Job summary We are looking for a clinical or counselling psychologist with significant experience of working with adults with complex emotional needs to provide clinical leadership to our Complex Needs Service in Sutton and Merton. As the Clinical Lead you will be responsible for ensuring provision of a high quality, safe specialist psychological therapies service to people accessing the Complex Needs Service. You should be trained in DBT to intensive level. You will be energetic and committed to supporting people with complex emotional needs to access safe and effective care without stigma. Sutton and Merton Complex Needs Team is a warm and welcoming team devoted to providing excellent care for people in our service. Career Progression pathways and development opportunities: We are committed to getting the very best out of our staff and support them in their career aspirations. This role offers an excellent opportunity for psychologists to gain the skills and experience that will help them move into a consultant psychologist role as their career progresses. We fully support staff to develop through training opportunities such as in DBT, SCM, MBT or EMDR as well as leadership development. Main duties of the job The post holder will serve as the clinical lead for the service, overseeing and ensuring provision of high quality, safe and effective NICE evidenced based interventions for people with a diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder under the care of the clinical team to which the the post holder is attached. They will work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the team, as well as ensuring clinical and professional supervision and support of all other psychological therapy staff within the team. The post holder will be responsible for effective recruitment, professional appraisal, and the identification of CPD needs across the staff group in the team and will propose and implement policy and service development changes within the area served by the team/service as needed. Flexible working: We are proud to offer agile and flexible working opportunities as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to talk flexible working at the interview stage. In this role you will be able to work Monday to Friday in the time frames from 08:00 to 18:00 giving you the very best of good work life balance. There is the opportunity to work from home on some days. About us We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust. We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'. This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services. We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do. We offer flexible working, career development and a variety ofbenefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive. Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey. About our locations: Your contractual base will be Springfield University Hospital, Tooting but you will be required to work at other Trust sites. Springfield University Hospital, Tooting Our largest, 19-ward site is in Springfield Village, created following our £150m investment into two new world class mental health facilities. Date posted 18 October 2024 Pay scheme Agenda for change Band Band 8c Salary £82,462 to £93,773 a year per annum inclusive of outer London HCAS Contract Permanent Working pattern Full-time Reference number 294-COMM-6731058-JB-A Job locations Springfield University Hospital 15 Springfield Drive London SW17 0YF Job description Job responsibilities To be the clinical lead for the service, ensuring systems and processes are in place to provide high quality, safe and effective NICE evidenced based interventions. To ensure the systematic provision of a high quality specialist psychological therapies service to clients with a diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder under the care of the clinical team to which the post holder is attached, across all sectors of care. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the team and to ensure that systems are in place and working effectively for the clinical and professional supervision and support of all other psychological therapy staff within the team. To include clear systems for effective recruitment, professional appraisal, and the identification of CPD needs across the staff group in the team. To carry out audit, policy and service development and research activities and/or programmes. To propose and implement policy and service development changes within the area served by the team/service. Job description Job responsibilities To be the clinical lead for the service, ensuring systems and processes are in place to provide high quality, safe and effective NICE evidenced based interventions. To ensure the systematic provision of a high quality specialist psychological therapies service to clients with a diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder under the care of the clinical team to which the post holder is attached, across all sectors of care. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the team and to ensure that systems are in place and working effectively for the clinical and professional supervision and support of all other psychological therapy staff within the team. To include clear systems for effective recruitment, professional appraisal, and the identification of CPD needs across the staff group in the team. To carry out audit, policy and service development and research activities and/or programmes. To propose and implement policy and service development changes within the area served by the team/service. Person Specification Experience Essential Specific experience of supervised provision of MBT or DBT Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical/counselling psychologist for a minimum of six years, including at least 3 years post qualification experience within the designated specialty where the post is located Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings 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 exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision Experience of supervised provision of evidence-based interventions for people with a diagnosis of Personality Disorder Experience of teaching, training and professional and clinical supervision Experience of providing DBT supervision Desirable Experience of professional management of qualified and pre-qualified clinical/counselling psychologists and DBT/MBT Practitioners Experience of multi-professional management of teams or services within the designated specialty Experience of representing the profession in local policy fora Experience of the application of psychological therapies in different cultural contexts Training and Qualifications Essential Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical/counselling psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology or alternative training outside of the UK that is recognised by the Health & Care Professions Council leading to registration in the UK as a Clinical or Counselling psychologist. To be registered with the Health Care Professions Council under the appropriate domain specific title Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC DBT trained to intensively trained standards or higher (either foundation and upgrade training, intensive training or PG Dip) Desirable Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialized areas of psychological practice Training in provision of Mentalization Based Therapy Formal training in supervision of other psychologists / psychological therapists DBT accreditation with the Society for DBT DBT postgraduate diploma Knowledge & Skills Essential Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups which includes personality disorder and people with additional disabilities and severely challenging behaviours Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration A high level ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups Ability to demonstrate leadership and management skills Person Specification Experience Essential Specific experience of supervised provision of MBT or DBT Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical/counselling psychologist for a minimum of six years, including at least 3 years post qualification experience within the designated specialty where the post is located Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings 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 exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision Experience of supervised provision of evidence-based interventions for people with a diagnosis of Personality Disorder Experience of teaching, training and professional and clinical supervision Experience of providing DBT supervision Desirable Experience of professional management of qualified and pre-qualified clinical/counselling psychologists and DBT/MBT Practitioners Experience of multi-professional management of teams or services within the designated specialty Experience of representing the profession in local policy fora Experience of the application of psychological therapies in different cultural contexts Training and Qualifications Essential Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical/counselling psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology or alternative training outside of the UK that is recognised by the Health & Care Professions Council leading to registration in the UK as a Clinical or Counselling psychologist. To be registered with the Health Care Professions Council under the appropriate domain specific title Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC DBT trained to intensively trained standards or higher (either foundation and upgrade training, intensive training or PG Dip) Desirable Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialized areas of psychological practice Training in provision of Mentalization Based Therapy Formal training in supervision of other psychologists / psychological therapists DBT accreditation with the Society for DBT DBT postgraduate diploma Knowledge & Skills Essential Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups which includes personality disorder and people with additional disabilities and severely challenging behaviours Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration A high level ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups Ability to demonstrate leadership and management skills Disclosure and Barring Service Check 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. Certificate of Sponsorship 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 (Opens in a new tab). 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 (Opens in a new tab). UK Registration Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window). Additional information Disclosure and Barring Service Check 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. Certificate of Sponsorship 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 (Opens in a new tab). 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 (Opens in a new tab). UK Registration Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window). Employer details Employer name South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust Address Springfield University Hospital 15 Springfield Drive London SW17 0YF Employer's website https://www.swlstg.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)