Job overview
1 x Band 8a Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologist Posts - (26.25hrs p/week - 0.7 wte)
An opportunity has arisen for a Band 8a Psychologist to cover maternity leave at our secure inpatient unit in Essex (Brockfield House) as a secondment/fixed term contract for a period of 6 months.
Main duties of the job
An excellent opportunity has arisen for a HCPC Registered Clinical, Counselling or Forensic Practitioner Psychologist to join the multidisciplinary team at Brockfield House. This is a forensic inpatient units providing low and medium secure services to adult males and females. This post may therefore include working across both medium and low secure male and female wards, as required. The teams provide effective clinical risk management and support the recovery pathway for service users with forensic histories or significant risk profiles. The post-holder will take on the role of psychologist, providing psychological assessments as well as individual and group interventions to service users presenting with a range of complex risk behaviours and forensic needs.
The role sits within the wider Forensic Psychological Services Department which comprises clinical, counselling and forensic psychologists, trainee psychologists, assistant psychologists and psychology undergraduate placement students. EPUT's Secure Services operate across Essex, Bedfordshire and Luton. Video conferencing facilities between sites are also used to assist departmental communication.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES CLINICAL
- To provide specialist psychological assessments of inpatients on the forensic wards 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 and others involved in the client’s The post- holder will also be responsible for the safe use of any equipment used during assessments (e.g. test batteries).
- 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 evidence based
- To be responsible for implementing a range of highly specialised psychological interventions for people on the forensic unit; families and groups, within and across teams, 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.
Please see full 'Job Description' and 'Person Specification' attachments for full details of the role.
Person specification
Personal
Essential
- The ability to create and maintain effective relationships within the clinical team and with a range of professionals.
- Team Player, inspirational to others, ability to negotiate ‘win win’ situations.
- Ability to work independently
- Confident and approachable.
Desirable
- Personal experience of mental health problems.
Skills/experience
Essential
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity 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 providing teaching and training to mental health staff around topics pertinent to working with offenders and/or adults with learning disabilities.
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
- Experience in the administration and interpretation of Structured Professional Judgement risk assessments (including the HCR-20, RSVP and SARA), as
Desirable
- Experience of providing clinical supervision to staff carrying out group and individual work with forensic mental health or forensic learning disability patients.
- Experience of initiating and taking an active role in service-development
Education/Qualifications
Essential
- Professional training in psychology
- Postgraduate training including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by HCPC.
- HCPC Registered as practitioner psychologist
- Knowledge of models of forensic psychology, including theories and models of offending, risk assessment (including Structured Professional Judgement approaches), and knowledge of theories of offence related therapy
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologist - Secondment/FTC with Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust in Wickford, East of England, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Psychologist role. The advertised salary is £57,528 - £64,750 per annum pro rata. The contract type is 6 months (Internal Secondment or Fixed Term Contract). The application deadline is 28 Jun 2026.
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