed care.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Trauma-informed approaches

Complex trauma treatment

Mentalization-Based Treatment

DBT

CBT

Clinical supervision

Communication skills

Education

Professional Doctorate in Psychology

MSc in Psychology

Tools

Psychometric tests

Neuropsychological tests

Job description

Employer South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Westminster homeless hostel sites and team base on Brixton Road Town London Salary £54,320 - £60,981 per annum inclusive of inner HCAs Salary period Yearly Closing 20/05/2025 23:59

Clinical / Counselling Psychologist or Psychotherapist

NHS AfC: Band 7

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’.

We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role.We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

The SLaM Psychology in Hostels (PIH) Service is an innovative multi award-winning specialist homeless psychology service. For 12 years PIH has led in the development of ‘Psychologically Informed Environments’ (PIEs) delivering ‘Trauma Informed Approaches’ and developing best practice for working with excluded and multiply disadvantaged populations across Lambeth and Westminster in partnership with the third sector.

The client population have high levels of multiple needs including cmplex trauma, substance misuse, neurological issues, risk-taking behaviour and contact wiht the criminal justice system. This complex combination of needs leads to multiple social exclusion and barriers accessing mainstream services.

We are recruiting to a Band 7 Psychology / Psychotherapy role who will support the delivery of PIE services and if it was of interest have the opportunity to be part of the new pioneering Homeless Neuropsychology Pathway we are developing (optional / dependant on interest and experience).

A PIE is any service that integrates a psychologically and trauma-informed approaches into its model (incl. staff support, psychological assessment and treatment). PIH PIE model adopts an Mentalization-Based Treatment approaches as well as other evidence-based approaches (Incl. DBT, CBT, Psychodynamic, Systemic). Here we aim to facilitate recovery by improving MH and wellbeing, reduce substance use, support engagement, reduce evictions and other negative outcomes.

Main duties of the job

This role will be based in Westminster’s Rough Sleeping Accommodation Pathway. The role will support PIH PIE hub hostel sites in developing integrated trauma-informed PIE services.

The post holders will -

• Work closely with housing partners and other psychologists to develop PIE approaches.
• Support and train third sector partners and the wider network.
• Offer individual and group clinical work to clients.
• Support assessment and onwards referral to mainstream services.

This Westminster role will sit within a wider Psychology in Hostels team based across Westminster and Lambeth, which includes: Consultant Clinical Lead, a Principal grade psychologist, an administrator, five Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologists, eight Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologists, a Nurse Psychotherapist, an Art Therapist, neuro-homeless GP specialist and several Trainee Clinical Psychologists. This post will be supervised by one of the senior psychologists in the team and the service is also supported by SLaM operational and management structures.

Working for our organisation

This post will be based across third sector run accommodation sites within the borough of Westminster and has a team admin base in Brixton close to Brixton Underground Station.

Our Trust headquarters is located at Denmark Hill less than 5 minutes from the train station (zone 2). We also provide services and operate across other locations, such as London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark; and substance misuse services for residents of Bexley, Lambeth, Greenwich and Wandsworth.

We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package, feel valued and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance.

Some of our benefits include:

• Generous pay, pensions and leavepackages dependent on the role and length of service.
• Work life balance,flexible working and supporting a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing.
• Career developmentwith plenty CPD opportunities such as mentoring, coaching, collective leadership and other talent programmes.
• Accommodation,our staff benefit fromkeyworker housing at selected sites.
• NHS discountsvia theHealth Service Discounts website.

Other benefits include:

• Counselling services
• Long service awards
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Staff restaurants

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To provide a specialist psychology service to adult clients resident in homeless hostels including specialist assessment, psychological therapy, trauma specific interventions, rehabilitation, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.

Key Responsibilities:

Clinical

• To provide expertise in a specialist clinical area, the psychological needs of those experiencing complex needs and multiple disadvantage (incl. homeless people, rough sleepers).
• To provide specialist assessment and clinical formulation to clients with a wide range of mental health needs, including complex trauma, personality disorder, anxiety and depression, addictions, learning difficulties and psychosis.
• To select, administer and interpret psychometric and neuropsychological tests, involving skilled manipulation of test materials and high-level analysis of findings from the assessments.
• To select and deliver evidence-based specialist psychological treatments, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions, drawing on a range of theoretical options.
• To advise other team members and partner services on specialist psychological care of clients.

Teaching, training, and supervision

• To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychologist or psychotherapist according to HCPC and Trust guidelines.
• To provide specialist training in psychological and trauma-informed approaches to care for other professionals as appropriate, particularly to third sector staff, peer support workers, project MDT working with ex-rough sleeper hostels.
• To provide clinical supervision for psychological work undertaken by assistant psychologists, placement students, trainee psychologists and the MDT team as appropriate.

Management, recruitment, policy and service development

• To identify any aspects of the service which could be improved and contribute to the service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.
• To manage own workload and the agreed workload of junior staff, as required, under supervision from a more senior psychologist.
• To participate in clinical governance initiatives as agreed by the Directorate clinical governance committee and team.

Research and service evaluation

• To lead, support and/or participate in service evaluation, including gathering and analysing output and outcome data, as required.
• To carry out appropriate research to improve the quality of care and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research within the service.

General Responsibilities

• To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with HCPC, BPS and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements.

A full Job Description and Person Specification is attached to the advert.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Entry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy/mental health/social welfare profession and demonstrable practice in this field (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level/ supervised practice/ additional training) that has been accepted for the purposes of professional registration.
• Registered with professional body as appropriate to discipline HCPC/APC/ BPC/UKCP/BACP/BABCP/ADMP-UK
• Additional training in relevant specialist psychological models (Psychodynamic, MBT, DBT, CAT, Systemic, Narrative).
• Additional training in neuropsychological assessment and treatment

Experience

• Experience of psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in adult mental health (e.g. Addictions/ homelessness /complex trauma/ personality disorder/ mood disorder).
• Experience of engagement of hard-to-reach clients
• Experience of providing teaching and training to other professional groups
• Experience of working with homeless people
• Experience of specialist work with trauma and complex trauma.
• Experience of work with substance misuse.

Knowledge

• Awareness of racial diversity issues and factors affecting access to mental health care.
• Knowledge of psychological assessment and clinical psychometrics (incl. selecting, administering and interpreting neuropsychological tests).
• Specialist knowledge relevant to work in supported housing settings.
• Masters or Doctoral level knowledge of psychological research methodology and complex statistical analysis.

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to work flexibly and creatively to engage clients in hostel settings.
• Highly developed verbal and written communication skills (incl. delivering complex and sensitive information to clients, families and staff).
• Ability to work as an autonomous practitioner with appropriate level of clinical and managerial supervision.
• Specialist practitioner skills at level 3 in at least one model of psychotherapy or psychological therapy (CBT, Psychodynamic, MBT, systemic, CAT).

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity

Please note:

• That all applications for this post will need to be made online
• That you read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
• That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
• That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
• That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not successful
• That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
• That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
• That we are a smoke-free Trust

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion , Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe’

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.