Clinical/Forensic/Counselling Psychologist

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for maternity cover within Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust as part of the ACORN Service at HMP Whatton. This is a specialist treatment service for individuals with personality difficulties and a history of sexual offending. The service is part of the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Pathway and is jointly delivered by NHS and Prison partners.

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust’s Specialist Services Care Unit provides specialist treatment to individuals with personality related difficulties at HMP Whatton and HMP North Sea Camp, in addition to a Therapeutic Community at HMP Gartree (joint NHS/ HMPPS), and also offers OPD services within Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire (community provision). We are keen to work with people who are interested in working across the local OPD pathway provision.

Main duties of the job

The ACORN service is a comprehensive specialist service offering a range of therapeutic interventions on an outreach basis at HMP Whatton to individuals with problematic personality traits which are linked to difficulties with progression or risk. The service offers a suite of therapies including Schema Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitiation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Radically Open Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (RO-DBT), and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT) within tiered phases. Therapies, including socially creative sessions, psychoeducation and both group and 1:1 therapy are provided with an emphasis upon the importance of relationships and the environmental setting.

The successful post holder will work as part of a team approach to the assessment and treatment of individuals referred to the service, initially with a focus on the assessment waiting list, and co-delivering psychologically informed groups, alongside offering 1:1 therapy and supervision and consultation to the team and wider prison.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We are committed to working in partnership with Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), both with Prison and Probation colleagues; this service is a joint enterprise so relies on collaborative working. The successful applicant will be based at HMP Whatton and work closely with prison colleagues to deliver a joint service, and may support other OPD pathway service provision locally. We also work in partnership with other healthcare providers and our criminal justice system partners to improve health, support justice and reduce re-offending behaviour. The OPD Pathway Team truly believes it can make a difference to the lives of individuals in the criminal justice system by offering consistent, equitable, high quality services to service users. If this sounds like a pathway you would like to join- we would like you to be part of our team. You should be enthusiastic, motivated, patient focused and enjoy a challenge and ideally have experience or knowledge of an OPD service or the OPD pathway.

Role Purpose

To work in partnership with the His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) at HMP Whatton within the ACORN Service delivering the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway (OPD) specialist assessment and treatment service.

The post holder will work as part of a team of psychologists and prison officers offering a range of therapeutic interventions on an outreach basis to individuals with problematic personality traits which are linked to difficulties with progression or risk. The service offers a suite of therapies including Schema Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitiation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Radically Open Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (RO-DBT), and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT) within tiered phases. Therapies, including socially creative sessions, psychoeducation and both group and 1:1 therapy are provided with an emphasis upon the importance of relationships and the therapeutic milieu.

The post holder will:

Provide specialist psychological assessment and therapy (step 4 model) by working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the service’s policies and procedures Deliver a range of therapies on an individual and group basis.

Provide support, education, training and supervision for staff who are central to the service

Be involved in and liaise closely with multidisciplinary clinical teams across HMP Whatton, the OPD Pathway, the care unit and the wider criminal justice system.

In addition the specialist psychologist will:

Assist in planning and evaluating the service. Utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research to develop services and interventions for clients with complex needs. Attend relevant meetings in line with this contract and other meetings such as MAPPA.

Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

The cost of the DBS application is £26.40 (standard) or £54.40 (enhanced), this cost will be deducted from your salary over the first 2 months of employment.

You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. An annual fee of £16 per year applies.