Job summary

We’re looking for a talented and experienced Clinical or Counselling Psychologist, CBT Therapist, or BABCP accredited psychologist, with proven leadership experience, to lead our strongly established North West Wellbeing Service. The role will provide an opportunity for you to exercise your leadership skills and clinical expertise, maintaining and developing this multidisciplinary team of clinicians, operational and administrative support, in collaboration with the Service Manager, IAPT Clinical Lead and Service Line Lead. Your role is pivotal in setting the culture of the team, in leading on new developments and creating pathways and relationships with other services.

You will have substantial clinical experience within the NHS, will have the knowledge and ability to lead a team of clinicians and initiate projects, seeing them through to completion, with the support of the senior colleagues. We’d like to see a real passion for primary care mental health, and the real difference this can make to service users and carers. It’s a challenging role, in a challenging environment, but we believe it will provide a talented and ambitious Deputy Clinical Lead with real scope to develop and influence practice.

Main duties of the job

You will provide specialist supervision, clinical leadership, consultation, guidance and training to Senior Clinicians, High Intensity CBT therapists, Senior PWPs, PWPs and Assistant Psychologists, carrying your own small caseload of clients with common mental illness. You will liaise with and support pathways into our service, including physical health services.

We offer one to one therapy in person and online, responding to the need of our client group. We deliver groups, workshops and webinars, to make our service as accessible as possible to all clients. We strive to deliver an inclusive service, by being a relevant service to all population groups. This includes ongoing training to confidently work with interpreters and adapt therapy as appropriate. We expect our Deputy Clinical Lead to be leading on our values and service goals, and to motivate and inspire their team.

About us

HPFT IAPT services are focused on delivering high quality therapy, being amongst the highest performers in the region. Our service continues to exceed the national target of 50% recovery rate and patient satisfaction is high. You will play a key role in monitoring team and individual performance and working with the Senior Team to responsively implement and sustain strategies of quality improvement.

Investing in our team members is important to us and we pride ourselves on the support we offer to staff, providing an extensive programme of CPD and leadership opportunities for all our clinicians and Senior Team. You’ll have the opportunity to participate in our Leadership Academy, and benefit from excellent promotion prospects and the opportunity to be part of a fantastic multidisciplinary team of staff who are genuinely committed to improving the lives of our service users and carers.

We have an excellent range of staff benefits.

The Trust itself is a leading provider of mental health and learning disability services with ambitions to be the leading provider in the country. We’ve been rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC. We are a strongly values-based organisation, so that you – and anyone that comes into contact with our services – will experience consistently welcoming, kind, positive, respectful and professional treatment. We are APPTS Accredited which identifies and acknowledges services of high standards.

Date posted

16 February 2023

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£56,164 to £65,262 a year per annum, pro rata. Includes High Cost Allowance

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

367-IAPT-6868

Job locations

St Pauls

Slippers Hill

Hemel Hempstead

HP2 5XY

Job description

Job responsibilities

To ensure the systematic provision of a high quality specialist Primary Care Mental Health Service to clients with mild to moderate mental health problems. To supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other psychologists, psychological therapists and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within Primary Care. To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research. To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the team/service. To take a lead in establishing the integrated care pathway for LTC in Hertfordshire.

Job description

Job responsibilities

To ensure the systematic provision of a high quality specialist Primary Care Mental Health Service to clients with mild to moderate mental health problems. To supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other psychologists, psychological therapists and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within Primary Care. To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research. To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the team/service. To take a lead in establishing the integrated care pathway for LTC in Hertfordshire.

Person Specification

Criteria

Essential

  • Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical or 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 Core mental health profession (e.g. nursing, social work, OT) in addition to CBT training meeting BABCP standards
  • Current accreditation as a cognitive-behavioural therapist with the BABCP / current eligibility for BABCP accreditation

Desirable

  • Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
  • Training at Masters level or above in Health Psychology
  • Qualification or accreditation in DIT, IPT, EMDR or couples therapy

Experience

Essential

  • Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical or counselling psychologist for a minimum of four years with 2 years at a highly specialist level.
  • 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 especially Primary Care, 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 coordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan.
  • Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
  • Evidence of leadership skills development
  • Experience of working with people presenting with Long Term Physical Conditions and of supervising staff working with this population

Desirable

  • Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
  • Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings.
  • Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts

Knowledge and skills

Essential

  • Skills in use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management requiring sustained concentration
  • Well developed skills in communication, orally and in writing, to clients, careres and families and professionals
  • skills in providing consultation
  • Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology

Other

Essential

  • Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff
  • Ability to identify and employ clinical governance mechanisms for clinical practice
  • Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations
Person Specification

Criteria

Essential

  • Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical or 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 Core mental health profession (e.g. nursing, social work, OT) in addition to CBT training meeting BABCP standards
  • Current accreditation as a cognitive-behavioural therapist with the BABCP / current eligibility for BABCP accreditation

Desirable

  • Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
  • Training at Masters level or above in Health Psychology
  • Qualification or accreditation in DIT, IPT, EMDR or couples therapy

Experience

Essential

  • Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical or counselling psychologist for a minimum of four years with 2 years at a highly specialist level.
  • 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 especially Primary Care, 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 coordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan.
  • Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
  • Evidence of leadership skills development
  • Experience of working with people presenting with Long Term Physical Conditions and of supervising staff working with this population

Desirable

  • Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
  • Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings.
  • Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts

Knowledge and skills

Essential

  • Skills in use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management requiring sustained concentration
  • Well developed skills in communication, orally and in writing, to clients, careres and families and professionals
  • skills in providing consultation
  • Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology

Other

Essential

  • Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff
  • Ability to identify and employ clinical governance mechanisms for clinical practice
  • Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations

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

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).