Principal Clinical / Counselling / Forensic Psychologist - HMP Feltham B

A Vacancy at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

Are you looking for new challenges? Do you want to feel that you really make a difference? Are you someone with a passion for trauma-informed work, who wants to be part of changing young adult's lives?

This might be the job for you… We are looking for a Principal Clinical, Counselling, or Forensic Psychologist to join us as part of the integrated Health and Wellbeing team within HMP & YOI Feltham.

This is a unique and exciting opportunity to be part of this innovative model and also to use all of your clinical and interpersonal abilities, develop new skills and work with young people and staff who need and deserve high quality psychological care.

You could make a difference. This is a varied role working within a rich multidisciplinary team in the early stages of implementing a trauma systems approach across the young adult establishment.

The post is based primarily on Feltham B a category C adult male Prison, although the successful candidate may be required to provide some consultancy and support to the wider healthcare team across the site.

Black and minority ethnic young people, including those from Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller communities, are over-represented in the criminal justice system. We strive to deliver a culturally competent and responsive service that can meet the needs of our population. We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds, especially from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.,

• To coordinate the development and implementation of a psychologically underpinned, attachment and trauma-informed model of care at HMYOI Feltham. Working within a highly specialised clinical area, the post holder is to supervise and provide highly developed specialist psychological assessments and interventions for young adults who have particularly complex needs and risks. These will be based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with young adults, family members and others involved in the client's care.


• To formulate plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client's mental health difficulties based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client's presentation, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.


• To make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group. To exercise full responsibility and autonomy for the treatment of and discharge of clients whose problems are managed as a psychologically based standard care plan, ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation and interventions, communicating with the referral agent and others involved with the care on a regular basis.


• To provide leadership when managing situations of great complexity and risk within HMYOI Feltham. This will include the ability to communicate highly complex case information in a clear manner and good engagement skills with all staff groups within the centre. This will also include the ability to understand, work with and mediate the impact of trauma on individuals and the systems around them.


• To provide expertise and specialist psychological advice, supervision, guidance, and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients' formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.


• To work alongside senior colleagues (particularly senior residential and case managers) to support the delivery of psychologically informed care by all staff working within the establishment.


• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for relevant individual clients and to provide both general and specialist advice for psychologists and other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management.


• To act as a Lead Professional, where appropriate, ensuring the provision of a care package appropriate for the client's needs, co-ordinating the work of others involved with care, arranging client's care reviews as required and communicating effectively with the client, his/her family and all others involved in care; and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions.


• To act as care coordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans under enhanced CPA including young adults, their families, referring agents and others involved the network of care. To prepare reports for, attend and contribute to CPA meetings. To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.


• To provide expert consultation about the psychological care of the client group to staff and agencies outside the Directorate and Trust.


• To liaise regularly with community services, prisons, courts, statutory and nonstatutory agencies, concerning all aspects of the mental health care management of the young adults.


• To carry out specialist diagnostic assessment and prepare reports to assist the multidisciplinary care team, Mental Health Act Tribunals and Courts alike.


• To keep clinical records in line with trust policy and be competent and efficient in using electronic patient records e.g. Systm1 in prison. To attend relevant local management and operational meetings and Offender Care management meetings as agreed with his / her manager.


• The post holder will input and maintain accurate and reliable computer information that will be used for quality and performance purposes. To contribute to ensuring that the Health & Justice services achieve the activity, performance and outcome targets as agreed with key stakeholders.


• To communicate in a skilled, persuasive and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment formulation and treatment plans of clients, and to monitor progress during the course of their multidisciplinary care.


• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping, including electronic data entry and recording, and report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance, in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society and Trust policies and procedures.


• To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and mental health.


• To ensure that all aspects of professional activity (e.g. communication with clients, relatives, colleagues as well as in the assessment, development/delivery of interventions) issues of diversity such as race, culture, identity, gender and sexuality are sensitively considered and incorporated to reflect individual differences appropriately.


• To ensure that clients are appropriately consulted about relevant aspects of their care and are empowered to express their views in a responsive environment enabling such views to be assimilated / incorporated into continued service development and improvement.


Teaching, training and supervision:

• To receive regular clinical supervision from a suitably qualified and experienced psychologist and, where appropriate, other professional colleagues.


• To support the provision of psychologically informed care by "front line" staff (i.e. residential/discipline staff, case managers, healthcare and education staff) to the young adults within HMYOI Feltham. This will include:


• Developing and promoting a culture of resilience across all disciplines and through all levels of staff.


• Developing and supporting the implementation of formulation-based multidisciplinary case planning for young adults within HMP & YOI Feltham.


• Developing and supporting the delivery of appropriate training to staff, particularly in understanding attachment, working with complex and developmental trauma, and the use of formulation.


• Developing and supporting the implementation of supervision and reflective practice processes. To ensure appropriate systems for the clinical and professional supervision of qualified and unqualified psychologists and others across the defined area of responsibility.


• To provide clinical and professional supervision to identified staff within the Health & Justice directorate.


• To provide specialist elective third year clinical placements for trainee clinical/counselling/forensic psychologists, and to other students when appropriate, ensuring that they acquire the necessary clinical and research skills to doctoral level where appropriate, and competencies and experience to contribute effectively to good psychological practice, and contributing to the assessment and evaluation of those competencies.


• To provide pre and post-qualification teaching of clinical/counselling/forensic psychology as appropriate.


• To continue to develop expertise in the area of professional pre and post-graduate training and clinical supervision.


• The post holder will be expected to update their professional skills and knowledge based by participating in CPD activities.


• The post holder will regularly update their knowledge of new developments in relevant academia
  
  Working within an integrated team affords us the benefit of being able to work in a truly holistic and responsive manner. The post holder will have previous experience in a relevant setting. They will provide specialist psychological assessment and therapy at the same time as offering advice and consultation to non-psychologist colleagues.


The post holder will support the Consultant psychologist with strategic and clinical oversight of therapeutic intervention across the young adult site. This will include supporting the role out of a trauma-informed approach across Feltham B, including supporting staff to develop skills in reflective practice. In addition they will hold some responsibility for the new Therapeutic Unit, and will input into the Sexual Behaviour Service. The successful candidate will have a proven ability to make evidence-based, informed decisions within a complex, rapidly changing and demanding environment.

It takes a very special, dedicated, resilient and caring clinician to provide care in such an intense, dynamic environment and you will be joining like-minded exceptional healthcare professionals in a dedicated and supportive team.

Experience working with service-users with additional neuro-developmental needs, such as Learning Disabilities (LD), ADHD, social communication and Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) would be beneficial to this role due to the diverse needs of the population., Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.


• Hidden Gem and annual award ceremonies


• Excellent staff benefits: our benefit packages are amongst the best in London and include: childcare vouchers, health and wellbeing services, season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme and relocation package. We are also proud to support our employees with continued professional development opportunities and further education subject to service needs.


• We welcome flexible working.


As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings