Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Part time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a passionate and motivated Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist for a part-time role. This position offers the opportunity to work within a dedicated team focused on providing exceptional care to individuals experiencing birth trauma and PTSD. With a commitment to professional development, the role includes generous CPD time and support for expanding expertise in various therapeutic modalities. The flexible, hybrid working model allows for a balance between in-person and remote sessions, making it an attractive opportunity for those looking to make a significant impact in mental health care while enjoying a supportive and collaborative environment.

Benefits

Flexible working options

27 days’ annual leave

Excellent learning and career development opportunities

Cycle to Work scheme

Access to wellbeing tools and services

Discounts at popular retailers

Staff networks for diversity

Generous maternity and paternity leave

Free parking across Trust sites

Qualifications

• Must have HCPC-regulated Clinical/Counselling Psychology qualification.
• Experience in treating PTSD and supervising psychologists required.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist assessments and evidence-based interventions.
• Contribute to service development and clinical supervision.

Skills

Clinical Psychology

Counselling Psychology

Trauma-Focused CBT

EMDR

Compassion-Focused Therapy

Clinical Supervision

Research and Audit

Education

Postgraduate Doctoral Qualification in Clinical/Counselling Psychology

HCPC Registration

Tools

MS Office

RiO

Job description

Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Band 8a

Main area Birth Trauma Mental Health Grade Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Part time - 22.5 hours per week Job ref 371-MHS519-B

Site University of Reading, Erlegh House Town Reading Salary £55,876 - £62,625 per annum, pro rata (Incl. of HCAS) Salary period Yearly Closing 20/01/2025 23:59 Interview date 30/01/2025

PART TIME 22.5 HOURS PER WEEK

We're excited to offer a part-time role for a passionate and motivated Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to join Berkshire Healthcare Birth in Mind.

Birth in Mind is a specialist service providing assessment and treatment for adults with severe Fear of Birth (medically referred to as tokophobia) and/or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to their birth experience (including miscarriage, still birth and neonatal loss). You'll be joining a warm, dynamic team of psychologists and psychological therapists who are deeply committed to providing the best possible care.

Our service offers generous time for CPD, giving you the chance to expand your expertise in Trauma-Focused CBT, EMDR, and Compassion-Focused Therapy. We highly value clinician self-care, providing strong support systems including peer supervision, regular one-on-one supervision, and specialist supervision in Compassion-Focused Therapy and EMDR.

You'll be based at Erlegh House, located on the vibrant University of Reading campus, complete with plenty of parking, nearby green spaces, and local shops.

We also offer a flexible, hybrid working model that includes both face-to-face sessions and online working, either from our well-equipped clinic space or from home when suitable.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to make a difference in a welcoming and supportive team, we’d love to hear from you!

Main duties of the job

• As a valued member of our team, your role will combine both clinical and service development responsibilities.
• You will contribute to the clinical supervision and line management of qualified psychologists and psychological therapists.
• You will provide specialist assessments, formulations and evidence-based interventions, in both individual and group settings. You will be supported to develop clinical skills and expertise in other therapy modalities such as EMDR if appropriate.
• You will contribute to development of our treatment pathways and networking strategy. You will have a lead role in service improvement projects such as service user feedback forums, and designing our specialist groups and resources.
• We have a strong belief in evidence-based practice, so you may be able to undertake or supervise research, audit and service evaluation. You will also be involved in consultation, liaison and training to multidisciplinary staff, perinatal mental health and third-sector agencies.

Working for our organisation

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, we’re committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire.

We value diversity and are proud to be a Stonewall Top 100 Employer. We work hard to create an inclusive environment where you’ll be supported by friendly and professional colleagues to flourish.

Our values at Berkshire Healthcare:

• Caring for and about you is our top priority
• Committed to providing good quality, safe services
• Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions

We welcome people who share these values to come and work for us.

