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Job summary

Main area
Health & Justice Services
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8c
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Part time - 22.5 hours per week
Job ref
333-D-HJ-1643
Employer
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
HMP Downview
Town
Sutton
Salary
£75,853 - £86,574 per annum pro rata inc HCAS outer
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
28/07/2024 23:59
Interview date
14/08/2024

Employer heading

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust logo

Consultant Psychologist for Women’s Services in Health & Justice

NHS AfC: Band 8c

Job overview

Are you an experienced psychologist looking for a new challenge and the opportunity for change?

We are looking for applications from highly motivated and enthusiastic psychologists who are committed to delivering and leading high quality trauma-informed, care and treatment. We are proud of the diverse services we offer in our healthcare provision to the women detained in the women’s prisons in Surrey and we are excited to be able to invite applications for this new Consultant Role which will oversee and support the provision and development of our psychology and therapy services in the three Surrey Sites (HMP Bronzefield, HMP Send, HMP Downview).

You will be joining a large psychology department with an established ethos of development and innovation. In the women’s estate alone we have over 20 therapies staff with this expanding to over 100 across all of CNWL’s Health & Justice Sites and Services. We provide a wide range of therapies (CBT, MBT, EMDR, Psychodynamic counselling, arts therapies) and actively work with partners to provide timely and trauma informed systems of care.

 

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

 

Main duties of the job

We are keen that this role supports our group and individual therapy offer across the sites and actively supports the continued professional development of our teams. The duties of the role include Supervision, Service Consultation and utilising expertise to personally deliver client facing services. As professional lead for the women’s psychology and therapy services, you will sit on the Women’s senior management team and contribute to the commissioner interface and development of the service. As a member of our consultant psychology team, this role is responsible for the governance of the therapies service and contributes to the shaping of Health & Justice psychology services.

As a Trust we are committed to investing in our staff through a range of initiatives, both profession-specific and organisation wide. Psychological professions staff are able to access a range of trust-wide CPD initiatives. We have partnered with Bespoke and Contextual Consulting to provide some of the profession specific CPD, alongside additional CPD sessions we commission as part of CNWL CPD programme for Psychological Professions. CNWL also has seven established staff networks supporting a range of individual needs.

Working for our organisation

By joining CNWL’s Health & Justice Directorate you will be joining a large department of psychologists & psychological therapists that provide an array of mental health & OPD services across London, Surrey, Kent & Bucks.  Our staff are dynamic & welcoming & the networking & CPD opportunities are central to our services ethos. We have active research forums & promote our services & work through academic & clinical forums. All staff receive regular supervision & are supported with career aspirations & progression.

Our Surrey Sites are easily accessible from London or the South and offer free use of the onsite leisure facilities & free parking for staff.

Click here to find out more Psychology at CNWL


What we can offer you:

CNWL is recognised locally, nationally & internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ in line with our values, our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy & policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.

With us, you will get -

  • A Trust committed to staff personal development, with a trust wide culture change and leadership programme that has staff wellbeing at its core.
  • An opportunity to work for one of the top 10 NHS employers
  • Flexible working
  • Variety of work
  • Access to a variety of CPD opportunities

We encourage staff input and ideas in relation to moving services forward, improving care pathways and meeting the client group’s needs.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

·       To lead, manage and plan the delivery of a highly specialist psychology and psychotherapy service to the women detained in HMP Bronzefield, HMP Send & HMP Downview and provide expert clinical input.

·       To be responsible to the Lead Psychologist of Health & Justice Directorate for the monitoring and implementation of professional standards in the practice of applied psychology and psychotherapy in the Women’s Prison Estate in Surrey and for the systematic and effective provision of professional supervision.

·       To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.

·       To ensure the conduct of research, service evaluation and audits relevant to the delivery of psychology and therapy services in the Surrey women’s prisons and the Trust/specialty research agenda

·       To be responsible for the good clinical governance, quality and appropriateness of the work of psychologists and psychotherapists in Surrey’s women’s prisons.

