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With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more – whatever stage of your career you're at, there's always a place for you at CNWL.
Site HMP Woodhill Town Milton Keynes Salary £53,755 - £60,504 per annum (pro rata if P/T) Salary period Yearly Closing 12/02/2025 23:59
Job overview
In our quest to deliver patient-focused quality care we are looking to recruit a highly motivated, innovative and enthusiastic Senior Psychologist to join our forward thinking, friendly and expanding Mental Health Inreach Team at HMP Woodhill.
We are keen to recruit someone with a passion for working with Men in custody, and those who have experienced trauma, adversity and offending. In our Male service we provided a wide range of therapies (CBT, MBT, EMDR, Psychodynamic counselling, arts therapies) and actively work with partners to provide timely and trauma informed systems of care. You will be helping provide and develop these services at HMP Woodhill.
Main duties of the job
1. To work as a member of the clinical/service/team, providing a high quality, specialist applied psychology service to clients, their families or carers.
2. To support psychological practice within the team through consultation, supervision, formulation and training.
3. To participate in systemic clinical governance.
4. To offer clinical supervision to assistant, trainee and more junior psychologists and other staff.
5. To utilise research skills for audit service development and research within the area served by the team/service.
6. To provide a qualified, high-quality specialist psychology service to individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams, in line with best, evidence-based practice and trust care pathways.
7. To be responsible for holding and managing a clinical caseload and to exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the planning and prioritising of own workload and the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, within the bounds of the service operational policy.
8. To clinically supervise assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists and junior psychologists, psychological therapists or counsellors and other staff as appropriate.
Working for our organisation
By joining CNWL’s Health & Justice Directorate you will be joining a large department of psychologists and psychological therapists that provide a variety of mental health and OPD services across prisons, the youth estate, secure hospitals and the community. Our staff are dynamic and welcoming and the networking and CPD opportunities are central to our services ethos. We have active research forums and promote our services and work through academic and clinical forums. All staff receive regular supervision and are supported with career aspirations and progression.
The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. To carry out specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the service, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care, in order to reach a psychological formulation of the client’s difficulties.
2. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
4. To provide specialist assessments of clients presenting with cognitive impairment due to a variety of causes or organic conditions, including pre-assessment counselling and neuropsychological and functional assessments, and to be able to adjust psychological interventions to work effectively with people presenting with complex needs due to cognitive impairment and organic disorders.
5. To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
Person specification
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
* Doctoral level training in clinical, counselling or forensic psychology or its equivalent, accredited by the BPS. Training in models of developmental lifespan psychology, psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
* HCPC Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist.
* OR A recognised post graduate qualification in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy (or equivalent). Accreditation with the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP) (via having a recognised qualification in one of the core mental health professions e.g. nursing, psychology, medicine, social work, occupational therapy or evidence of having achieved the Knowledge Skills and Attitudes (KSA) route)
* OR A recorded/registered qualification in counselling or psychotherapy and further post accreditation qualification in a nice recommended or evidence-based therapy (e.g. CBT; EMDR) Accreditation with a Professional Standards Authority recognised Accreditation Body.
* Evidence of post-qualification specialist training, experience and developing expertise in a specialist area of clinical practice relevant to this role.
* Other relevant CPD qualifications, pre- or post-training. Especially training in working with people with trauma and/or neurodiverse presentations, research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE Paid/unpaid relevant to job
* Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
* Demonstrate specialist experience gained post qualification of working as an applied psychologist with evidence of having received a substantial amount of clinical supervision (normally in the region of approximately 50 hours).
* Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
* Experience of representing psychology within context of multidisciplinary care.
* Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework.
* Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
* Experience or demonstrable knowledge of working with the particular client group served by the team/service.
* Knowledge of guidance and legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
* Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnosis, people with additional disabilities etc).
* Experience of delivering brief, primary care, CBT interventions or equivalent.
* High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
* Formal Training in Supervision of other psychologists.
* Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
* Experience of working in secure environments and/or forensic mental health.
* Experience of using a trauma informed approach.
* Lived experience of mental health Issues.
* High level knowledge and skills in neuropsychology and evidence of further practice and/or training since qualification.
Other
* Willingness to work flexibly to meet demands of contracts, commissioners and other stake-holders to provide high quality and effective care.
* Commitment to multidisciplinary team working.
* Ability to work in a secure environment. Must be able to obtain and maintain prison security clearance and work in accordance with HMPS and Sodexo policies and procedures.
* Ability to travel across sites.
SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES
* Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
* Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
* Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
* Possesses range of clinical knowledge, skills & information technology expertise relevant to post.
* Can demonstrate competence in supervision of junior qualified psychology and MDT staff and professional psychology trainees.
* Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
* Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
* Broad knowledge of models of assessment, management and treatment of those in the criminal justice system with mental health difficulties and personality disorders.
* Ability to work intensively with people who present challenges in the complexity of their problems and needs, including sexual and violent offending and self-harming and suicidal behaviours.
* High level of ability to plan and organise clinical service provision to meet service demands, and to maintain high quality professional practice.
* Evidence of continual development of specialist knowledge and skills through engaging in relevant study and Continuing Professional Development relevant to the forensic population.
* An Understanding of the social determinates of health inequalities and relevant psychological theory and practice.
* Good understanding of the current context of service provision within the NHS.
* Experience of software e.g. SPSS, EXCEL.
* Ability to write reports for varied audiences, including courts and purchasers of services.
* Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology and psychological therapies.
CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.
Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference. We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.
We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page.
Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.
CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.
Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.
Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period.
If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Name Ropa Mapimhidze Job title Interim Deputy Head of Healthcare- MH and ND Lead Email address ropafadzo.mapimhidze@nhs.net
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