Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

South West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent mental health service provider in South West London is seeking a clinical/counselling psychologist to join their integrated recovery hub service. The successful candidate will provide evidence-based psychological therapies, holistic assessments, and contribute to the professional development of trainees. Applications are welcomed from both qualified psychologists and new graduates looking for supervision opportunities. A commitment to diversity and continued professional development is emphasized.

Benefits

Flexible working

Career development opportunities

Support for CPD training

Qualifications

• Postgraduate qualification as a clinical or counselling psychologist required.
• Experience in psychological interventions for severe mental health conditions preferred.
• Commitment to continuing professional development (CPD) essential.

Responsibilities

• Provide psychological assessments and develop treatment plans for clients.
• Implement psychological interventions for individuals and groups.
• Supervise doctoral clinical psychology trainees and contribute to multi-disciplinary care.

Skills

Evidence-based psychological therapies

Psychological assessments

Risk assessment

Autonomous professional responsibility

Education

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

Clinical/Counselling Training

Job description

Overview

We are recruiting a clinical/counselling psychologist in our North East Merton integrated recovery hub service. The service comprises three multidisciplinary teams in Merton adult mental health. Psychologists are valued in the service and work closely with other Psychologists at the same level and at Principal and Consultant levels, as well as with Psychiatrists, CPNs, Recovery & Support Workers and Specialist Employment Advisors to provide high quality treatment and recovery options for service users with severe mental health conditions, including psychosis, bipolar affective disorder, personality disorder, and severe mood and anxiety disorders.

This post is established at 8a level, but we welcome applications from final year Clinical / Counselling Psychologists, Trainee Clinical Psychologists, and from psychologists with less than 18 months post-qualification experience who could progress from a Band 7 preceptorship to a Band 8a in this post. As a Band 7 preceptorship you will have a dedicated CPD budget and are encouraged to work half a day in a different service to widen your skills and experience.

The role focuses on providing evidence-based psychological therapies for severe and enduring mental health conditions, including psychosis & bipolar affective disorder, personality disorder, and complex mood, anxiety disorders & PTSD. This post offers opportunities for further training and development.

The Trust supports staff to attend Health Education England funded training in interventions such as CBT for psychosis & bipolar disorder, and Family interventions for psychosis & bipolar disorder. There may also be opportunities to train in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and to co-facilitate DBT Skills Groups and to be trained in EMDR therapy. The Trust also provides regular CPD covering a wide range of clinical topics, with opportunities for individual and group supervision. At Band 8a, you will supervise doctoral clinical psychology trainees through strong links with the University of Surrey Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) Training Scheme.

Responsibilities

1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the team using complex data from psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, observations, and structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
2. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health needs, based on an appropriate conceptual framework and evidence-based methods across the full range of care settings.
3. To implement a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, refining formulations using different explanatory models and maintaining provisional hypotheses.
4. To evaluate and decide on treatment options considering theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors shaping the individual, family or group.
5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing to clients' formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
7. To contribute to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care for all clients of the service across settings and agencies.
8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and provide advice to other professionals on psychological risk management.
9. To act as care coordinator where appropriate, initiating planning and review of care plans under enhanced CPA including clients, carers, referring agents and others in the network of care.
10. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner about assessment, formulation and treatment plans and monitor progress during uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

South West London St George's Mental Health NHS Trust is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Committed Employer and welcome applications from all protected characteristics. We are members of Stonewall Diversity Champions and Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion. The Trust supports Staff Networks to promote diversity in the workplace, including BME (Evolve), Christian, DiverseAbility, Deaf, Mental Health, Women’s, and LGBTQIA+ networks. We are committed to supporting the Armed Forces Community through the Armed Forces Covenant and provide reasonable adjustments to the interview process for candidates with a disability.

Other information

NHS AfC: Band 7 Preceptorship/8a. Closing dates are guidelines and may close earlier, applications may be transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system, and you may be contacted within three weeks after the closing date if unsuccessful. Priority consideration may be given to at-risk NHS employees. Appointment may be subject to successful probationary period depending on Band. We are a smoke-free Trust.

We provide flexible working, career development and a range of benefits. We are located in South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, serving Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth, with services including national Deaf adults and CAMHS inpatients and OCD. The Trust’s Care Quality Commission rating is currently ‘good’ with aspirations to be ‘outstanding’.