Clinical and/or Forensic Psychologist

Job overview

Are you passionate about delivering excellent forensic care and keen to help shape the ongoing development of a Specialist Community Forensic Team (SCFT)? This is an excellent time to join our SCFT and become part of a skilled and supportive integrated multidisciplinary team. This post will be attractive to a forensically orientated Practitioner Psychologist wishing to use the full breadth of their psychological skills and knowledge.

This post is a full time permanent post and we would warmly welcome hearing from potential candidates.

SCFT is part of GMMH’s Adult Forensic Services. SCFT adopts a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to achieve two primary functions: to assist service users to transition out of secure services and to support non-forensic services to help avoid unnecessary admissions into inpatient secure beds. This entails providing consultation to external teams to enhance risk formulation and management strategies to enable care to be delivered in the least restrictive setting, and to aid community reintegration by offering specialist forensic follow-up including forensic psychological interventions.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will join the wider SCFT multidisciplinary team consisting of a consultant psychologist, consultant psychiatrist, assistant psychologists, CPNs, senior nurse, advanced clinical practitioner, clinical engagement workers and operational colleagues. You will:

• Contribute to the MDT forensic consultation process.
• Develop and sustain close working relationships with non-forensic teams.
• Deliver 1:1 and/or group interventions, as required.
• Engage in research, clinical audit and quality improvement initiatives, as agreed by the Consultant Psychologist, to support the SCFTs efficacy and ongoing development.
• Contribute to training which upskills the wider SCFT in relation to psychological concepts, interventions and tools etc.
• Clinically supervise and/or line management psychological professionals, as agreed with the Consultant Psychologist.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification

Staff benefits

• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years
• Excellent pension
• Cycle to work scheme
• Salary sacrifice car scheme
• Wellbeing programme
• Blue Light Card Discounts
• fuelGenie Fuel Cards (for applicable roles)

Person Specification

Education

Essential

• Registered with the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist

Desirable

• Additional further professional training and/or qualification, such as neuropsychology or therapeutic models (e.g. CBT, EMDR, schema therapy).
• Completion of post-graduate training in the clinical supervision of others.

Experience

• Experience working as a qualified clinical or forensic psychologist in forensic settings.
• Experience working with service users with severe mental health problems who engage in significantly risky behaviour(s).
• Experience providing psychological consultation (including formulation) to other professionals and professional groups.
• Experience interfacing with criminal justice systems, e.g. MAPPA and HMPPS
• Experience of teaching, training and supervising others.
• Experience supervising assistant psychologists and/or trainee psychologists.

Knowledge

• Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of psychological approaches to working with complex mental health difficulties (inc. personality and neurodevelopmental disorders) and significant, complex risk profiles.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation and its implications for clinical practice.
• Developed knowledge of research methodology, statistical analysis and publication-level written communication skills.

Skills

• Skills in conducting risk assessment, formulations and management plans
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Approved training in a specific therapeutic approach other than cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), such as mentalisation-based therapy (MBT), cognitive analytic therapy (CAT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT).

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.