Senior Psychologist

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Joining #TeamNELFT means you'll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We're CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

Acute Inpatient & Home Treatment Team Psychology Services

This is an 8a post, but we welcome applicants at Band 7 who would be suitable for a Band 7/8a development position. An initial job plan would be tailored to reflect Band 7 competencies.

We currently have a part time vacancy to work across our crisis pathway (Home Treatment Teams/Inpatient Wards) of up to 0.85 FTE.

We also have additional fixed term hours covering a secondment in our team.

Please get in touch for more information if you are interested in any of these vacancies.

We are looking for enthusiastic clinical/counselling psychologists or registered psychological therapists (with accredited qualifications in CBT/DBT/systemic or psychodynamic therapy who also have a core registered profession nursing, social work)

The successful applicant would join our well respected and exciting Acute Psychology Service. The team are at the forefront of national developments in inpatient and acute working. We are actively involved in research and keen to recruit people who share that vision of contributing to best practice, national guidelines and an evidence base. For example, a number of our team were recently involved in contributing to the psychological services for acute adult mental health BPS/ACP-UK guidelines.

Main duties of the job

All of our roles will involve creative and thoughtful input including offering consultation, assessment and evidence-based interventions for clients presenting with a range of issues. This work will include individual, group, and family work. The posts would suit someone who has a strong interest in working with crisis interventions as part of a multidisciplinary team in an inpatient or home treatment setting.

We are keen to recruit the right people who share our passion for working with people in crisis. We offer excellent development opportunities including high quality and regular supervision, working groups to engage our team in current issues faced by psychology, and service improvement projects.

We also support the development of leadership skills and aim to nurture our staff and support them to become confident supervisors, devise and implement training, and conduct research. Members of the department are engaged in teaching with local DClinPsy courses and many are also involved in research and developing national best practice guidelines.

We have an in-house CPD package for all staff and receive yearly funding from Higher Education England for our staff to undertake training in models such as Systemic Family Therapy, EMDR, FLP and CBT for psychosis.

Working for our organisation

Diverse & Inclusive Culture

Our award winning EDI team work hard to support our staff. We pride ourselves on having a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve, and inclusive initiatives and processes in place

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process, new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

High-Cost Area Supplement - London

This post also attracts payment for High-Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (minimum payment of £4,551 and a maximum payment of £5,735).

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Applicants should have:

• Doctoral level training in Clinical/Counselling Psychology and registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• Experience of working in an evidence-based way with clients presenting with severe mental health difficulties, people in crisis and their families and carers.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary service context.

Although this post is advertised as an 8a we would be happy to discuss appointing the right candidate who does not meet all essential 8a criteria on a Band 7 .

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.

Person specification

Professional Registration

Essential criteria

• HCPC registration or equivalent registration with appropriate professional body (e.g. BABCP/UKCP/AFT)

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Doctoral qualification in psychology (clinical or counselling psychology) accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS)

Desirable criteria

• Additional qualifications

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working in multidisciplinary teams

Desirable criteria

• Experience in crisis settings / wards/ htt

Professional Knowledge & Skills

Essential criteria

• Knowledge of risk assessment and its importance in acute and crisis settings

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

• A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a 'Top 10 Family Friendly Employer' from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that's a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.

Supporting our Armed Forces

We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans. reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our Reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.

Equal opportunities employer

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic.

We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities. If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email recruitment@nelft.nhs.uk.

Correspondence with us

You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.

In the event of a high number of responses to any advert, NELFT reserves the right to close the vacancy early. If you do not hear from us within three weeks of the closing date then please assume you have not been successful on this occasion.

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

• Senior 8a Crisis Psychologist JD (PDF, 468.7KB)
• NELFT Application - Hints and Tips (PDF, 38.4KB)