 

Please see attached document for full Job Description and Person Specification.

Person specification

Skills

Essential criteria
  • To deliver psychological therapy across cultural and other differences.
  • To select and administer specialist psychological assessments, interpreting and integrating complex data that require analysis, interpretation and comparison, drawn from several sources, on which expert opinion may differ.
  • To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information.
  • To plan and schedule assessment and interventions for individual clients and groups and carers, and to organise meetings such as CPAs and case reviews.
  • To plan delivery of psychology and psychotherapy services to the client group and carers, involving partner agencies.
  • To be expert in the skilled administration of psychometric tests, including skilled manipulation of test materials; and to be able to supervise others in administration of psychometric tests.
  • Well-developed consultation skills to work with the multi-professional team or other professional groups.
  • Well-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data and for teaching purposes.
  • Skills in providing teaching and training to other professional groups

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Entry-level qualification in Clinical, Forensic or Counselling Psychology (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level additional training or, for forensic, MSc plus completion of the British Psychological Society’s qualification in forensic psychology stage 2) that has been accepted by the HCPC for purposes of professional registration.
  • Additional training beyond entry-level qualification in a specialised area of psychological practice relevant to the delivery of healthcare psychology & therapy services within a criminal justice setting through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses and/or an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice–based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice, assessed by a BPS National Assessor and an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma or higher.
  • Completed training course in clinical supervision
  • Registered with the HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist, and evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
Desirable criteria
  • Attendance at relevant management training courses and events
  • Accreditation as a supervisor in a psychological therapy (e.g. EMDR, CBT, DBT, SFT, MBT)

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision in a forensic mental health, criminal justice or specialist women’s service
  • Experience of undertaking leadership roles
  • Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in a forensic mental health, criminal justice or specialist women’s setting where expertise in clinical risk management are required
  • Experience of providing teaching and training to psychologists or other professional groups.
  • Post-qualification experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities
  • Experience of carrying out post-doctoral research, audit or service evaluation projects
  • Experience of proposing and implementing service development projects that impact beyond own service area
  • Experience of participation in recruitment
  • Experience of supervising assistant and trainee psychologists having completed the relevant training
Desirable criteria
  • Record of publications in either peer reviewed, academic or professional journals/books
  • Experience of developing a trauma informed approach within a system

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Knowledge of the theory and practice of management and leadership.
  • Advanced knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies for women with complex needs who may present high risk of harm to self or others
  • Advanced theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the relevant treatment of trauma and mental health needs within a prison
  • Advanced knowledge of psychological assessment and clinical psychometrics (for example, assessments of cognitive ability, neurodiverse disorders and risk of harm to others)
  • Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities
  • Doctoral level knowledge of psychological research methodology and complex statistical analysis
  • Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability and accessibility of mental health care

Abilities

Essential criteria
  • Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles
  • Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate
  • Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings
  • Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions, and to deal with unexpected interruptions or changes during these
  • Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive behaviour.
  • Ability to manage verbal aggression and hostility directed at self.
  • Ability to work in a secure environment, in line with HMPPS and Sodexo policy and procedures and obtain and maintain enhanced security clearance
  • Ability to travel across sites

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Trust IDWe are a Living Wage EmployerEmployers for CarersPurple SpaceHealthy Workplace - Excellence 2018No smoking policyMenopause Friendly EmployerAge positiveDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - BronzeNational Autistic SocietyDisability confident committedStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.AccessAbleStonewall Gold 2022Step into healthCarer Confident -AccomplishedNHS Rainbow Badge - BronzeArmed Forces Covenant

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Nicola Thomas
Job title
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Email address
[email protected]
Additional information

We are a friendly team and encourage any prospective candidate to contact us with any questions and/or to book an informal visit.

You can also find more information on our services and the work we do within the Health & Justice Directorate please do take a look at our new website https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/health-and-justice

Our healthcare services work to a 7-day week working model, to ensure our patient's healthcare is managed and maintained to the highest of standards at all times.

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