Band 8a Clinical/Counselling or Forensic Psychologist - Bristol

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Band 8a Clinical, Forensic or Counselling Psychologist to join AWP Secure Services on a fixed-term basis to provide maternity leave cover.

This role will be primarily based within Wickham Low Secure Service, with opportunities to work across our medium and low secure hospitals.

You will also join a diverse and highly skilled Psychological Therapies Service (PTS) which includes Clinical, Forensic and Counselling Psychologists, Art, Drama and Music Psychotherapists, alongside trainee psychologists, assistant psychologists and psychology students.

You will work as part of a multidisciplinary team comprising medical, nursing, occupational therapy, social work and speech and language therapy colleagues, providing senior psychological leadership and contributing to formulation-driven assessment, intervention and care planning.

Secure Inpatient Services consists of Fromeside, an 81-bed medium secure unit, and Wickham, a 30-bed low secure unit, both located on the Blackberry Hill Hospital site in North Bristol. The service includes a specialist women's ward and a ward for men with learning disabilities and/or autism. Our large and friendly psychology team has expertise in violence, sexual offending, firesetting, learning disabilities, autism, personality disorder and psychosis.

Main duties of the job

The role will involve providing direct clinical work, consultation, teaching, staff support, and supervision for assistant psychologists and Band 7 psychologists, as well as working collaboratively with other members of the MDT, including psychiatry, nursing, arts psychotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech and language therapists. The role will also involve completing specialist assessments, developing complex formulations, and designing and delivering individualised therapeutic interventions, as well as facilitating therapeutic groups and engaging in complex systemic work. There will also be opportunities to engage in service development projects.

The successful post‑holder will need to be adaptable and creative, have good communication and team‑working skills, and have experience and/or an interest in working with people with significant mental health difficulties, such as psychosis, who present a significant risk to others. There will be regular supervision and support for the role.

Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide a high‑quality and largely autonomous and systematic clinical/counselling psychology service.
• To undertake highly specialist assessments, including neuropsychological assessment, risk assessment, and assessment for suitability for specialist psychological therapies with clients and their carers (as appropriate to the role).
• To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of clients’ mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s difficulties, and employing methods based on evidence of efficacy across the full range of care settings.
• To be responsible for providing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, and groups, within and across teams, employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations, drawing upon different explanatory models, and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
• To provide at least one specialist evidence‑based psychological intervention as dictated by the needs of the service.
• To provide highly specialist consultation to members of the various teams in the area and beyond regarding formulation and psychological management of clients of those teams.
• To use highly specialist psychological knowledge and skills to contribute to the more effective management of patients by teams.
• To be involved in the development and delivery of training within the Trust.
• To participate in clinical and caseload supervision arrangements provided by the Service.
• To maintain accurate records and to monitor clinical workload using agreed systems.
• To support the full implementation of CPA or equivalent, including acting as care coordinator as appropriate to the needs of the service.
• To enter data as requested by the Trust in a timely manner.
• Because of the seniority of this post, the postholder may be required to participate in on‑call arrangements after suitable training.

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.