Consultant Clinical Psychologist

Lancashire Care Foundation Trust; Chorley; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional health service provider in England seeks a Clinical Lead for its Traumatic Stress Service. This role involves providing clinical leadership, developing trauma-focused services, and supporting the mental health of LSCFT staff. Candidates must hold a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and possess substantial post-qualification experience. Flexibility in work patterns is encouraged to support work-life balance.

Benefits

Flexible working opportunities

Support for professional development

Health and wellbeing services

Qualifications

• Experience with trauma-focused interventions such as CBT and EMDR.
• Substantial post-qualification experience in a relevant setting.
• Ability to contribute to clinical activities and service planning.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical leadership and strategic development for the service.
• Contribute to training and supervision of staff.
• Assist in developing treatment plans for LSCFT colleagues.

Skills

Knowledge of clinical psychology principles

Skills in psychological assessment

Ability to manage complex cases

Education

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

HCPC registration as a practitioner psychologist

Job description

Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism and community based services for the populations we serve.

As an integrated mental health, learning disability and community Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including:
• Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, forensic services including low and medium secure care.
• Specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
• Community physical health and well-being services for children and adults.

The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,000 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health and general nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers.

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust supports flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, home/remote working, and flexi-time.

For more information visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT.

Please note that further communication from Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCft) will normally be to the email address given on the application form. You should also ensure that email addresses and telephone numbers are provided for your referees, to enable LSCft to contact them.

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a suitably qualified clinical psychologist to apply for the post of Clinical Lead (0.6 WTE, Band 8c) for the Lancashire and South Cumbria Traumatic Stress Service (LSCTSS). It will be desirable to have experience of working in a clinically aligned service that deliver evidence-based trauma-focused interventions such as Trauma-Focused CBT and EMDR.

The service is commissioned to support LSCFT staff whose trauma experiences are significantly impacting their mental health and well-being. The service provides comprehensive trauma-focused assessments as well as individually tailored psychological formulations and clear treatment plans for LSCFT colleagues requiring this support. The service also delivers preparatory and pharmacological interventions. The service has also developed an organisational framework to support staff following a critical incident (Workplace Trauma Support). In addition to the above the service also provides vital support across the organisation with training, consultation and supervision to colleagues in developing their knowledge, skills and confidence in working with trauma. The service also has strong links with local Doctorate Clinical Psychology Training courses, providing teaching and specialist placements for trainees.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work as a senior member of the service to assist in providing clinical leadership and strategic service development for the Lancashire and South Cumbria Traumatic Stress Service. The post holder will work closely with other senior clinical and managerial staff within the service to provide a psychological perspective to service planning, service development and clinical service transformation across Lancashire and South Cumbria. The expectation is that the post holder will also contribute to clinical activity within the service e.g. supporting the referral pathway and having an active clinical caseload.

Working for our organisation

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.

The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.

Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.

For more information please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached the job description and person specification for more information about this role.

Person specification

Education/Training/Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• HCPC registered as a practitioner psychologist (clinical).
• Eligibility for consultant clinical psychologist appointment approval from external BPS assessor.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.

Knowledge & Skills

Essential criteria

• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology, including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.
• Knowledge of legislation and its implication for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Substantial post qualification experience including experience within the designated specialty/type of service.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups across the whole life course, in various settings including outpatient, community, primary care inpatient and residential care settings. Also including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and threats of physical abuse.
• Experience of providing a range of complex psychological assessment and interventions using information derived from a variety of sources and requiring highly developed analytic and interpretative skills

Personal

Essential criteria

• Enthusiasm for a broad range of psychological phenomena, an interest in models of service delivery and an ability to articulate the value added by clinical psychology services within the context of multidisciplinary physical and mental health services.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Please be aware, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when submitting an application is monitored and if you have used AI to generate an application, you are required to declare this on your application form. Failure to do so, may result in your application being withdrawn.

We want to highlight the importance of integrity and authenticity in your application form, and ask you to use AI tools responsibly to ensure your application form is a true reflection of your skills, knowledge and experiences.

We are looking for you to demonstrate personal experiences of how you meet the essential criteria and as an NHS Employer, we value authenticity and honesty.

Please consider that AI-generated content may lack specificity and fail to address key criteria outlined in the job description providing impersonal and inaccurate information.

Please ensure that you read the person specification attached below as your application will be measured against this document.

Applications from job share partners are welcome and other forms of flexible working will be considered for all posts.

For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).

You are advised to consider applying for LSCft vacancies as soon as possible as in some instances vacancies are closed as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received. If you are not invited to interview within three weeks of the closing date then please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful, as it is not possible to contact all unsuccessful candidates.

LSCft is committed to celebrating difference as an asset and we know that recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds helps to create a more flexible, creative and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from people regardless of age, disability (particularly those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion or belief or sexual orientation. Our goal is for the Trust to be truly representative of the communities we serve so we are particularly keen to receive applications from people in under-represented groups. If there is anything you'd like to discuss in relation to your application then please ask.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

• Job Description & Personal Specification (PDF, 576.3KB)
• NHS Staff Benefits - 2023 (PDF, 556.9KB)
• We Do More at LSCFT (PDF, 654.2KB)