Senior Psychological Therapist/Clinical or Counselling Psychologist

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust; Blackpool; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 58,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player in mental health services is seeking a Senior Psychological Therapist/Clinical or Counselling Psychologist for a 12-month fixed-term role. This exciting opportunity involves joining a supportive team dedicated to providing high-quality psychological care within the Blackpool CMHT. The ideal candidate will have a passion for working with complex presentations and will benefit from ongoing professional development opportunities, including access to experienced therapists and consultants. If you are committed to making a positive impact in mental health and thrive in a collaborative environment, this role offers the chance to contribute significantly to the well-being of the community.

Qualifications

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent required.
• Experience in specialist psychological assessment and treatment is essential.

Responsibilities

• Provide psychological assessment and therapy to service users.
• Consult on patients' psychological care to colleagues and non-professional carers.

Skills

Psychological Assessment

Therapeutic Skills

Research Methodology

Consultancy Skills

Clinical Responsibility

Education

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

Job description

Senior Psychological Therapist/Clinical or Counselling Psychologist

Band 8a

Main area: Mental Health

Grade: Band 8a

Contract: 12 months (fixed term)

Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week

Job ref: 351-FYL532-EJ-F

Site: CMHT Blackpool (25-65)

Town: Blackpool

Salary: £50,952 - £57,349 per annum

Salary period: Yearly

Closing date: 04/02/2025 23:59

Our Vision: To provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism and community-based services for the populations we serve.

As an integrated mental health, learning disability and community Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including:

1. Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, forensic services including low and medium secure care.
2. Specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
3. Community physical health and well-being services for children and adults.

The Trust was established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,000 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health and general nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers.

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust supports flexible working, believing that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours, home/remote working, and flexi-time.

We have an exciting opportunity for a suitably qualified Psychological Therapist/Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to take up a 12-month, fixed-term position as a B8a Senior Psychological Therapist/Senior Clinical or Counselling Psychologist within the Blackpool CMHT.

The role is part of a waiting list initiative to support the existing B8b Principal Clinical Psychologist with the CMHT psychology waiting list. You will be joining a network of friendly, supportive and highly motivated psychological therapists/psychologists working across the Fylde Coast locality. Psychology is well-established within the Blackpool CMHT and is a highly valued part of the MDT. This post is ideally suited to a candidate who has a passion for working creatively with complex presentations.

There are opportunities to develop therapeutic skills in exciting therapeutic approaches such as Internal Family Systems (IFS) with two IFS Level 1 trained therapists and two IFS Level 2 trained therapists working within the locality. You will also have access to support from two EMDR Consultants, one of whom is also a BACP accredited CBT Therapist. Clinical supervision can be provided in each of these modalities.

The team is supported clinically and professionally by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist who works across Adult Mental Health and Access and Urgent Care services within the Fylde Coast.

Main duties of the job

To provide a qualified Psychological Therapist/Clinical or Counselling Psychology Service to service users within the nominated team(s) including the provision of enhanced specialist psychological assessment and therapy, working within the policies, procedures and protocols applicable to the service.

To offer advice and consultation on patients' psychological care to psychology and non-psychology colleagues and to other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the service's policies and procedures.

To develop advanced skills in consultancy by implementing formal systems of consultancy within the nominated team(s), as directed and guided by your Locality Professional Lead and his/her deputies.

To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area in which the postholder works.

The base would be the Gateway, Blackpool, primarily, although there may be some requirements to travel to other venues across the Fylde Coast as appropriate.

Working for our organisation

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.

The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.

Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working, believing that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For more information please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT.

Please see attached the job description and person specification for more information about this role.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.

Knowledge

• An increased level of knowledge relevant to this post equivalent to a post-graduate diploma (in addition to entry level qualification) Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology. Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS. HCPC registration as practitioner psychologist. Knowledge of legislation relevant to the patient group.

Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of patients across a range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings. Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse. Demonstrable evidence of a continuing commitment to developing expertise in psychological assessment and intervention. Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for patient’s psychological care and treatment both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of multidisciplinary care plan.

Please note that further communication from Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCft) will normally be to the email address given on the application form. You should also ensure that email addresses and telephone numbers are provided for your referees, to enable LSCft to contact them.

Please be aware the use of artificial intelligence (AI) when submitting an application is monitored and if you have used AI to generate an application, you are required to declare this on your application form. AI-generated content may lack specificity and fail to address key criteria outlined in the job description. Personalisation is essential when submitting an application form to convey your skills, knowledge, and experiences effectively.

Please ensure that you read the person specification attached below as your application will be measured against this document. Applications from job share partners are welcome and other forms of flexible working will be considered for all posts.

For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).

You are advised to consider applying for LSCft vacancies as soon as possible as in some instances vacancies are closed as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received. If you are not invited to interview within three weeks of the closing date then please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful, as it is not possible to contact all unsuccessful candidates.

LSCft is committed to celebrating difference as an asset and we know that recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds helps to create a more flexible, creative and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from people regardless of age, disability (particularly those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion or belief or sexual orientation. Our goal is for the Trust to be truly representative of the communities we serve so we are particularly keen to receive applications from people in under-represented groups. If there is anything you’d like to discuss in relation to your application then please ask.

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.