1. Part time
2. Flexible working
3. Compressed hours
Job ref: 285-5977A-MH
Employer: Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: Trust Wide
Town: Sandwell and Wolverhampton
Salary: £62,215 - £72,293 per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 20/03/2025 23:59
Employer heading
NHS AfC: Band 8b
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides specialist mental health, learning disability, and community healthcare services for the population of the Black Country.
Across the whole of the region we provide:
1. Adult and older adult mental health services
2. Specialist learning disability services
3. Mental health services for children and young people
4. Community healthcare services for children, young people and families in Dudley
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was formed on 1 April 2020, with the merger of Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. Combining resources, strategies and talented workforce enables us to deliver a wider variety of outstanding services that are based on best practice and are continually improving.
We currently employ over 4,000 people and just like the population we serve, we are made up of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Whatever your role, working in a NHS Foundation Trust, like ours, is a demanding and extremely rewarding experience. Knowing that every day you can help to make a positive difference to someone’s life is a very powerful feeling. We know that our Trust runs on this desire to help and support people, and our Trust vision expresses this. Our vision is to improve health and wellbeing for everyone, especially our colleagues to achieve the best possible work/life balance.
We proudly offer supportive, inclusive and family friendly employment and flexible working policies. We have a wide range of professional services and employee networks to help our colleagues be at their best - and find support if they need it. To find more about our staff benefits, please visit our website: blackcountryhealthcare.nhs.uk.
Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and ethnic minority candidates are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Black Country Healthcare we recognise and value all forms of knowledge and expertise, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification or criteria in the job description/person specification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
For further supporting information to help you apply for this role please see documents attached under ‘Additional documents’.
Job overview
This is an opportunity for someone who is keen to use their leadership and psychological skills in a fast-paced MDT environment. The role is suitable for those who put patient care and recovery at the centre of their practice.
Taking the role as Principal Psychologist across trust-wide areas, you will offer leadership support and clinical supervision to other psychologists who work in these two settings. You will also offer your own clinical skills into the wards to support MDTs, direct psychological care with patients, and work systemically with the ward-based staff and wider urgent care psychology services.
You will join a wider team of dedicated urgent care psychologists (clinical, forensic, and counselling) who work across in-patients, Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Mental Health Liaison Teams (MHLS), and Crisis and Home Treatment Teams (CRHTT).
BCHFT is committed to investment in our Psychology staff, so you will have access to a psychology-specific dedicated CPD budget to support your professional growth.
Main duties of the job
Based at Hallam Street and Penn Hospital, this post will allow you to take a key role in further developing and enhancing the psychological offer within the in-patient setting. Your role will involve working on the wards and engaging in individual client work including psychological assessments, formulation, care planning, interventions, and risk assessments and management within the context of MDT working. You will also work systemically with the MDT in facilitating reflective practice groups and the development and delivery of training packages. If successful in your application, you will oversee the Senior Psychologists, Assistant Psychologists, and Trainee Psychologist within the service areas, offering opportunities to strengthen your own supervisory and leadership skills. You will be supported by the Consultant Psychologist for Urgent Care.
As a Principal Psychologist, there are also opportunities to get involved in organisational and service development work streams, encouraging you to look beyond your team and support the wider system.
We have links with the local universities across the clinical, forensic, and counselling doctorate courses. We also connect into a national psychology group for Trauma Interventions in Acute Settings.
Working for our organisation
BCHFT is a relatively new organisation having formed in 2020 from two legacy Trusts (Black Country Partnership and Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Trusts).
Across the organisation, there is in place a strong leadership structure for psychology supported by the Divisional Leads for Psychology and the Director of Therapies. We have a robust trust-wide Consultant Psychology leadership team who support strategic developments across the organisation, as well as offering support to the family of psychological professional staff.
We are highly regarded by colleagues of all professions within our services and are the ‘go to’ people for complex problems and creative ideas to make a difference to staff, patients, and carers.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We are looking for an applied clinical/forensic/counselling psychologist who is keen to apply their knowledge and skills in an in-patient setting. Good team working skills are essential.
Support to the post holder will come from within the urgent care psychology team which is well established, having existed in various iterations of the Trust since 1998. Beyond the urgent care psychology team lies a wider Mental Health Divisional team of community-based psychological practitioners, Physical Health Psychologists, and specialist services such as perinatal mental health and early intervention.
Person specification
Qualifications, knowledge and skills
Essential criteria
1. Post-graduate doctoral level training in Applied Psychology (or its equivalent as accredited by the BPS including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology)
2. HCPC registration
3. Trained in clinical supervision and the supervision of doctoral trainees
4. Evidence of continuing professional development
5. Working as a qualified applied psychologist within the designated service including a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and a range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings.
6. Liaison and joint working with statutory, voluntary, and private sector agencies
7. Research and development experience
8. Experience of training and teaching others
9. Active participation in quality improvement and service governance initiatives
10. Experienced in risk assessment and management
11. Demonstrable evidence of Trust behaviours
12. Demonstrable evidence of good communication skills
Desirable criteria
1. BPS / ACP membership
2. Project management work
** Please Note that Internal at Risk Employees will be given preference for this position**
We reserve the right to bring the closing date forward for this vacancy at any time should we receive an overwhelming response of applications. We therefore encourage applicants to apply early if you wish to be considered for this post.
If you do not hear from the recruitment 4 weeks within the advertised closing date, please assume that you have been unsuccessful at the shortlisting stage. Please ensure that you check your emails on a regular basis for any recruitment updates regarding this vacancy. If you are not successful at the shortlisting stage and would like feedback, please contact the Recruitment Team directly for feedback.
The salary range quoted is as per NHS Agenda for Change pay structures. This is based on the number of years’ working directly within the NHS at the advertised pay band. Experience gained with other NHS Trusts will apply, but candidates without prior experience working directly for the NHS would normally be appointed at the lowest point unless they can demonstrate the equivalent experience and then be eligible for incremental increases in future years.
Successful applicants for clinical posts up to and including Band 4 are expected to hold the national Care Certificate qualification and will be supported to attain this once in post.
The Trust is committed to equal opportunities, providing opportunities for flexible working and is a non-smoking organisation.
As a Trust, we are passionate about Anti-Racism, Disability Inclusion, and LGBTQ+ Equality, and are committed to diversifying our staff team in all areas and at all levels of seniority to better reflect the diverse communities we serve. Therefore, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from people who belong to a minority or marginalised community, including from Black and Asian, Disabled (including hidden disabilities such as Neurodiversity, Mental Health, etc.), or Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans or Queer (LGBTQ+) people.
Furthermore, Disabled applicants have the option of requesting that their application is considered under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS). Please indicate your intention to apply under the GIS in the relevant section of your application. Regardless of whether you participate in the scheme or have shared a disability, you will be provided the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments to the interview process at each stage of the recruitment process.
Due to the nature of the work, some posts may be subject to a Standard Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, through the Disclosure and Barring Service as stipulated under part V of the Police Act 1997. Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us; this will depend on the nature of the position and the circumstances of your offences.
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.
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