Principal Clinical Psychologist and Mentalization-Based Treatment Lead

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen within East London Foundation Trust’s (ELFT) Bedfordshire and Luton Complex Needs Service for a Principal Clinical Psychologist with specialist skills in the ongoing development, delivery and supervision of Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) for people with complex emotional needs (diagnosable as ’personality disorder’). The successful applicant will lead the MBT group-based programme which sits alongside the DBT programme, and will report to the Clinical Lead for Complex Needs Service. They will be committed to co-producing and monitoring the quality of service developments, growing the lived experience workforce, and providing advice, consultation and supervision to core mental health teams. An important part of this role will involve developing the knowledge and skills of professionals and colleagues within ELFT, partnership agencies, voluntary community groups and social enterprises, embedding trauma-informed and psychosocial approaches in service delivery with the aim of promoting the recovery and social inclusion of service users with complex emotional needs, including those transitioning from acute inpatient care and specialist out of area placements back to local community settings.

Main duties of the job

The successful applicant will work as part of a specialist and multi-disciplinary Complex Needs Service that includes a Medical Psychotherapist, Clinical Psychologists, Psychological Therapists (with core social work and occupational therapy professional registrations), a Lived Experience KUF Development Lead, Assistant Psychologists, and Peer Support Workers. The team is based at Mountbatten House, Dunstable and operates as a hub, in-reaching to community mental health services in Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton to provide specialist advice, training, consultation and supervision to other professionals and colleagues. The team also offers assessments and evidence-based interventions (MBT and DBT) to a small caseload of service users who have the most complex emotional needs and engage in severe self-harming and suicidal behaviour.

The post holder will be based with the team at Mountbatten house, Dunstable and will be required to offer consultation, supervision, assessment and intervention. This will require travel to CMHT bases, inpatient units and other sites across Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton, as well as occasional travel to East London .

The post is being offered on a full-time or part-time basis, with a minimum of 22.5 hours a week (0.6 wte). The days and hours will be negotiated by the Clinical Lead and the successful candidate.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The full Job Description and Person Specification for this post can be found in the attached documentation.

The post holder will work across Bedfordshire and Luton to develop and provide direct and indirect highly specialist clinical psychology and psychotherapeutic services for adults with complex emotional needs (associated with a diagnosis of ‘personality disorder’) and their families and carers. Please refer to job descriptions for more details.