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South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good'.

We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone's potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I'm going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you'll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity for a senior psychologist / psychotherapist to join the Lewisham Community Forensic Team, contributing to the community-based assessment, treatment and care for adults (male and female) from the borough of Lewisham deemed to require forensic community case management (i.e. presenting with severe and enduring mental health needs and histories of serious harmful offending behaviour).

The successful candidate will:

be passionate about working with complexity both in terms of client presentation as well as the various systems they are part of.
have highly developed interpersonal skills and the ability to utilise these creatively / responsively to optimise effective engagement of clients and their personal and professional support networks.
be able to work both autonomously and collaboratively with other disciplines both within the team and beyond.
be committed to the provision and development of inclusive services.
have the interest and ability to develop in depth understanding of risk behaviours and to use this to inform the development of effective risk management plans that support clients to progress safely to / within the community.

Main duties of the job

The primary task of community forensic services is to support clients deemed to require community forensic follow up in terms of both their clinical needs and violence risk.

The main duties of this role include:

Contributing to the community based assessment and treatment of clients by providing specialist psychological assessments, formulations, and interventions as required. This could be on an individual or group basis, including members of their professional and / or personal support networks if indicated.

Supporting involved professional networks (MDT, supported accommodation staff) through provision of consultation (case discussion / formulation), teaching, training etc as required.

Contributing to development of inclusive / accessible / effective community forensic services.

Establishing effective working relationships within and beyond SLAM forensic services with the aim of supporting clients' transitions / progress to / in the community.
Supervision of more junior psychologists including Assistant Psychologists and / or Honorary Assistant Psychologists on student placement from training institutions, usually the IoPPN.

Working for our organisation

The Lewisham Community Forensic Team is a small well established Multi Professional Team based in the Kirkdale Resource Centre with clinical space at the Ladywell Unit, Lewisham Hospital.

The team has strong links with the SLaM forensic inpatient and other community forensic teams and are a key part of the South London Partnership Forensic and Offender Health Pathway.

The successful candidate will also be welcomed as a member of the Community Forensic Psychology & Psychotherapy and the Forensic Psychology & Psychotherapy Departments, both of which are very supportive and provide access to a breadth of expertise and experience.

About our location:

Lewisham Hospital

Lewisham Hospital is based in south east London, zone 3 and is close to the beautiful green open spaces of Ladywell fields park and Lewisham park. It is within walking distance to the vibrant high-street with shops and restaurants and located within walking distance from Ladywell, Hither Green, Catford and Crofton Park overland stations. The site does offer parking and is not located within the congestion charge zone. For further information please visit our website.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

To provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in the Community Forensic Mental Health Service including assessing / working with psychosis, personality disorders, offending behaviour at levels expected of a psychologist / psychotherapist who has achieved the equivalent of a PG Diploma-worth of post-qualification specialist development.
To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
To act as team psychologist taking responsibility for provision of a range of psychological services appropriate to the client group and clinical setting.

KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

To contribute to the effective working of the Community Forensic Mental Health Service and to a psychologically informed framework for the service.
To contribute to the team or service's delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
To advise other members of the service on specialist psychotherapeutic care of clients.
To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice and / or currently understood best practice-based evidence, in individual work and work with other team members.

KR 3 Policy and service development

To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.
To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.

KR 4 Care or management of resources

To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust's equipment and physical resources.
To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

KR 5 Management and supervision

To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of more junior psychologists if required, with support from a more senior psychologist.
To supervise honorary psychologists within own area of specialism.
To contribute to the appraisal of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
To contribute to the recruitment of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
To provide supervision for the psychological work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.

KR 6 Teaching and Training

To undertake occasional teaching and training of honorary psychologists and specialist training in psychological approaches to care to other professions in the forensic mental health service as appropriate.
To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the forensic mental health service by implementing knowledge gained in practice.
To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance

To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

KR 8 Research and development

To initiate, undertake, support and supervise regular complex service evaluation, audits or research relevant to service needs.
To provide expertise in a specialist research area which will contribute to forensic mental health services.

KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychologist according to HCPC and Trust guidelines.
To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with BPS and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the HCPC 'Standards for Continuing Professional Development'.
To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
To comply with the HCPC 'Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics' and 'Standards of Proficiency', and ensure professional development in line with these.
To adhere to the BPS's Professional Practice Guidelines and Trust policies and procedures.

KR10 General

To travel to home visits, community placements, psychology meetings as appropriate and across the Trust when required.
To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.
To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations, such as challenging behaviour, verbal abuse and other behaviours and to support others involved in such situations.
To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics or Saturday working, within the overall Job Plan.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

To have undertaken a recognised qualification in one of the core mental health professions, e.g. psychiatric nursing, clinical psychology, medicine, social work and occupational therapy OR to have equivalent relevant experience and demonstrable competence to work in the mental health field in the NHS.
Entry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy/mental health/social welfare profession or equivalent and demonstrable practice in this field (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level/supervised practice/additional training) that has been accepted for the purposes of professional registration. (A/I) (for a job requiring specific professional qualification(s), change this point to specify the required qualification(s)). For Psychologists: • Entry-level qualification in Applied Psychology (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level additional training) that has been accepted by the HCPC for purposes of professional registration. (A/I) (for a job requiring specific professional qualification(s), change this point to specify the required qualification(s): Clinical psychologist: Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent; Counselling psychologist: MSc and PG Diploma in Counselling Psychology; Forensic psychologist: MSc in Forensic Psychology plus completion of the British Psychological Society's Qualification in Forensic Psychology Stage 2) For Family / Systemic Psychotherapists: Post-graduate qualification in relevant mental health/social welfare profession and demonstrable practice in this field (A/I) PLUS Masters level qualification in Family and Systemic Psychotherapy or equivalent qualification, accredited by UKCP (A/I) For Psychotherapists: Entry-level qualification in Psychotherapy that has been accepted by the UKCP/ACP/BABCP (specify which, according to nature of post) for purposes of professional registration. (A/I) (for a job requiring specific professional qualification(s), change this point to specify the required qualification(s). For Arts Therapists: Masters Degree (or equivalent) in Arts Therapy or Dance Movement Therapy. (or specify Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Dramatherapy or Dance Movement Therapy)
Additional training beyond entry-level qualification in a specialised area of psychological practice (specify options required by the post) through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses and/an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice, assessed by a registered body and/or an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma or higher. (A/I/R)
Registered with professional body as appropriate to discipline e.g. HCPC/UKCP/ACP/BABCP (A/I)
Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the professional body. (A/I)

Experience

Essential criteria

Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision in forensic mental health settings. (A/I)
Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in forensic mental health services. (A/I)
Experience of supervising psychologists having completed relevant training. (A/I)
Post-qualification experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities. (A/I)
Experience of developing and carrying out research projects (including audit, service evaluation). (A/I)

Desirable criteria

Experience of psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in community forensic mental health services. (A/I)

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised assessments and interventions for forensic mental health clients.
Theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the relevant treatment of clients managed by Forensic Mental Health Services. (A/I/R)
Advanced knowledge of psychological assessment and clinical psychometrics. (A/I/R)
Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities. (A/I/R)
Doctoral level knowledge of psychological research methodology and complex statistical analysis. (A/I/R)

Skills

Essential criteria

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. (A/I/R)
To plan and schedule assessment and interventions for individual clients and groups and carers, and for meetings such as CPA and case reviews. (A/I/R)
To plan allocation of tasks to honorary psychologists or those under your supervision. (A/I/R)
To be skilled in the administration of psychometric and neuropsychological tests, including those that require complex manipulation of test materials. (A/I/R)
Well-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data. (A/I/R)
Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles. (A/I/R)

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice
Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment
We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity

Please note:

That all applications for this post will need to be made online
That you read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not successful
That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
That we are a smoke-free Trust

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion , Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe'

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

Lewisham CFT Senior (8a) Psychologist / Psychotherapist JD (PDF, 528.6KB)
Lewisham CFT Senior (8a) Psychologist / Psychotherapist Person Specification (PDF, 528.6KB)
SLaM Staff Benefits (PDF, 1.1MB)
Happy to Talk Flexible Working (PDF, 680.1KB)

Senior Psychologist/Psychotherapist

Senior Psychologist/Psychotherapist

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