Senior Clinical/Forensic Psychologist and Clinical Lead

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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

• To manage the delivery of the PIPE model in line with the PIPE service specification and national guidance; developing operational structures and approaches so that they are appropriately psychologically and psychosocially informed.
• To develop necessary psychosocial conditions required to support progression through the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway, ensuring the service has a focus on the lived 'experience' of service users.
• To develop and implement socially-creative, semi-structured activities within the PIPE in order to contribute to a healthy psychosocial environment. To ensure these sessions are responsive and adhere to principles of service user involvement and engagement.
• To develop a culture that promotes 'planned' and 'psychologically informed' responses from staff in relation to the host environment. This includes consideration of institutional dynamics and processes.
• To support and manage the referral and assessment process for those applying to the PIPE, ensuring any relevant population and criteria considerations are taken into account, and all decisions are documented. Also, to liaise with the national Clinical Development Lead for PIPEs where appropriate.
• To ensure that there is consistency and equity in approach from frontline members of the PIPE team, managing and mitigating the clinical impact of staffing structures, e.g. shift patterns or long absences.
• In conjunction with the Operational Lead to ensure the weekly programme of activities in the PIPE meet both clinical and operational requirements.
• To oversee the delivery of the structured and socially-creative groups and to develop further groups as the need arises.
• To ensure the unit maintains the recognised "Enabling Environment" award status, in conjunction with the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
• To promote and support a culture of innovation and creativity in the approach to working within the PIPE framework.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Doctoral level training in Clinical Psychology (D.ClinPsych) or Forensic Psychologist Chartership; including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with HCPC.

Desirable criteria

• Undertaken Post-Doctoral Specialised training related to Personality Disorders (e.g. Assessment and/ or Intervention).
• Psychological training relevant to the advertised post (e.g. Personality Disorder training, Risk Assessment training, Training with respect to Interventions for clients with Personality Disorders and/ or risk of harm to others).
• Undertaken accredited training in the supervision of Trainee Psychologists

Experience

Essential criteria

• Substantial experience of working as a Qualified Psychologist, at a specialist level, working within a Forensic/ Personality Disorder/ Mental Health Setting
• Experience of completing specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions across a range of care settings such as; outpatient, in-patient, community, primary care, forensic and residential settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course
• Experience of working with clients who present with the full range of clinical severity, across a range of care settings (e.g. community, out-patient, in-patient, secure hospital and/ or forensic settings).
• Experience of maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, (e.g. experience of working with challenging verbal, emotional and/ or behavioural presentations).
• Experience of work within a Multi-Disciplinary Team
• Experience of the application of Psychology within different contexts.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for the delivery of psychological care and treatment.
• Experience of the delivery of teaching, training and clinical supervision to others.
• Able to demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision

Desirable criteria

• Experience of assessing and treating clients across a range of forensic/ community personality disorder and/ or prison setting
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Lived experience of mental health

Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

• Knowledge of Psychological Theories and Models which relate to this client group.
• Specialist knowledge of working with this client group
• Knowledge of risk assessments relating to this client group.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and implications for both clinical practice and professional management.
• Well-developed knowledge of Psychological theories of Personality Disorder development
• Good understanding of other professionals' theoretical perspectives of this service user group, in addition to appreciation of their differing experiences of working with these clients
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration in addition to the use of highly developed analytical and judgement skills.
• Skills in individual and group work and in programme planning, planning and caseload management for self and others, to include time- management.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Able to communicate complex, highly technical and / or clinically sensitive information including contentious and highly distressing information to service users, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance
• Skills in providing consultation and supervision to other professional and non-professional groups
• Advanced IT and keyboard skills

Desirable criteria

• High level of knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies related to this client group.
• psychologically with Personality Disordered Offenders, using specific psychological models such as Schema, DBT, MBT, CBT for Personality Disorders.
• Specialised risk assessment skills which relate to this client group
• Skills to impart Psychological knowledge and approaches with non-psychology colleagues, taking an empowering, rather than an instructive stance.

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Interpersonally calm and able to defuse difficult, volatile situations.
• Able to tolerate ambiguity and to take decisions in situations of incomplete information.
• Ability to exercise appropriate levels of self-care and to monitor own state, recognising when it is necessary to take active steps to maintain fitness to practice.
• Good organisational skills
• Motivated towards personal and professional development with a strong CPD record.

Other

Essential criteria

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to organise and implement self-directed travel between working offices across the region and to attend national meetings.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, enabling effective working within the Multi-Disciplinary Team.
• Ability to contain and work with high levels of distress from clients.
• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress

Here at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) we are dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion. We deliver many of the NHS services that are provided outside of hospital and in the community such as physical, mental health and specialist services.

We are a health and social care organisation, offering a wide range of services, including:

• Integrated physical and mental health services for adults and older people;
• Specialist mental health and learning disability services;
• Children and young people's mental health services;
• Children's community services in Peterborough;
• Social care;
• Ground-breaking research

We strongly encourage applications from all sections of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people and members of our ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ communities. For further information about our positive equality, diversity and Inclusion work, please visit https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/equalityanddiversity.

CPFT is looking to build upon its pool of temporary workers with Temporary Staffing Services (TSS). You will be asked at interview if you would be willing to register with TSS. This is an excellent opportunity for those looking to take on additional hours that are flexible around your personal circumstances.

Please be advised that in line with the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List, 2020 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust currently are unable to accept applications from overseas candidates whose country of residence is classed as a 'Red List' country.

Applicants who require entry into the UK will be required to provide a valid police certificate from the relevant authority from each country (except the UK) where the applicant has been present for 12 months or more, 10 years before the date of visa application, while aged 18 or over.

If you are successful at interview you will be subject to pre-employment checks, including a DBS (if appropriate), references and Occupational Health. To ensure a smooth process please bring all identity documents to your interview. A list of required identity documents will be attached to your interview invitation.

All communications will be sent to you via TRAC Systems. By applying for this post you are agreeing to CPFT transferring the information contained in this application to TRAC. If you are made an offer, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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

• Job Description /Person Specification (PDF, 392.6KB)
• CPFT Values (PDF, 114.7KB)
• CPFT Mindful Employers (PDF, 51.3KB)
• CPFT Accommodation (PDF, 296.6KB)
• CPFT Benefits (PDF, 74.4KB)