Highly Specialist Psychologist/Psychological Therapist

Highly Specialist Psychologist/Psychological Therapist Band 8a

Main area: Adult Community Mental Health Services
Grade: Band 8a
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 757-CMH

Site: Greenwich West ADAPT
Town: London
Salary: £59,490 - £66,239 pro rata pa inc
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 06/04/:59
Interview date: 15/04/2025

Job overview

We are looking for an enthusiastic psychological therapist to join our Greenwich community Secondary care psychology team (ADAPT) based in Woolwich and Charlton. This is to work with clients who experience difficulties associated with trauma, low mood, anxiety and personality related difficulties. Our Psychological Therapies Team offer a range of modalities including MBT, CBT, EMDR, art therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy. The team works closely with the wider MDT to provide Structured Clinical Management (SCM).

We also have plans to launch a DBT programme. You will form part of a growing and energetic psychological therapies team and have access to specialist modality specific supervision.

We have a permanent post (1.0wte) in Greenwich ADAPT East and a 12 month fixed term post (0.8 wte) in Greenwich ADAPT West.

We would welcome applications for psychotherapists, clinical, counselling or forensic psychologists with experience working with personality disorder, anxiety, depression and trauma.

Main duties of the job

To provide a qualified psychological therapy service to clients of the Adult Mental Health Greenwich ADAPT Service and other teams when necessary or appropriate: providing highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy at the same time as offering advice and consultation on clients' psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical:

• To provide specialist psychological assessments of Greenwich ADAPT clients and other people referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex 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.
• 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.
• To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across the In-patient service, Community Mental Health Team and other teams where necessary or appropriate and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
• To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients' formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
• To act as care coordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans under CPA including clients, their carers, referring agents and others involved in the network of care.
• Where appropriate, to undertake holistic initial assessment of new referrals to the In-patient service, Community Mental Health and other teams within the Adult Mental Health Service.
• To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multidisciplinary care.

Person specification

• Entry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy/mental health/social welfare profession or equivalent and demonstrable practice in this field (i.e., professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level/supervised practice/additional training) that has been accepted for the purposes of professional registration.
• Additional training beyond entry-level qualification in a specialised area of psychological practice (through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses and an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning in a specialist area of clinical psychological therapy practice, assessed by a registered body and/or an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma or higher.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes and supports individuals of all abilities. If you require any adjustments to participate fully in the interview process, please let us know by adding the relevant details when scheduling your preferred interview date and time.