Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling/Health Psychologist, Long COVID

Integrated Care System; London; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS Foundation Trust in North London is looking for a Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling/Health Psychologist to provide dedicated psychological services for long COVID patients. This role is responsible for delivering assessments, interventions, and support as part of a multi-disciplinary team. Successful candidates will have doctoral-level training, registration with HPCP, and the ability to work flexibly across various sites.

Benefits

NHS Discounts

Generous annual leave

NHS pension scheme

Excellent internal staff network

Qualifications

• Strong academia background and experience in long-term health conditions.
• Completion of post-doctoral clinical health psychology experience.
• High level knowledge of specialized psychological therapies.

Responsibilities

• Provide highly specialist psychological assessment and intervention for long COVID patients.
• Work collaboratively with multi-disciplinary teams to support patient recovery.
• Design and deliver evidence-based psychology services.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Communication

Project management

Team collaboration

Training and consultation

Education

Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical, counselling or health psychology

Current registration with the HCPC

Accreditation with BABCP as CBT therapist

Tools

Electronic patient record systems

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling/Health Psychologist, Long COVID

North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) are hosting exciting 12-month fixed term posts that involve designing and leading the provision of specialist long COVID psychology services in boroughs in north central London.

Successful candidates will be qualified clinical/counselling/health psychologists or CBT therapists with a strong academia background, excellent interpersonal skills and experience of working with people with long-term health conditions such as long COVID (post COVID syndrome). Enthusiasm, confidence and the ability to work flexibly and without close direction are essential, alongside project management and experience working in multi-disciplinary teams.

Main duties of the job

Post holders will become part of the friendly and dynamic long COVID professional community in north central London and will have opportunities for continuing professional development, specialist supervision and professional peer support via NLFT.

These roles offer the opportunity to become integral members of post COVID service community teams in north central London boroughs, working alongside multi-disciplinary colleagues to provide a holistic post COVID community service that includes psychology interventions, education and facilitated peer support.

Post holders will provide highly specialist psychological assessment (including screening and triage), intervention and treatment (individual and group) for individuals with ongoing post COVID health difficulties and related psycho-social difficulties. Integrated, holistic services will be delivered in collaboration with multi-disciplinary colleagues, with the aim of supporting individuals to build self-management skills and improve well-being, functioning and adjustment to post COVID syndrome, also known as long COVID. Where needed, post-holders will also provide onward triage for clients referred from post COVID teams.

These posts include taking opportunities to offer training and consultation. They also offer the opportunity to work creatively to design and deliver evidence-based psychology services and pathways for people with long COVID.

About us

North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) will employ all postholders. Honorary contracts will be initiated with north central London borough long COVID community teams where postholders will provide clinical services - this advert is for a postholder who will work in Camden's long COVID community recovery service, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

NLFT will provide supervision, line management and relevant CPD for the post-holder. NLFT is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.

Why NLFT?

• We develop and retain our staff through leadership behaviours and managers programme and many more opportunities.
• We promote flexible working and support staff with a range of health and wellbeing initiatives.
• NHS Discounts, generous annual leave and NHS pension scheme
• Excellent internal staff network

The post holder will be aligned with our values:

• We Are Kind
• We Are Respectful
• We Work Together
• We Keep Things Simple
• We Empower
• We Are Proudly Diverse

In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.

Job responsibilities

For further details about the main responsibilities of this role, please see the full job description and person specification.

Person Specification

Qualifications/ Registrations

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical, counselling or health psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 2000) as accredited by the HCPC
• Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council as a clinical psychologist, counselling psychologist, or a health psychologist
• Additional accreditation with British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) as a CBT therapist

Skills / Abilities

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS / Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
• Ability to form good working relationships with others in a multidisciplinary setting / Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of 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 / Interest and ability to contribute to service development
• Ability to use electronic patient record systems for record keeping (e.g. System1) / Proficiency in the use of Microsoft packages, including Excel

Experience/ Knowledge

• Completion of substantial post-doctoral post-qualification and supervised clinical/ health psychology experience working with client groups with physical health needs / Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and data analysis as practised within the clinical fields of psychology
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups across the whole life course and presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity / Experience of the application of clinical/ health psychology to physical health problems, including chronic health conditions, and to different cultural contexts
• Experience of biopsychosocial and specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including community, outpatient and inpatient settings / Experience of working as a psychologist within a physical health multi-disciplinary team
• Experience of contributing to service design and evaluation projects / Experience of health professional teaching and training
• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological intervention with people with physical health conditions; high level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies / Knowledge of clinical health psychology literature on behaviour change and its application in the clinical environment
• Experience of offering psychology input and self-management skills through group intervention / Specialist knowledge of the theoretical background and practice of long covid management / Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health / Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC / Experience of supervising health professionals / Has good understandings of Trust Equal Opportunities Policy, national legislation and local initiatives

Personal Qualities

• Has a high level of professionalism and demonstrates honesty, integrity and sensitivity / Demonstrates reliability, productivity, and flexibility / Shows enthusiasm, passion and commitment / Shows initiative and can work autonomously when required / Innovative and organised
• Has an interest in academic research relevant to client group

Other Requirements

• Excellent verbal, and written communication skills / Good IT literacy / Willingness to work flexibly across various sites

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.

Long COVID Camden Community Recovery Service, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

£64,156 to £71,148 a yearpro-rata, incl. high cost area supplement/ inner London weighting

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Reference number

455-NLFT-0250

Job locations

Long COVID Camden Community Recovery Service, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust