Practitioner Psychologist

NHS; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job description

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

We are pleased to offer the opportunity for an enthusiastic and motivated Band 7 Practitioner Psychologist to join the Gloucestershire Recovery in Psychosis (GRIP) team, as part of a small and supportive team of psychological therapists working in the wider team.

We are looking for this post to start in Autumn 2025 and we would welcome applications from those currently in training.

GRIP is a county-wide Early Intervention in Psychosis team that provides care to people experiencing their First Episode of Psychosis or those at risk of developing psychosis. The team works intensively over a period of up to three years with clients, their families, and the wider community to provide the best possible outcomes for people experiencing psychosis and to mitigate the long-term effects of serious mental illness.

This role is for 30 hours per week - we are open to discussion with the successful candidate on how these hours can be worked across the week.

We are a dynamic, expanding multi-disciplinary team with a strong focus on taking a flexible, compassionate, and person-centred approach to working with people at a difficult stage in their lives, and promoting hope for the patient and their family.

Main duties of the job

The successful applicant will have post-graduate training to doctoral level and be able to demonstrate appropriate skills and experience in the area of assessment and treatment in order to provide evidence-based interventions to people experiencing their first episode of psychosis and their families. They will also be able to demonstrate appropriate levels of research and audit skills, an interest in contributing to service development, and the ability to provide supervision and consultation to other members of the team.

The ideal candidate will show a keen interest in working in line with the principles of Early Intervention to deliver specialist care that reflects the principles of recovery and social inclusion. It is essential that the candidate is willing to undertake further training as necessary in Family Interventions in Psychosis and CBTp. There are good opportunities to link with psychological practitioners in different areas across the trust and to contribute to local continuing professional development.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

About us

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity, and diversity while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys, and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Job responsibilities

• To be responsible for promoting the psychological health and well-being of clients in the Early Intervention Team within the Trust.
• To directly provide specialist psychological assessment and intervention services to individuals/groups/organisations, using a variety of applied psychology models.
• To provide clinical supervision of junior staff.
• To participate in relevant research and audit activity.
• To provide clinical services within the service area covered by the countywide Early Intervention Team.
• The team comprises 2 qualified Psychologists and around 17 WTE multi-disciplinary staff.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Post-graduate doctoral level of training in clinical psychology, or counselling psychology, as accredited by the professional body.
• Eligible for chartered status.
• HCPC registered.
• Membership of specialist interest groups relevant to client group.

Length and/or nature of experience

• Experience of maintaining working relationships and a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse, and the threat of physical aggression.
• 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 of the NHS.
• Evidence of maintaining effective communication when there are barriers to understanding and in circumstances where hostility, manipulation, conflict, and antagonism are present.
• Proficient in the manipulation of complex psychological test equipment for use in formal testing situations, including neuropsychological assessment.
• Is in the process of acquiring clinical experience of an increasingly specialist nature.
• Some prior experience of supervising and teaching.
• Ability to adapt style and/or assessment and intervention strategies to meet the challenges of complex clients/situations. Experience of working with both young people and adult service users and their families.
• Experience of providing family work in psychosis interventions.
• Prior experience of working within the early intervention setting.
• Experience of assessing and providing psychological interventions with service users presenting with a range of difficulties and severities, across a range of settings including community, inpatient, and residential-based settings.

Professional / Managerial / Specialist knowledge

• Highly developed knowledge of life span and developmental psychology, models for psychological, psychometrics, up to date practice with client group, and two more psychological therapies.
• Experience of working with individuals with psychotic presentations and applying evidence-based interventions with this client group.
• Knowledge of research methodology, research design, and complex multivariate data analysis consistent with chartered psychologist status and as practiced within the chartered psychologist professions.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation and its implications for clinical practice for the delivery of EI services for individuals and their families.
• Experience of multi-agency and multi-disciplinary working.
• Some prior experience of contributing to service development and thinking strategically about the service requirements.

Personal skills, abilities and attributes

• Emotional robustness to frequently work with the intense distress of others.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Able to exercise professional autonomy and clinical responsibility in the multi-disciplinary environment and as a lone worker.
• Competence in breakaway techniques (and resistant as necessary) established and maintained via Trust training.

Other requirements

• Keyboard skills and ability to word-process, use spreadsheets, and statistical analysis software.
• Ability to get to required locations in a timely and efficient manner.
• Commitment to develop knowledge and practice towards more highly specialist levels through a variety of appropriate methods (short courses, reading, clinical supervision of practice, on-the-job learning, etc.).
• Ability to travel independently around the country.

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.

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

£46,148 to £52,809 a year (pro rata)