Specialist or Highly Specialist Applied Psychologist 7/8a

Job overview

Band 8a full time post, with Band 7 – 8a preceptorship opportunities available

This post offers an exciting opportunity for a dynamic psychologist within the Harrogate & District Community Learning Disability Team, part of the wider North Yorkshire, York & Selby Learning Disability Service.

We are seeking to appoint a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist who is passionate about working with people with learning disabilities. The vacancy is open to an existing Band 8A psychologist or a Band 7 psychologist wishing to progress in their career. We will also consider offering a preceptorship option for a newly or recently qualified clinical or counselling psychologist who may not yet meet the essential criteria; to progress from a band 7 into the band 8a position.

The post offers many exciting developmental and creative opportunities.

The post holder will have a key role in providing psychological assessments, formulations, and interventions to service users, their families, carers, and staff teams. This may be through direct therapeutic support using various adapted psychological approaches or indirect work with a service user’s support system using psychologically informed thinking.

An additional element to this role is offering neuropsychological assessments to service users, alongside reflective practice, consultation, and supervision. An interest in working with Trauma Informed Care approaches would be welcomed"

Main duties of the job

Applicants should ideally have experience in working within Learning Disability services and show strong patient-centred values. The successful applicant will be enthusiastic, motivated, and demonstrate a commitment to delivering excellent health care and evidence-based practice. You will be working alongside a supportive team and opportunities to develop special interests and co-work will be encouraged.

In addition, the post holder will have a valued role in the team’s collective leadership group, alongside opportunities for research and service development. Our service has strong links with Doctoral Clinical and Counselling Psychology Programmes at multiple universities. The post holder will be involved in offering trainee placements and University teaching. There are excellent opportunities for peer support/ supervision, CPD, training, research, and audit within the wider trust and psychological professions network.

We are very keen to support practitioners obtain further professional training with relevance to the service (e.g., EMDR; Flash; CBT; CAT; PBS; Systemic Family Therapy, etc).

You will be working in an area of natural beauty across Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon and beyond, into Nidderdale and parts of the Yorkshire Dales.

Our trust is also invested in staff wellbeing opportunities, which is very much supported by the team.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further detailed information to ensure that you meet the role criteria before applying.

Psychologists & Psychological Therapists provide key leadership roles within the Trust. To support this we have developed leadership profiles for each psychology band and the profile card associated with this post is attached on NHS Jobs. You can find more information about the NHS Leadership Academy’s Healthcare Leadership Model and the profiles at their website. We encourage you to look at these resources as they will play a part in the interview process.

We welcome applications from staff who are currently coming to the end of their training in Clinical or counselling psychology that on successful completion will achieve the required qualification and registration with HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist.

Trainee counselling psychologists are eligible to apply for and to be shortlisted for interview and to be offered qualified posts when they are in their 3rd year of the doctoral training and have the following confirmed as completed by the university. This information may be requested prior to interview: a. All clinical competencies. b. 80% of the 450 supervised clinical practice hours (360 hours)

Trainee clinical psychologists are eligible to apply for and to be shortlisted for interview and to be offered qualified posts when they are in their third year of training, as they will have completed their core clinical competencies by this stage of the course.