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Job overview
Applications from both full-time and part-time candidates are welcome and will be considered.
The post holder will join a team of highly experienced clinical psychologists, providing specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment for people living with HIV.
They will lead the specialist clinical/counselling psychology service within HIV care, including clinical supervision and line management, and work autonomously within professional guidelines and service policies.
The role includes delivering psychological therapy for issues affecting HIV management, adherence and prevention of transmission, as well as supporting patients with depression, anxiety, bereavement, trauma, psychosexual difficulties and addiction.
The post holder will support the multidisciplinary team in delivering integrated care through consultation, training and advice on psychological aspects of patient care. They will also undertake complex risk assessments and provide specialist guidance to non-psychologist colleagues.
The role includes teaching within the service and wider department, promoting psychology, and disseminating psychological knowledge within the HIV care team and externally, including at conferences. The post holder will contribute to audit, service development, policy development and research, using advanced research skills to improve patient care.
There will be opportunities to facilitate the Tree of Life narrative therapy psychology group within the clinic.
Main duties of the job
Provide highly specialist psychological assessments for patients referred to the HIV Psychology Service, integrating complex information from multiple sources. Formulate and deliver evidence-based psychological treatment and management plans across a range of care settings, using appropriate conceptual frameworks.
Make expert decisions regarding psychological interventions, taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models, developmental and historical factors, and the individual's medical and social circumstances.
Provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to professionals within the HIV Service, contributing directly to patient formulation, diagnosis and treatment planning.
Undertake risk assessment and management for individual patients, providing both general and specialist advice to psychologists and other healthcare professionals.
Communicate highly complex and sensitive information regarding assessment, formulation and treatment plans, and monitor and evaluate patient progress throughout uni-disciplinary and multidisciplinary care.
Provide psychological support to newly diagnosed patients and deliver specialist HIV transmission prevention advice to patients and their contacts, including prevention of vertical transmission. Facilitate appropriate disclosure of HIV status to partners, family members and children where appropriate.
Further information is available in the job description and person specification.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached Job Description for more information about this role and working at royal free London NHS foundation Trust
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.
Person specification
Other
Essential
- Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behavior.
- Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
- Ability to articulate and interpret clearly the role of the profession of counselling psychology based upon a good understanding of the framework of government and national professional policy.
Desirable
- Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Record of having published in peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books.
Experience
Essential
- Substantial experience of working as a qualified Clinical/Counselling Psychologist.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings including 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 patients’ psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
- Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
- Experience of management, recruitment, supervision, human resource management and policy development and implementation.
- Experience of professional management of qualified and pre-qualified clinical psychologists.
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
Desirable
- Post qualification experience within HIV / sexual health / physical health.
- Experience of multi-professional management of teams or services within the designated specialty.
- Experience of representing the profession in local policy forums.
Skills and aptitudes
Essential
- Pp dip level knowledge of Clinical or counselling psychology including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- A high-level ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to patients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional people within and outside the NHS.
- PP Dip level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical/ counselling psychology.
- Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the patient group and mental health.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended HPCP.
Desirable
- Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities and severely challenging behaviours etc.).
- Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies.
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
Royal Free Shared Commitments
Essential
- Demonstrable ability to meet the Trust shared commitments
Personal qualities and attributes
Essential
- Enthusiasm for a broad range of psychological phenomena, an interest in models of service delivery, and an ability to articulate the value added by psychology services within the context of multi- disciplinary mental health services.
- Ability to contain and work with organizational stress and ability to ‘hold’ the stress of others. Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviors.
- Ability to demonstrate leadership and management skills.
Desirable
- A commitment to the evaluation of services, enthusiasm for both multi-professional and uni- professional audit, and a wish to continue to develop expertise in the service area.
Education & professional Qualifications
Essential
- Doctoral level training in counselling/clinical psychology including specifically, models of psychopathology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
Desirable
- Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialist areas of psychological practice.
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Band 8a Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist with Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in Royal Free Hospital. It is listed as a Band 8 Psychologist role. The advertised salary is £66,274 - £73,496 Per annum inclusive of HCAS (part time are calulated pro-rata). The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 08 Sep 2026.
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