Job summary
- Main area
- Rough Sleepers Team
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 18.75 hours per week
- Job ref
- 395-PP045-25-A
- Employer
- NELFT NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Mellmead House
- Town
- Wanstead
- Salary
- £53,755 - £60,504 per annum plus HCAS (pro rata)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 11/04/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Clinical/Counselling Psychologist
NHS AfC: Band 8a
Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.
The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.
Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video
Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to join the NELFT Rough Sleepers Mental Health Team. The service was originally funded by the Greater London Authority and MHCLG for a 2-year pilot project. The success of the pilot has enabled continued funding and the opportunity to expand the staffing establishment, and the role of the psychologist is critical to the ethos and operation of the service. The MDT includes a staff grade Psychiatrist, Clinical Team Lead, Social Worker, Mental Health Nurse, Peer Support Worker and administrative support. The team works across the four NELFT boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge and Waltham Forest.
The service is operationally based within the Redbridge Directorate and the successful candidate will receive clinical supervision from
the Redbridge Community Psychology and Trauma Informed Care Lead. NELFT have a strong commitment to staff development and the post holder would have close association with other Psychological Services that include EMDR Consultants and BABCP accredited supervisors to support the post holders professional development.
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will need to have experience of working as a clinical/counselling psychologist in community mental health at a senior
level. They should have an interest in working with rough sleepers and be skilled in assessing their psychological needs and be able to work flexibly to implement support or intervention plans. Knowledge of local mental health pathways and voluntary organisations will also be beneficial. The post-holder must be able to work autonomously, and will be supported by the wider Rough Sleepers Team and Community Psychology and Trauma Informed Care Lead.
The post holder would be expected to contribute to the training opportunities available for members of MDT staff to support their development and provide supervision of honorary assistant psychologists and trainees in order to support the psychological workforce development and increase the psychological opportunities available within the service.
Working for our organisation
Probationary Period
This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).
Starting with NELFT
NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focusing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.
High Cost Area Supplement
This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (minimum payment of £4,313 and a maximum payment of £5,436 per annum pro rata).
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Doctoral qualification in psychology (clinical or counselling psychology) accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS)
- HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist
Desirable criteria
- Qualification in more than one modality of psychology.
- Further training in a therapeutic modality/ways of working relevant to complex mental health e.g. trauma, addictions, homelessness, community psychology, assertive outreach
- Recognised qualification and training in supervision.
- Training in trauma informed care
Experience
Essential criteria
- Substantial and relevant post-qualification clinical experience in mental health work.
- Experience in the application of standardised assessments and outcome measures.
- Experience working in community settings
- Experience of offering supervision, teaching, training and consultation.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working with socially excluded groups, including people rough sleeping and dual diagnosis
- Experience of working with complex and vulnerable patient groups who may be in acute states of distress e.g. drug and alcohol services, homelessness, refugees, asylum seekers, people diagnosed with complex trauma and psychosis.
Professional Knowledge & Skills
Essential criteria
- Advanced knowledge and skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment and treatment of individuals, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Advanced knowledge of and skill in using a wide variety of psychological interventions and the ability to use these appropriately in relation to client need, current mental state and work setting.
- Knowledge of risk assessment and its importance in acute and crisis settings.
- Communication and relationship skills of the highest level where complex formulations need to be developed and explained.
- Analytic and judgment skills in processing the great complexity of information arising from psychological interventions requiring assessment and formulation and then prioritising from a range of options while maintaining a therapeutic and effective alliance with service users.
- Highly developed skills in providing consultation to other professionals and teams.
- Ability to multi-task while leading a psychology training/teaching/learning event requiring intense concentration and skills for involving members from different professional background and with different levels of skill and knowledge.
- Ability to be engaged in highly complex thinking and formulation, actively engaging with the emotional impact of the work, processing and integrating these elements to offer consistent and effective clinical supervision to trainees, other psychologists and other professionals or team.
- Ability to combine the complex clinical and technical skills and knowledge with capacity to think about organisational dynamics and interpersonal issues with management tasks in contributing to the improvement of service delivery and development.
- Capacity to implement policy and to proactively contribute to their development in the wider service
- Ability to work within a multi-disciplinary team.
- Sufficient knowledge of other modalities to engage collaboratively with colleagues and their work with service users.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology
- Well-developed skills to communicate effectively, orally and in writing at a highly technical and /or clinically sensitive level to service users and professionals within and outside the NHS in line with confidentiality and safeguarding protocols.
- Ability to work with a racially and culturally diverse community in a wide variety of contexts.
- Up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation, ethical issues and strategic frameworks and their implications for both clinical practice and professional management.
- Skills in flexibly planning and organising own working week, prioritising case load, balancing clinical sessions appropriately with other workload
- Ability to work autonomously, setting appropriate goals, in accordance with professional ethics guidelines and Trust policies
- Ability to manage working in situations of multi-level stress, e.g. service user’s experience of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, organisational transitions
- Ability to move between different levels of context in a single day: e.g. offering a clinical service to very different service user groups experiencing a wide variety of serious difficulties; switching between clinical work, supervision, consultation and teaching.
- Ability to commit to continuing professional development.
- Knowledge of standardised assessments and outcome measures.
- IT skills sufficient to write reports and enter data.
- An awareness of NHS Plan, NSF and clinical governance priorities
Desirable criteria
- Advanced skills in professional supervision to meet BPS and HCPC requirements.
- Ability to use strategic thinking and planning and able to conceptualise at the highest level in order to assist colleagues who are experts in their particular field.
Professional Capacity
Essential criteria
- Capacity for frequent intense concentration and the capacity to sit in the same position for up to 90 minutes in line with required levels of concentration.
- Capacity to remain emotionally contained, thoughtful and empathic when working with highly distressed service users as a result of e.g. sexual abuse, marital breakdown, bereavement by suicide and in the face of verbal aggression and the risk of physical violence.
- Capacity to remain focussed, collaborative and constructive in the face of organisational stress together with the capacity to help contain the feelings of other colleagues in the organisation.
- Must be capable of professional autonomy i.e. holding full case responsibility, being accountable for own professional actions.
- Must be capable of working to the highest ethical standards as defined by the UKCP code and/or BPC code of professional ethics and Trust policies.
Desirable criteria
- Record of publication in peer reviewed journals
- Demonstrated ability to support the development of the profession through participation in professional bodies and activities
Other
Essential criteria
- To be aware and demonstrate the Trust Values
- To be able to travel efficiently throughout the area
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Maria Qureshi
- Job title
- Community Psychology and Trauma Informed Care Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 447704662123
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