Practitioner Psychologist - band 7/8a

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust; Wrenthorpe; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Band 7/8a Practitioner Psychologist to join the Inpatient Forensic Psychology Team at Fieldhead Hospital. The post supports a forensic cohort across multiple sites with a focus on recovery through trauma-informed care and a structured clinical pathway.

The role involves direct assessment and therapy for inpatients, along with service-level consultation, supervision, reflective practice, and training.

Qualifications

• Experience of working with complex mental health needs is essential.
• Desirable experience in secure settings.
• Ability to develop and communicate complex formulations.

Responsibilities

• Provide assessment and therapeutic interventions for the inpatient group.
• Deliver service-level consultation, supervision and reflective practice.
• Offer training and contribute to professional development within the team.

Skills

Assessment

Therapeutic interventions

Consultation

Supervision

Reflective practice

Training

Forensic psychology

Job description

We are looking for a talented Band 7/8a Practitioner Psychologist to join our Inpatient Forensic Psychology Team at Fieldhead Hospital.

The Inpatient psychology team works across three sites; Newton Lodge a 90 bedded Medium Secure Service for men and women; The Bretton Centre a 38 bedded male Low Secure service; and Newhaven a 15 bedded Low secure service for men with learning disabilities.

The service offers a unique opportunity to work with service users within a forensic setting, who have mental health difficulties, attachment difficulties, experiences of trauma and learning disabilities through various stages of their recovery.

The psychology department is progressive, and continuously undergoing positive change and development. We are implementing a Trauma Informed Care approach and a clinical pathway that provides direct psychology input and indirect MDT activity, to service users and teams across the service. There is a lot of scope for involvement in shaping service delivery and research.

All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to have their up-to-date flu vaccination to protect staff and patients., The successful candidate will provide assessment and therapeutic interventions for the inpatient group, and service level, consultation, supervision, reflective practice and training. The post will have a particular focus on our recovery pathway, and the post-holder will receive regular clinical supervision from practitioner psychologists based within the Forensic Service.

Experience of working with complex mental health needs and of working in secure settings would be desirable but enthusiasm for working with people with complex presentations is essential as well as the ability to develop and communicate complex formulations.

The post is suitable for a psychologist already working at 8a who wishes to develop their skills further in a forensic setting, or a newly qualified psychologist undertaking their first qualified role.

We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the west Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.

Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, we do this by providing high-quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non-clinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families and carers.

We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we value diversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.

Being a foundation Trust means were accountable to our members, who can have a say in how were run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.

Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year.