Senior Clinical Psychologist - Perinatal Mental Health Services
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About Us
EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:
- We are among the largest employers in the in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
- We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.
EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.
Our vision and values
Our Vision
"To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care".
Our Purpose
"We care for people every day. What we do together, matters".
Our Values
- We Care
- We Learn
- We Empower
Our strategic objectives
- We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
- We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
- We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
- We will help our communities to thrive.
Our services
- Mental Health Services
- Community Health Services
- Learning Disabilities Services
- Social Care
Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory.
Job overview
We are pleased to offer a full time Senior Clinical/Counselling Psychologist 8a post in EPUT Essex Perinatal Mental Health Service (PMHS). Following significant investment in psychology provision the service delivers high quality support and intervention to mothers, their infants and their families. PMHS consists of five perinatal hubs with a staff mix comprising of Nursing, Psychiatry, Psychology as well as MDT skill mix of Nursery Nursing, OT and social work. There are strong pathways and relationships with maternity, health visiting, secondary care mental health services and primary care services to provide more streamlined, timely and effective care for mothers in the perinatal period. This post will be in North West Locality (Harlow, Loughton and Stansted). There are opportunities to shape a role for flexible working arrangements.
The Perinatal Mental Health Service provides maternal mental health and wellbeing support to mothers and their infants across Essex. Pregnancy and the transition to parenthood are recognised as a time when mental health difficulties and relationship stress can occur. Experience of pre-existing trauma as well as trauma during the perinatal period can have a significant impact on the experience of becoming a mother. Psychological interventions which are specific, effective, and valued by women can support them with such difficulties; reducing distress and health care costs, whilst increasing physical and psychological wellbeing.
Main duties of the job
Perinatal Psychology is a flourishing and exciting field to work in and there will be highly specialised therapeutic trainings and supervision available to the successful candidates, including trauma-focused and parent-infant focused models.
We would welcome candidates with prior perinatal experience but also welcome those who have an interest and are looking to develop their skills in perinatal approaches. There will also be consideration given to less experienced psychologists looking to develop the requisite skills and experience of an 8a banding through a preceptorship program.
There will significant opportunities to develop your supervision, teaching and consultation skills and to further develop the psychology service to meet the needs of mothers and their infants. Staff wellbeing is also highly valued and we are looking for candidates with experience of wellbeing initiatives to support the PMHS staff as they manage highly challenging caseloads with complex risk and safeguarding issues.
You will be expected to contribute to the development of Perinatal Psychology both within the trust and externally through attendance at CPD and network events. Participation in research and audit will be encouraged. You will be encouraged to develop a specialist clinical interest and continued professional development is strongly supported.
Working for our organisation
EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;
- Season Ticket Loans
- NHS discounts for staff
- Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
- Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
- The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
- Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
- Day One Flexible Employer
The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment
Join our Staff bank
What is Staff Bank?
Our EPUT NHS staff bank is an entity managed by the trust that hires clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals to take on shifts at our trust hospitals and community settings. Here at EPUT we maintain our own bank of specialist staff to ensure that we are able offer safe and effective care at all times.
All our permanent staff are automatically enrolled onto the staff bank however this does not mean you have to work any additional shifts, but the option is there for you if you wish.
If you are joining our Trust in a fixed term role, please indicate on your New Starter Paperwork that you wish to join our staff bank.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
• This role will provide highly specialist assessment and intervention to mothers and their infants
• The role with the Perinatal Mental Health Service (PMHS) will be to provide evidence based perinatally informed psychological therapies to mothers through pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period up to the infant age of 2 years.
• The role also requires the delivery of supervision and consultation to the PMHS as well as supporting the ongoing service development of both perinatal psychology and the perinatal service.
• There will be an expectation for the postholder to lead on pathway and interface development with local stakeholders and partner agencies.
• The postholder will provide clinical leadership and support to the PMHS and support the development of junior psychologists and non psychology staff. There is also an expectation to support the PMHS with staff wellbeing initiatives through the use of reflective groups and teaching and upskilling of work stress resilience approaches.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Professional and doctoral training in Clinical/Counselling psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society.
Desirable criteria
- Post qualification training in trauma focused approaches
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of working with complex trauma
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across a range of care settings, including community & primary care and
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working with women and families in perinatal settings
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of supporting staff wellbeing, leading initiatives to support staff with managing stressful and challenging cases
Desirable criteria
- Experience of building relationships with services and organisations both internally and externally to the NHS trust
Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered 'suitable alternative employment' to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.
Important Professional References
Make sure that as a part of your application you have professional references with business contract information covering your last three year employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.
As a newly appointed employee you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post, the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.
Applications for Job Share are positively welcomed.
Equal Opportunities Employer
Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email epunft.recruitment.adverts@nhs.net and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.
The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.
Covid Vaccination
Although Covid vaccinations are no longer a mandatory requirement within the NHS we continue to encourage and support the vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against Covid19. The safety of our staff and patients is a top priority for us at EPUT.
If you would like to book a Covid vaccination or would like more information please contact us by emailing epunft.cv19hr@nhs.net.
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 (PDF, 632.5KB)
- Person Specification (PDF, 552.3KB)
- EPUT Pledge - Step into Health (PDF, 211.0KB)
- Candidate Privacy Policy (PDF, 336.6KB)
- Right to Work Information (PDF, 293.6KB)
- Employer Recognition Scheme - Gold Award (PDF, 27.7KB)
- Trust Vision and Values (PDF, 168.9KB)
- Values of the NHS Pension (PDF, 151.3KB)