Highly Specialist Psychological Therapist | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

To provide a highly-specialist psychology service to adult mental health clients both in-patient and community and to be the continuity link between ward and community. Providing specialist psychological assessment, formulation and therapy, offering advice and consultation on clients’ psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other non-professional carers, and working within the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.The post holder will work as a part of the multi-disciplinary team which has close links with a wide range of agencies.

** Please note that this is a split post working 18.75 hours in Erith Centre and 18.75 hours Woodlands Unit Queen Mary's Hospital - the successful candidate will be offered two part time roles **

• To contribute to the provision of psychology therapies service to the Bexley Psychosis Pathway/ Acute Inpatient Wards

• To provide specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions of clients referred to the ICMP Community Mental Health Service and Acute Inpatient Wards, working directly and indirectly with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care, including providing specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.

• To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, including delivering NICE approved CBTp and Family Interventions for Psychosis

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:
• We’re Kind
• We’re Fair
• We Listen
• We Care

Management responsibilities

ResponsibleFor:AssistantPsychologists,GraduatePsychologists, Trainee clinical psychologists

· Tocontribute totheoverallmanagementandfunctioningof theservice.

· To participate as appropriate in staff recruitment,

· To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team’s operationalpoliciesandservices,throughthedeploymentofprofessionalskillsin research, service evaluation and audit.

· Toadvisebothserviceandprofessionalmanagementonthoseaspectsofthe service where psychological and/or organizational matters need addressing.

· Tomanagetheworkloadsofassistantandtraineeclinicalpsychologists,withinthe framework of the team/service’s policies and procedures.

Leadership

Accountable to: Operationally - Psychology Lead/ Mental HealthTeamManager

Professional Lead

· Responsibleforthedevelopmentofmorejuniorpsychologicaltherapystaff.

· Participateinservicedevelopment.

Clinical

· To contribute to the provision of psychology therapies service to the Bexley Psychosis Pathway/ Acute Inpatient Wards

· To provide specialist psychological assessments, formulation and intervention of clients referred to theICMP Mental Health Service and Acute Inpatient Wards based upon the appropriate use,interpretation, and integration of complex psychological data from a variety ofsources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-reportmeasures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in theclient’s care.

· To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatmentand/or management of a client’s mental health problems, based upon anappropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods of proven efficacy.

· To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawingupondifferentexplanatorymodelsandmaintaininganumberofprovisionalhypotheses.

· TodeliverNICEapprovedCBTp andFamilyInterventionsforPsychosis.

· To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoreticalandtherapeutic modelsandhighlycomplexfactors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped theindividual,familyorgroup.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment,treatment, and discharge of clients whose problems are managed bypsychologicallybasedcareplans.
• To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis andtreatmentplan.
• To ensure that all members of the treating team have access to apsychologically based framework for understanding and care of clients of the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and thedisseminationofpsychological researchandtheory
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and provide generaladvice and guidance to other professionals on psychological aspects ofrisk assessment and risk management, including responsibilities within thepoliciesandclinicaldutiestosafeguarding vulnerableadultsandchildren.
• To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, complexinformation concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans ofclients under their care and to monitor and evaluate progress during thecourse of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.This will require being able to convey this to clients, families and colleagues with a range of understandingand knowledge so will require the ability to be flexible, adaptive and simplebut yet retain a sophisticated understanding and approach
• To provide expertise, advice, and support to facilitate the effective andappropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the treatment team.

Responsibilitiesforteamorservicefunctioning:
• To provide specialist psychological advice, supervision, guidance, andconsultation to other professionals contributing directly to the formulation andtreatment plans of individual patients: including advice on psychologicalaspectsofriskandintheuseofobjective/standardizedmeasures.
• To ensure a psychologically informed framework for ICMP MentalHealth Service and Acute Inpatient Wards. Ensure that all members of the multidisciplinary team haveaccesstoapsychologicallybasedframeworkfortheunderstandingand care of service users referred to the service through the provision of advice andconsultation. This includes ensuring that a psychological perspective isprovided in a wide range of settings where service user care is discussed,plannedandorganized
• Contribute to thesystematicgovernanceofpsychologicalpracticewithin theICMP Mental HealthService and Acute Inpatient Wards .
• To contribute to developing the service’s delivery of accessible andacceptableservices todiverselocalcommunities
• Tosupportthedevelopmentofculturallycompetentservices
• To liaise with referrers GPs and other professionals concerned with clients todevelopandreview or contribe to careplans
• To utilize theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-basedpracticeinindividualworkandwork withotherteammembers.

Teaching,training,andsupervision:
• contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within theICMP Mental Health Service and Acute Inpatient Wards by maintaining an active awareness ofcurrent developments in psychology and psychosis and byimplementingknowledgegainedinpractice
• To provide clinical placements for trainee clinical and/or counsellingpsychologists/CBT therapists, ensuring that trainees acquire the necessaryskills,competencies,andexperiencetocontributeeffectivelytogoodmenta lhealth care and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of suchcompetencies.
• To provide advice, consultation, training and clinical supervision to othermembers of the service for their provision of psychologically basedinterventionstohelpimproveclients’functioning.
• To receive regular clinical supervision from an appropriately qualified clinician inaccordancewithprofessionalregistrationrequirements.
• To maintain and develop skills in the area of professional pre- and post-graduatetrainingandclinicalsupervision.
• To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the clientgroupacrossarangeofagenciesandsettings,whereappropriate.

General:
• To maintain registration with the Health Professions Council as aClinical/Counselling Psychologist or with the British Association forBehavioural&CognitivePsychotherapists.
• To ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highestprofessional standards of practice, through active participation in internal andexternalCPD traininganddevelopmentprogrammes.
• To ensure the development maintenance and dissemination of best practice in psychologywithin the service area and contribute across the service by exercising theskills of a reflexive and reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regularprofessionalsupervisionandappraisalandmaintaininganactiveengagement with current developments in the field of clinical psychology and relateddisciplines.
• Tomaintainuptodateknowledgeoflegislation,nationalandlocalpoliciesandissuesin relationto both thespecificclientgroup andmentalhealth.

Research
• To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-basedpractice within the service.
• Toundertakeappropriateresearchandprovideresearchadvicetootherstaffundertakingresearch.
• To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation,in collaborationwithcolleagueswithintheservicetohelpdevelopservice provision

Communication

· To maintain and promulgate the highest standards of clinical record keeping includingelectronicdataentryand recording,reportwritingand the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance withprofessionalcodesofpracticeoftheBritishPsychologicalSociety,Health Professions CouncilandTrustpoliciesandprocedures.

· To competently utilise Microsoft packages including Word, Excel and Powerpoint in order to produce professional clinical and training materials for use aspartofnormalclinical responsibilities.
OnCall/UnsocialHours
· Postdoesnotrequirethepostholdertoworkunsociablehours.

To benoted:

· This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities, and the postholdermaybe required toundertakeotherdutieswhichfallwithinthegradeofthejob,in discussionwiththemanager.

· The post holder is expected to comply with all relevant Trust policies, procedures and guidelines, including those relating to Equal Opportunities, Health and SafetyandConfidentialityofInformation.

· The psychosis teams within Oxleas are currently undergoing a redesign process, with the new service model commencing in August 2026. The ICMP team will be moving to a care teams approach, which will include more dedicated assertive outreach teams. Whilst there will be no change in how the psychology service in ICMP operates and its staffing, this fixed term contract does come at an exciting time where there may be more flexibility to shape how psychology services function and best serves the broader ICMP team.

This advert closes on Tuesday 9 Jun 2026

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