Clinical Psychologist

Simonscotland; Scotland; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A mental health charity in Scotland seeks a Clinical Psychologist to implement trauma-informed care and lead psychological support for individuals facing homelessness. The role involves working in flexible, non-traditional settings, ensuring psychological safety, and actively contributing to service development. Candidates should have a doctoral-level psychology qualification and experience with complex mental health challenges. This position offers a chance to make a meaningful impact within the community.

Qualifications

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical/counselling psychology.
• HCPC membership as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Recognized training in clinical supervision.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychological assessment and therapy.
• Work within multi-disciplinary teams to enhance care planning.
• Lead on trauma-informed service development.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Therapy techniques

Team collaboration

Cultural competence

Education

Post-graduate doctoral training in clinical psychology

Job description

About Simon Community Scotland

People are at the heart of who we are and what we do. Day-by-day, person-to-person, we tailorwhat we offer to what people need. We’re here to provide consistent, friendly and informed supportso that people can explore options and take ‘the next step’ towards their future. We welcome peoplewith a wide range of skills and experiences to our team – including those who have lived throughhomelessness. To make a difference we need to work flexibly, with everyday-leadership, humour anda ‘can do’ spirit. We want to make it easy, make it right, and make it happen – not only for thepeople we support, but also for each other. We care for and support each other regardless of ourrole, service or location. We want people who share these values to join us and become a part of theSimon Community Scotland team.

Job Summary

Within Simon Community, we pride ourselves in taking a psychological and trauma informedapproach to our work. We understand the people we work with have likely experienced and continueto experience adverse life events which lead to trauma responses, impacting both physical andmental health. The role of psychology within Simon Community ensures psychological theories andprinciples are embedded within the organisation in a creative and flexible way. Providingpsychological safety and the best wellbeing possible for everyone accessing or working for SimonCommunity Scotland.
Our psychology team within the organisation is continuing to grow, demonstrating their value andimportance to our ever evolving services and support. We are looking for a Clinical Psychologist tolead on this work in our West of Scotland teams and take an active leadership role within theorganisation. The key focus of this role will be to support the organisation to continue to implementpsychologically informed environment principles and trauma informed care, creating and maintainingpsychological safety for all. This work will be carried out under the supervision of a Prinicipal ClinicalPsychologist external to Simon Community Scotland. The job plan will be agreed with the Director ofServices, working independently within the framework, policies and procedures of the organisation.The job plan will cover both direct and indirect work, with more focus on indirect, it is an opportunityto use the range of skills of a Clinical Psychologist; leadership, formulation, consultation, supervision,research and service development. The job will include working across different services in the Westof Scotland, including supported accommodation, community support hubs and outreach. This jobdescription will be subject to review as the psychology team, as well as the organisational need
develops and the postholder will be a key stakeholder in that review. This is an exciting opportunity toreally explore what Clinical Psychology can offer those facing severe and multiple disadvantage andimplement needed change, thinking creatively, in an organisation that puts ‘being human’ andrelationships at the heart of the work.

Job Purpose

Under the clinical supervision of a Clinical Psychologist and line management by the Director ofOperations, working alongside our services, key activities will include;

• Provide highly specialist and psychological assessment, formulation, and therapy withpeople experiencing homelessness. Provide a progressive model of support and care that goes beyond traditional approaches, reimagining what psychological work canoffer to those we support with creativity. Ability and willingness to meet people wherethey are at - physically, emotionally, socially. Maintaining accurate case notes andrecords.
• Work as part of a team, both within the wider leadership in the organisation, as well aslocal front facing teams; bringing psychological insight into care planning and servicedelivery. Adapting and communicating any psychological concepts to the audience toensure it is clear, understandable and supportive.
• Work in flexible, non-traditional settings (e.g. supported accommodation, outreach,community access hubs), with a commitment to trauma-informed, culturally competent,and human rights based practice.
• Offer clinical leadership, supporting psychologically-informed approaches and PIEacross the organisation, including a psychological perspective on service developmentand strategy, as well as be part of a wider multi-agency/disciplinary voice on thepsychological needs of people, teams and organisations, on both a local and nationallevel.
• Alongside the team, support a co-production approach that recognises the importanceof living experience being at the centre of service design and delivery. Assisting in thedesign and implementation of development and improvement projects includingliterature reviews, data collection, analysis and production of reports and summaries.
• Supervise and support junior psychological staff and others in leadership roles in theorganisation. Operate within defined scope of practice under regular clinicalsupervision from a registered Clinical Psychologist.
• Ownership of leading the psychological perspective to best serve both people wesupport and teams, keeping up to date with research, best practice and the voices ofpeople with lived and living experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Undertake highly specialist and timely psychological assessments, formulations, and evidence-based interventions - being highly skilled in adapting psychological models to be creative and fit with the people in this community. Using the pretreatment model principles to guide relationship formation. Working with people in our community with a wide range of experiences and cultural backgrounds with dignity, respect and kindness.
• Lead on the continual consideration and promotion of psychologically informed environment principles in the organisation, ensuring it is present in both relevant strategic development and operational delivery. Attend and contribute to organisational leadership meetings, as well as local team meetings (when required).
• Embed psychological formulations within teams in a way that is both theory and practice driven to guide support planning in an accessible and consistent format.
• Continual assessment of opportunities to upskill and support teams, external stakeholders and people supported through reflective practice, psychoeducational group work, training packages, worksheets or workshops. Implementing and upskilling others to facilitate psychoeducational groups and reflective practice groups.
• Attendance at multi-agency meetings with psychological input recorded and shared appropriately. Effective communication with a wide range of professionals across relevant and connected sectors for the benefit of the people we support, including proactively building relationships and attending national networking meetings.
• Clinical supervision of junior psychology staff and other members of staff.
• Engage in audit, research, and service evaluation activities, contributing to service improvement and development. Including proactively detecting gaps in research to be explored, working alongside researchers and people with lived experience to contribute to learning and growth in the area. Support evaluation, including key outcome measures for projects, methodology for data collection that is creative and meaningful for the community.
• Completion of agreed CPD hours and supervision sessions, in line with professional requirements. As well as attend national meetings regarding psychology within homelessness settings to share and learn best practice. Work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures. With responsibility to keep up to date with any changes in terms of clinical guidance, policies and legislation.

Our Values and Approach

Warmth and Regard
● Recognising and valuing everyone
● Treating people with kindness, dignity and respect
● Acting with compassion
● Showing warmth and welcome to everyone
● Taking difficult decisions sensitively and with due regard to others
● Taking a calm, professional and intelligent approach to stigma

Inclusion and Participation
● Encouraging the participation and inclusion of people we support
● Exploring choices and options with people we support or fellow colleagues
● Making things easy for others
● Embracing technology in delivering your role
● Supporting clients, staff and volunteers to become digitally included

Personalised and Creative
● Innovation and creativity
● Helping to find solutions that are a good fit for someone, irrespective of who they areor the problem they have
● When someone isn’t at their best, quickly recognising there’s probably somethingelse going on, and finding ways to respond with care

Supportive and Ambitious
● Helping to bring hope through our words and actions
● Helping to build trust
● Being supportive and showing care

Partnership and Collaboration
● Fostering positive relationships with our partners
● Building team togetherness and collaboration
● Fostering a positive problem-solving vibe

Leadership and Learning
● Making things happen
● Motivating and inspiring others
● Taking time to reflect on what’s working and what isn’t
● Taking care of our ‘places and spaces’ so they feel tidy and welcoming
● Asking for help and learning to do things better
● Playing an active role in our social media strategy

Person Specification

Training and Qualifications:

Essential:
-Post-graduate doctoral level training inclinical/counselling psychology
-HCPC membership as PractitionerPsychologist
-Recognised training in clinicalsupervision
-Specialist training, research andstudy across a range of areas,including advanced clinical skills.

Desirable:
-Further postgraduate trainingin relevant areas such ashomelessness, specialisedtrauma training, culturaladaptation and/or substanceuse
-Further therapeutic trainingrelated to the job such as;MBT,CFT, systemic therapy,narrative therapy, CFT
-Further qualification inleadership.

Experience:

Essential:
-Working with people experiencing arange of adult mental healthchallenges and / or substance use
-Significant psychology practiceexperience in NHS or equivalent,supervised by a suitably qualifiedClinical or Counselling Psychologist
-Experience of working within MDTsand being part of case discussions
-Evidence of continuing professionaldevelopment as required by theHCPC -Experience of providing clinicalsupervision
-Development and delivery of trainingto professionals with different levels ofprevious knowledge/experience
-Facilitating Reflective Practice Groupsand/or team supervision

Desirable:
-Experience of homelessnessservices or/and livedexperience
-Experience of working acrossmultiple systems tocoordinate care e.g. mentalhealth and social careservices, rehabilitationservices, third sectororganisations
-Experience ofinvolvement in serviceevaluation within aclinical context
-Experience of leadershipwithin roles, includingcontributing to strategy

Knowledge and Skills:

Essential:
-Knowledge of PsychologicalInformed Environments, TraumaInformed Care and RecoveryApproaches. A knowledge of traumawithin the context of people facingsevere and multiple disadvantage.
-Ability to work both independentlyand a part of a team
-Ability to develop good therapeuticrelationships with people we support -being flexible on how to buildrelationships with people who havesevere and multiple disadvantages
-Ability to accept and use supervisionappropriately and effectively
-Ability to prioritise workload andmaintain healthy boundaries
-Knowledge of legislation, keydocuments (NICE guidelines, trauma-informed framework etc. Hard Edges)and its implications for both clinicalpractice and professionalmanagement in relation to the area ofhomelessness.
-A high level ability to communicateeffectively at both a written and orallevel complex, highly technical andclinically sensitive information topeople we support, as well as a widerange of professionals from differentsectors.
-Skills in providing consultation toother professional and non-professional groups. Knowledge ofthe impact of working in this settingand ways to support staff teamswellbeing
-Ability to develop and communicatecomplex biopsychosocial formulationsto both women who are beingsupported and care teams.

Desirable:
-An understanding of thespecific support needs ofpeople experiencinghomelessness with multipleand complex needs
-An understanding of theexperience of staff workingwith people who present withcomplex needs
-Skills as a Clinician toundertake clinical leadershiproles and tasks withinmultidisciplinary and multi-agency contexts
-Knowledge of systemicleadership models, changemanagement models andusing psychologicaltheory/principles to supportchange and best practice within services.

Personal:

Essential:
-A capacity to establish priorities andorganise workload effectively andefficiently.
-Interest in the delivery ofpsychological interventions increative ways. With an openness tonew ways of working.
-Ability to operate successfully withina team based setting.
-Confidence in public speaking,chairing meetings.
-Shows an awarenessof personal limitations in thisspecialist field.
-Expresses stronginterest to develop specialistskills.
-Shows interest in contributingto the broad organisation/service functioning as well as toown development, casework and professional interests
-Ability to work respectfully withinteams and understand andappreciate the role of otherprofessions.
-Ability to be aware of, and contributeto, the well-being of staff within themulti-disciplinary team, whereappropriate.

Desirable:
-Ability to be aware of andcope with the personalimpact of working withpeople who face SMD, areat the sharp end ofdiscrimination and barriersto accessing services and -support.
-Able to work flexible workinghours.