Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

West London NHS Trust; Southall; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

An exciting opportunity for a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to join the Ealing Crisis Assessment and Home Treatment Team. The role involves providing psychological support, assessments, and working collaboratively with a multi-disciplinary team to enhance care for those in mental health crises.

Qualifications

• Post qualification experience in mental health settings.
• Experience in providing clinical supervision.

Responsibilities

• Providing comprehensive psychology services to service users.
• Developing MDT’s knowledge through teaching and training.

Skills

Communication

Research

Teamwork

Education

Doctoral level training in clinical or counselling psychology

Professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council

Job description

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West London NHS Trust provides a full range of mental health, community and physical healthcare services for children, adults and older people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.

We also provide some specialist services that are commissioned regionally, such as our medium secure services; and nationally, such as the Cassel Hospital for people with complex and severe personality disorder and our high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital.

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for a Clinical /Counselling Psychologist/Psychological Practitioner to join the Ealing Crisis Assessment and Home Treatment Team. The team works alongside our inpatient and community mental health services to offer an increased level of support to those experiencing a mental health crisis outside of an inpatient setting. The team currently support service users living in Ealing both in their own homes and in the Crisis Recovery House run by VCSE partners at Waythrough.

The post-holder will work collaboratively and proactively with the multi-disciplinary team to manage risk robustly and to provide a psychological perspective to the care provided. Along with providing assessment, formulation and brief interventions to service users and their families. The post-holder will also support and work with the team to develop a range of psychologically informed interventions which can be delivered across the MDT. The post holder will also be integral to decisions and delivery about ref lective practice, team formulation/consultation and post incident support.

The service is working towards accreditation from the Quality Network for Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams, and the post holder would be actively involved in ensuring the psychological standards are met and maintained.

The post holder will be the supervisor and line manager for the Assistant Psychologists in the team. Along with providing a placement for a trainee clinical psychologist from the North London training courses.

Main duties of the job

MAIN DUTIES

· Providing a full and comprehensive psychology service providing direct care to service users and their families offering assessment, formulation, risk assessment and brief evidence based interventions when indicated.

· Offer indirect work ensuring that all members of the multidisciplinary team have access to a psychological framework for understanding the service user’s needs. This will be provided by giving psychological advice, consultation, contributing in clinical meetings and team formulation.

· Developing the MDT’s knowledge and skills to use a psychological approach to a service user’s care through teaching, training and where needed supervision.

· Work as an integrated clinical member of a multi-disciplinary team, which will include responsibility for ensuring the systematic provision and governance of a high quality specialist clinical psychology service.

· Utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development.

Working for our organisation

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.

Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for 2024-25 is over £500m.

The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overallby the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.

The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.

We encourage the thoughtful use of technology as a demonstration of strong time management and a commitment to innovation. However, we encourage applicants to personalise their recruitment application to showcase their unique skills and experiences. While AI-generated content can be a helpful tool, relying solely on generic responses instead of highlighting your own strengths and achievements may impact the success of your application.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

Person specification

Education

• Doctoral level training in clinical or counselling psychology or its equivalent, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS and/or Accredited psychological practitioner with at least 3 years of experience.
• Professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council and/or equivalent registering body.
• Training in clinical supervision for doctoral, and equivalent, trainees
• Training in the supervision of psychological therapies.
• Evidence of post-doctoral training in psychological therapies relevant to severe and enduring mental health difficulties including for example DBT/ CBT-P/ Systemic Practice

Experience

• Post qualification experience of working in mental health settings delivering specialist psychological assessment, formulation and interventions across a range of settings including community, primary care, inpatient, crisis services.
• Experience of working with a wide range of client groups across the whole life course presenting with a range of psychological problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity.
• Experience of providing clinical supervision to assistant/trainee or qualified psychologists, and/or other professionals.
• Post qualification experience and/or training in working with adults affected by psychological trauma.
• Experience of service development/change leadership.
• Experience of having facilitated/co-facilitated psychological therapy groups

Knowledge/Skills

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention and management requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to service users, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Able to provide and receive highly complex, highly sensitive or highly contentious information, where there are significant barriers to acceptance which need to be overcome using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills such as would be required when communicating in a hostile, antagonistic or highly emotive atmosphere
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, e.g. complex psychometric testing and specialist neuropsychological testing
• Knowledge of QN-CRHTT standards and accreditation process.

As an employee of West London NHS Trust, you have a responsibility to maintain a sound understanding of, and a commitment to uphold the National Health Service values and principles set out in the NHS Constitution.

We reserve the right to close adverts prior to the closing date stated should we receive a high volume of applications.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to West London NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, you will be required to undergo a pre-employment checks which can take between 4-8 weeks . After which your information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system (ESR ).

Please ensure you include email addresses for your referees which MUST be at supervisory or managerial capacity covering the last 3 years of employment to date to avoid delay in the recruitment process.

West London NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We encourage the thoughtful use of technology as a demonstration of strong time management and a commitment to innovation. However, we encourage applicants to personalise their recruitment application to showcase their unique skills and experiences.

While AI-generated content can be a helpful tool, relying solely on generic responses instead of highlighting your own strengths and achievements may impact the success of your application. The success of an application will always be assessed against the essential and desirable criteria for the role, so it is important to ensure that your application and any supporting information clearly demonstrate how you meet these requirements.

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.

At West London NHS Trust, we want you to support you to build a career you can be proud of and this starts before your first day with us. Our people live our values every day as they deliver, manage and work to improve our services to patients, carers, families and other professionals.

We’re committed to making our recruitment process clear and efficient. It’s in everyone’s interest that we get the very best people on board as soon as we can.

We advertise all our jobs in the vacancies section on our site and at NHS Jobs. Applications are made online and w e aim to make it simple and easy to showcase your skills and talent.

You may sometimes see NHS jobs advertised on other external sites, however we only accept applications through NHS jobs.

To apply for a job, please note:

• You’ll need to create an account
  The first time you apply for an NHS job, you'll need to create an account to submit your application. Once you’re a registered useryou can simply log in to start your application.
• All applications are submitted online
  All applications are made using and online form to ensure that all applications are assessed fairly and based on what you tell us about yourself. This is to ensure that everyone has the best chance to show us why they’re the right person for the job.
• No CV applications
  We don’t accept CV applications. It’s important you include all your relevant experience and skills in your application so we have all the information we need to make informed decisions about who to interview.
• Check your references
  Before you submit your application, you need to make sure that you’ve provided the names and the contact details for your references, which should cover a three year period. If you’re currently working for the NHS, we only need one reference from your line manager.

Help us choose you

Make sure you focus your application to demonstrate that you can meet all or most of our essential criteria. Also, pay attention to the job description and explain, with examples, (listed as supporting information) how your skills and experience prove not only can you do the job, but that you’ll excel in it.

Before you click send

You can’t edit your application once submitted. So make sure you take a few minutes to read through your application carefully. You want to make sure you’ve completed it as fully as possible and there are no errors or omissions.

Once it’s submitted, you’ll receive an email from NHS jobs to confirm the receipt of your application. From this stage onwards, all communications will be made via our recruitment system. Access to the TRAC jobs system is provided by email, so please check your email inbox, including your spam and junk folders.

Once applications for a role have closed, a shortlist of candidates will be invited for interview.

During the selection process, we’re specifically looking at how well each application matches the position to which it relates. Those applicants whose skills and experience best fit the criteria will be asked to interview for the role.

If you’re shortlisted, we’ll send you an interview invitation via our applicant database website TRAC Jobs. The invitation will include details of when and where to come for your interview and any additional tests that form part of the selection process.

If you’re unsuccessful at this first stage, you’ll receivean email via TRAC to let you know you haven’t been successful this time.

The interview is your chance to tell us in person what experience why your experiences and personal skills make you right right for the role and for West London NHS Trust.

Some tips before coming to the interview

• Learn about our Trust, the department you hope to join and the services we offer. Finding out as much as you can about the role will help you demonstrate how your skills and experience fit the role.
• Re-read the job description and person specification carefully. We want to hire the best person for the job, so we’re going to ask questions based on your application to understand why you’re the right person. We may ask you to describe scenarios from your current role that deomstrate your ability to do the job. Prepare answers in advance against each of the criteria on the job description.
• We might ask you to bring documentation, including proof of identity, work permit, proof of residency, to the interview.Try to bring as much as you can with you so that we can take copies. This is a compliance requirement, that is, we have to ensure that everyone to whom we offer a jobhas the legal right to work.
• Dress in smart professional attire.

At the interview

You’ll usually be interviewed by a panel of two or more interviewers. If we need you to complete any tests, we’ll let you know in advance of your interview.

The outcome

The recruiting manager will tell you at your interview how and when you'll be notified as to whether you’ve been successful.