Principal Practitioner Psychologist

NHS; Newport; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading health service provider is seeking a qualified applied psychologist to work within the prison mental health pathway. This role involves providing expert psychological assessments and therapy to individuals with mental health challenges. Candidates should possess a post-graduate qualification in psychology and HCPC registration. The position offers a competitive salary and a range of professional development opportunities in a supportive team environment.

Benefits

20% welcome bonus

Professional registration fee allowance

Relocation fee contribution

Qualifications

• Experience in criminal justice services or related fields.
• Substantial experience as a qualified practitioner psychologist.
• Post-doctoral training in specialized areas of psychological practice.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical psychology services to patients within prison setting.
• Conduct expert psychological assessments and therapy.
• Implement psychological interventions tailored to individual needs.

Skills

Psychological assessments

Evidence-based interventions

Strong communication skills

Ability to work independently

Education

Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology

DClinPsy or DCounsPsy qualification

HCPC registration as a practitioner psychologist

Job description

Come and work on the beautiful Isle of Wight! We can offer a rewarding role in a challenging environment, as well as access to lots of blue and green spaces to help maintain your own wellbeing.

Are you interested in working directly with people in custody, as well as working with the systems around them? This role will involve making a positive difference to the lives of the men in prison.

HMP Isle of Wight was created in 2009 as an amalgamation of HMPs Parkhurst and Albany. The prison now holds just over 1000 men across the two sites. Many men have complex trauma histories and there are varied opportunities within the role to develop your own clinical and research interests in working with this client group. You will provide consultation and formulation to colleagues, as well as providing some direct clinical work appropriate to the banding of the role.

For this post, MPFT will offer:

• A 20% 'welcome to MPFT' bonus; 10% on joining us and 10% after a period of 12 months service.
• An allowance can be offered which will enable the individual to pay for yearly professional registration fees up to £120.00 per year
• A contribution for relocation fees is also available upon application

Main duties of the job

We are looking for HCPC registered applied psychologists (we believe forensic, counselling or clinical psychologists may have the required competencies) who are passionate about social justice and reducing health inequalities. You may have experience of criminal justice services, but we are also keen to receive applications from people with different backgrounds, as this supports diversity within our psychology team. You will have experience of delivering psychological assessments and evidence-based interventions, as well as experience of working indirectly through MDT colleagues.

You will enjoy working independently and have the skills to develop excellent working relationships with service users, colleagues and commissioners. There will be opportunities to develop and deliver training, as well as to lead on development of evidence-based psychological interventions. Additional tasks may include providing reflective practice spaces for teams and offering supervision to more junior psychology colleagues.

The supportive Inclusion psychology team is led by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist. The team meet regularly for professional development, reflective space and collaborative projects. Working in prisons can be both challenging and rewarding, and you will have the opportunity to work with and learn from experienced prison psychologists across our sites. We will support you to access regular clinical supervision and appropriate professional development.

About us

Inclusion, created in 2002 is part of the Specialist Services Care Group of Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT). We provide caring and effective services across England, including, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, East Midlands, West Mercia, Thames Valley, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Thurrock, Essex.

We support individuals, families and communities who are affected by addiction, crime, mental health or need treatment for their sexual health. We believe that the individuals and families who use our services should receive high quality, committed and inclusive care, realising all the benefits a modern NHS organisation can provide.

Our services are robustly governed, evidence-based, inclusive, and designed and provided in conjunction with service users. We are committed to providing the best service we can, and if you share our values, we want you on our team!

We work with patients and our staff teams to achieve the best outcomes we can. We invest heavily in training and development, and the wellbeing of our people, both staff and service users is central to who we are. Here at MPFT, we are proud of the comprehensive wellbeing and lifestyle support offer available, in addition to in-house training and coaching support.

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification for full details. A summary is provided below:

• To provide a clinical psychology service to patients, with moderate to severe mental health problems, seen within the prison mental health pathway within the areas of agreed responsibility
• To work with clients alone as necessary, or to work jointly with others depending on the relevant risk assessment
• To provide expert psychological assessment, formulation and therapy to an exceptionally high standard to patients with a range of mental health problems
• To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology (or its equivalent prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology
• Must have DClinPsy, DCounsPsy or qualification in forensic psychology
• HCPC registration as a practitioner psychologist

Experience

• Post doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice or therapy
• Substantial experience of working as a qualified practitioner psychologist at a highly specialist level

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.

£64,455 to £74,896 a yearper annum, pro rata