Band 7/8a Clinical Psychologist Preceptorship

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for either newly or recently qualified Band 7 Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologists looking for a post with potential career progression to join our team under a Preceptorship development programme.  We would also welcome applications from Band 8a Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologists.  Based on relevant experience, these posts can be offered at a Band 8a or Band 7 Preceptorship arrangement.

We are looking for creative, innovative and enthusiastic Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologist to deliver clinical services within our Intensive Support Team in the Learning Disabilities Division.

We are a city-wide team and you would be expected to travel throughout Birmingham, with occasional out of area visits. You will be based at The Greenfields in Kings Norton.  There may be opportunities to work from home within your working week, in line with the needs of the team.  We will also consider requests for part-time working.

Main duties of the job

• Collaborate closely with the MDT to fulfil the requirements of service users who require extensive care and are at high risk.
• Participate in referrals involving significant levels of distress in the system.
• You would use your therapeutic skills to help the system indirectly, via consultation and training staff teams. There are also possibilities to work directly with individuals, groups, and families, as needed.
• IST is a trauma-informed service, and this approach is embedded in both therapeutic practice and staff team training. The IST lead psychologist is a certified Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) practitioner. The post promotes a range of approaches, including formal risk assessment, relational techniques, PBS, CBT, and systemic. You would have the freedom and flexibility to work creatively and flexibly. The IST team values professional diversity and interprofessional learning, and their fortnightly meetings provide opportunity to share best practice, such as updates on quality improvement projects or small-scale service-related research. There are also chances to assist with the creation and supervision of reflective practice groups for nursing colleagues.
• Psychologists working in IST assist with duty and crisis response processes. The MDT shares these responsibilities, and visits, like all other areas of the job, are conducted in pairs to ensure staff safety. These positions will fall inside your 9-5 hours, and any overtime will be reimbursed

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main duties working in the Intensive Support Team

BCHC Intensive Support Team (IST) is a specialist city-wide service for people with Learning Disabilities that seeks to prevent avoidable hospital admission and placement breakdown. We also support our community colleagues where service users may be experiencing a deterioration in their mental health. Working in IST will provide an opportunity to support the ongoing work of the Transforming Care Programme (TCP) by improving people’s quality of life through increased support in the community that enables people to remain close to home with the right support. This is achieved through partnership working with key stakeholders including social care and commissioners.

BCHC IST will provide a safe and friendly environment to support all aspects of your clinical work. Being a smaller team, clinicians often report a sense of safety due to our close working relationships and collective team approach. The Intensive Support Team are often invited to get involved in a referral where there is a high level of distress in the system. As such, there are significant opportunities for using therapeutic skills to support the system as well as undertaking specialist assessment, formulation and interventions. Although we may be invited to deliver 1:1 intervention, most of our clinical work involves working indirectly with family carers and staff teams. We also offer consultancy and training to staff teams. We work closely with the MDT to meet the needs of our service users who often present with high and complex support needs and significant risk. The complexity of the work lends itself well to formal risk assessment as well as behavioural, systemic and relational ways of working. The IST lead psychologist is an accredited Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) practitioner. Opportunity for working creatively, sharing expertise and knowledge to support safe and effective care and discharge is limitless. We value professional diversity and interprofessional learning and use our fortnightly IST meeting to promote opportunities to share pieces of work we may have been involved with, including updates on quality improvement projects or other types of small-scale service-related research. There are also opportunities to support the implementation and supervision of reflective practice groups for our nursing colleagues and there are plans to establish a similar provision for our colleagues working in Assistant Practitioner roles.

IST Psychologists we are expected to support Duty and Crisis response processes. These roles are shared by the MDT and like other aspects of the work, visits are undertaken in pairs to maximise staff safety.

As a team we connect more informally over bring and share lunches and team meals.

IST Psychology form part a wider Psychology team. This post will offer opportunities for leadership roles within the division based on your professional interests.

In prioritising the well-being of staff, in addition to receiving regular supervision the successful applicant can expect to access the quarterly LD Psychology forum for peer support and professional updates, and the Health and Well-being HUB that is open to all staff.

As a service we are keen to nurture your professional interest and the Trust promotes opportunities for CPD and training, so if you have a passion to develop your professional identify beyond clinical training, you are encouraged to apply and we look forward to hearing from you.

Key points to note

The relevant Band 7 and Band 8a Job Descriptions and Person Specifications are attached to this document as pertinent to the Preceptorship post.

For those appointed as a band 7, this is a fully supported development post with progression to the Band 8a role upon successful completion of a defined Preceptorship programme. This is not an entitlement to band progression but is based upon the successful achievement of a mutually agreed development plan as monitored by the candidate and their psychology supervisor and reviewed with the Trust Head of Psychology as part of the annual appraisal process.  It is expected that this development plan will be achievable within a period of up to 3 years.  This timescale will be dependent on the experience of the candidate and will be fully supported by the organisation in terms of supervision, relevant CPD, training and learning opportunities. In the event that the elements of the development plan are not fully achieved as assessed by the Trust Head of Psychology within the pre-agreed timescale, the role will remain as a Band 7 and this outcome will be managed as part of the contract conditions agreed with the candidate at the outset.

This Preceptorship role will be further discussed as part of the interview process and with the preferred candidate as appropriate.