Clinical / Counselling / Forensic Psychologist

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic clinical, counselling or forensic psychologist with an interest in working with adults who need support through a period of crisis or who are struggling with acute mental illness. We are looking for someone innovative and creative, who thrives in a fast-paced environment and is able to draw on a wide range of evidence-based psychological models and approaches to inform their treatment planning.

Our team offers brief psychological formulations and interventions, designed to support and stabilise people during their most difficult periods. We have worked hard over the past few years to embed the Comprehend, Cope and Connect (CCC) approach into the service and engage our wider staff teams in understanding and implementing this model. CCC is a psychology-led intervention which enables multi-professional colleagues to offer support to patients in crisis, with a focus on collaborative care planning. Within the psychology team, we support team formulations and take a primary role in developing the psychologically-informed culture of our inpatient wards.

We are fortunate to have a friendly and approachable team made up of forensic and clinical psychologists, creative therapists, and assistant psychologists. We have close links with the wider Acute & Crisis services in the region, and with our community services and partners.

Main duties, tasks & skills required

We work transdiagnostically with a range of presentations, including psychosis, trauma, and relational difficulties. The post-holder will be part of a cohesive team with a strong focus on quality improvement and service development, and we hope to find someone who shares this drive and enthusiasm. The role can be challenging, but rewarding, and our team holds values around transparency, empathy and humour to create a supportive dynamic within the service.

We are part of the wider Acute and Crisis Division, comprising practitioner psychologists and psychological therapists with expertise in a range of approaches and an emphasis on evidence-based practice.

The available post is graded at Band 8a - however we would welcome applications at Band 7 for those practitioners who consider they may benefit from a Band 7 to 8a preceptorship.

We would also welcome applications from practitioners who are not yet qualified, but are close to completing their training.

About us

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a newly established organisation, bringing together expertise from across mental health, learning disabilities, community, and physical health services. We are dedicated to delivering compassionate, high-quality, and accessible care to the diverse communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

With over 13,000 dedicated staff working across more than 300 sites, we place patients and staff at the centre of everything we do. Our goal is to create an integrated healthcare system that improves accessibility and ensures more consistent care for patients. By working together, we aim to improve patient outcomes, drive innovation, and meet the unique needs of the populations we serve.

Our Trust unites services from Southern Health, Solent NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trusts community and mental health teams, as well as Hampshire CAMHS, originally part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. This transformation enables us to deliver more seamless care across the region, ensuring that patients receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We are deeply committed to our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence, and offer outstanding opportunities for career development, training, and collaborative working.

Job description

Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.

We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists or equivalent experience
• Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist

Desirable

• Training in Comprehend, Cope and Connect, (CCC)

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings 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.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of working with severe and enduring mental health problems. specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, complex PTSD, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities, psychosis etc

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Professional Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

For help with your application, contact: 

Louise Taylor 

louise.taylor154@nhs.net