Senior Clinical / Counselling Psychologist

Job summary
We are inviting applications from experienced Clinical or Counselling Psychologists for an exciting new senior psychologist position in our well-established and respected HIV and Sexual health services. We are particularly interested to receive applications from psychologists with experience in or relevant to the specialism of HIV, sexual health and psychosexual difficulties, as well as leadership and supervisory experience.

The role would suit psychologists who are passionate about supporting people who have experienced social and political marginalisation. It provides opportunities to work critically and systemically with themes including the impact of social stigma and intersectional identities. The successful candidate will be joining a team of dynamic and forward-thinking psychologists.

We are recruiting for two vacancies
Permanent: 37.5 hours per week (1wte)
Fixed-term for 8 months: 22.5 hours per week (0.6wte)

Main duties of the job

• To provide a highly specialist psychology service as part of CNWL's integrated multidisciplinary Sexual Health and HIV Services.
• To contribute to team leadership and co-lead on operational delivery and oversight of pathways. To undertake referral screening, demand and capacity management, audit and outcome monitoring, clinical governance, and provide senior duty cover to the psychology team.
• To lead on digital innovations including electronic patient record developments, website and social media content, and development, implementation and evaluation of new technologies.
• To use co-production, patient experience and outcome data to improve the accessibility, acceptability and quality of services, with particular attention to health inequalities and barriers experienced by underserved communities.
• To provide highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention, including treatment planning, implementation and systematic monitoring of clinical outcomes.
• To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate.
• To manage and supervise a newly created assistant psychologist role.
• To undertake service evaluation, audit and research.
• To work collaboratively with the Lead Psychologist and senior team on agreed service priorities and outcomes and support the implementation with the team.

About us
The psychology team forms part of CNWL's integrated, multidisciplinary HIV and Sexual Health services, working closely alongside doctors, nurses, health advisers, peer support workers, healthcare support workers, customer care and administrative staff in providing holistic care to patients. The team provides training placements for clinical and counselling psychology trainees as well as trainee psychosexual therapists.

The successful candidate will be supported in their professional development, including access to CPD from CNWL psychological workforce development. The post holders will receive clinical and management supervision from the Lead Psychologist for HIV and Sexual Health services and will be provided with appropriate training and support. A full Trust and local induction will be provided.

The role is clinic-based. The role may involve the provision of inpatient and community psychology services to young people, adults, older adults and their families, including working in the community, on wards, in prisons, and remotely as required by the service. Service provision is flexible and may include working across different locations and clinic times as required.

Job responsibilities
For further information about the advertised role, please refer to the job description & person specification included in the documents section of this advert.

Qualifications
Essential

• Entry-level qualification in Applied Psychology (Professional Clinical or Counselling Psychology Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level additional training) that has been accepted by the HCPC for purposes of professional registration as a Practitioner Psychologist
• Completed training course in clinical supervision.
• Registered with the HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist, and evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC

Desirable

• Additional training or qualifications related to the specialism of Sexual Health, HIV or Sexual problems.

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working as a qualified psychologist under supervision, in the service specialism or another clinical health psychology setting
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and individual and group therapy of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in the service specialism or another clinical health psychology setting.
• Experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity affecting underserved communities.
• Experience of supervising assistant and/or trainee psychologists
• Experience of carrying out post-doctoral research, audit or service evaluation projects
• Experience of working effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team and contributing to effective team functioning

Desirable

• Experience of leadership and/or supporting service development and change.
• Experience of using clinical activity, outcome, audit or patient-experience data to inform service improvement.
• Experience of delivering psychosexual interventions with couples or partners, where clinically indicated.

Knowledge
Essential

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological assessment and therapy relevant to HIV, sexual health and psychosexual difficulties.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed care, stigma, discrimination and health inequalities relevant to people using HIV, hepatitis and sexual health services.
• Doctoral level knowledge of psychological research methodology and complex statistical analysis.
• Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability and accessibility of mental health care.

Skills
Essential

• Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information skilfully and compassionately to service users, carers and colleagues, adapting communication to sensory, emotional, cultural and other barriers.
• Well-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data.
• Skills in developing and delivering teaching and training to other professional groups

Abilities
Essential

• Ability to lead and support service development and change, working collaboratively with clinical, operational and managerial colleagues
• Ability to manage competing clinical and operational priorities, exercise sound professional judgement and escalate risks appropriately.
• Ability to prioritise and allocate appropriate tasks to assistant and trainee psychologists, taking account of competence, development needs, workload and supervision requirements
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate.
• Ability to develop and use complex multi media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings
• Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions, and to deal with unexpected interruptions or changes during these
• Ability to manage emotionally demanding situations, including work with people who have experienced abuse or trauma or who present with self-harm or aggressive behaviour.
• Ability to manage verbal aggression and hostility directed at self.
• Ability to work autonomously, setting appropriate goals, in accordance with professional ethics guidelines and Trust policies.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.