Benefits of working for us include:

• Flexible working options to support work-life balance
• 27 days’ annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
• Excellent learning and career development opportunities
• ‘Cycle to Work’ and car leasing scheme including electric vehicles
• Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
• Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
• Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities, the environment and armed forces community to support equality
• Generous maternity, paternity, adoption and special leave
• Free parking across Trust sites

If you share our values and would like to come and work for us, please submit your application as soon as possible as we'll occasionally close roles early that have a high number of applications.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The “must haves” for you to be considered for this role:

• An HCPC-regulated Clinical/Counselling Psychology qualification
• Experience treating PTSD using NICE-recommended therapy modalities
• Experience supervising and line managing psychologists.
• Relevant and sufficient post-qualification experience in a similar role.
• High level of enthusiasm and motivation for working with this client group

For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.

We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted.

We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.

We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to call: Dr Rosalind Brock, Principal Psychologist on 0118 904 7111 or email: [e-mail] who will be delighted to help.

Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications/Training for Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

• Post graduate doctoral qualification in clinical or counselling psychology (or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996 or for those who completed their training overseas) which provides eligibility for Chartered Membership of British Psychological Society (BPS)
• Registered and accredited with the Health Care Professional Council (HCPC) as a Practitioner Psychologist

Education/Qualifications/Training for All

• Additional training/ accreditations (willingness to undertake or working towards these) to reflect post qualification specialism (e.g. Health Psychology, Neuropsychology, BABCP, UKCP, ACAT, EMDR-UK, BPS).

Continuous Professional Development

• Evidence of post-qualification training and expert knowledge in multiple psychological models and therapeutic approaches relevant to the service area. Having a robust awareness of the current evidence-base and new developments within the area of specialism
• Training in clinical supervision.

Experience

• Demonstratable post qualification experience working as a qualified psychologist/psychotherapist, offering evidence-based therapies for those with PTSD, including PTSD to birth experiences.
• Experience of working in evidence-based ways with services users (and their carers/families) presenting with the full range of clinical severity across a range of settings. Also having the ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of dealing with highly distressing or emotional circumstances, such as serious mental illness, child and sexual abuse, exploitation and complex family dynamics.
• Experience of delivering interventions across different modalities (e.g. individual, group and systemic-based approaches)
• Experience of working effectively in a multi-disciplinary team and multi-agency environments.
• Experience of providing specialist advice and consultation to MDT and multi-agency colleagues to support the psychological care of service users.
• Experience of supervision (including of psychology roles) and the ability to offer effective supervision to junior staff.
• Experience of line management of staff (including psychology roles).
• Experience of developing and delivering teaching to a range of staff groups
• Experience of service development and carrying out clinical audit, evaluative research and applying the findings.
• Experience of service evaluation and implementing change from a national and local health or social care change agenda that impacts across services and professions.
• Experience of working with and addressing issues of diversity, including experience of working with diversity, multiculturalism, and equality of access to service.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Demonstrable knowledge, skills and abilities in the practice of highly specialised psychological assessment, formulation and intervention, relevant to the service area
• Knowledge of evidence base, research, policy and legislation in relation to the service area
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills enabling the sensitive communication of complex, technical and/or sensitive information to multiple stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to support, influence and engage with clinicians, stakeholders and service users to create change and improvement.
• The ability and skills to act as an advocate for the service, to engage and foster good professional relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of this service with the wider health care system.
• Advanced IT skills and the ability to navigate various systems and software packages (such as RiO, Outlook, databases, MS Office/Teams, One Consultation and the Internet).

Additional Requirements

• Ability to travel across sites in Berkshire and beyond as required
• Able to work flexibly as required and to travel independently between locations to fulfil the requirements and duties of the position

These are the values that we live by at Berkshire Healthcare:

• Caring for and about you is our top priority
• Committed to providing good quality, safe services
• working Together with you to develop innovative solutions

We welcome people who share these values to come and work for us.

Please find attached the behaviour framework that underpins these values for this job role.

At Berkshire Healthcare, we foster an inclusive workplace where everyone belongs.

We welcome talent from all backgrounds and offer guaranteed interviews to disabled applicants and armed forces community members who meet the minimum criteria.

Please note we may close positions before the advertised date.

Once you have applied, please check your email regularly for updates. All appointments are subject to NHS Employment Checks, and false information may result in withdrawal of offers. For information on how we store your information, please review our privacy statement.

No agencies, please.

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.

Name Dr Rosalind Brock Job title Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 0118 904 7111