Psychologist / Psychological Therapist / Psychotherapist

As a Psychologist / Psychological Therapist / Psychotherapist, your responsibilities will vary. You will

• Deliver a range of psychological interventions to individuals with complex mental health needs, both on a one-to-one basis and in group settings
• Facilitate group interventions, including low-intensity coping skills groups and psychologically informed groups (e.g CFT and DBT-informed approaches)
• Undertake psychological assessments and develop shared formulations to inform care and treatment planning
• Contribute to multidisciplinary reviews and providing specialist psychological input into risk assessment and risk management
• Offer consultation and guidance to the wider multidisciplinary team to promote psychologically informed practice
The post holder will work closely with the Lead Psychologist, contributing to service development, clinical pathways, and the expansion of therapeutic provision. There will also be opportunities to support the development of group programmes and provide clinical guidance and supervision to junior staff, where appropriate. If you are interested in career development, we have a wide range of opportunities for you to develop your skills and experience, which include both internal and external options for development and learning., This role will include conducting comprehensive psychological assessments, providing therapeutic interventions, developing individualized treatment plans to address the mental health needs of remanded individuals and supporting the embedding of a Trauma Informed approach to patient care. By collaborating with multidisciplinary teams including healthcare and prison colleagues, this role will contribute to the overall wellbeing of men in prison, support their emotional resilience during this transitional period, and facilitate access to necessary resources and support systems to promote better outcomes both during incarceration and post-release.,
• Identify patients who may benefit from psychological intervention, following mental health triages and in discussion with the multi-disciplinary team and, where demand exceeds capacity, prioritise according to clinical need, risk presentation and release planning in line with agreed service policy;
• Provide comprehensive psychological assessment, including risk assessment, and develop psychological formulations to support patients and other members of the MDT in making sense of their difficulties; contribute, where appropriate, to Mother & Baby board reviews;
• Identify and deliver appropriate individual and group interventions to patients in line with the Psychological Therapies Service (PTS) pathways;
• To monitor and evaluate psychological interventions using appropriate measures;
• To maintain accurate clinical records and keep the PTS dashboard up to date with outcomes data for patient/service and staff outcomes;
• To communicate both verbally and written, highly complex information concerning assessment, formulation and intervention plans to patients, professional colleagues and external agencies, as appropriate;
• Manage resources appropriately.
• Identify and provide opportunities for other members of the multi-disciplinary team to gain understanding of how psychological knowledge can support their work with patients, through developing psychological formulations with team members, participating in multi-disciplinary meetings and decision making or other opportunities for providing consultancy and advice;
• To attend ACCT reviews and segregation reviews in the prison as appropriate and to offer psychological opinion about management and appropriate referrals in that context and, offer psychological understanding into CSIP plans to support management of patients within the wing by prison staff;
• In liaison with the Mental Leads and/or Heads of Healthcare, identify and deliver opportunities for staff learning and reflection, through reflective practice, debrief and training sessions.
• In liaison with Mental Leads and/or Heads of Healthcare and the National head of Psychological Therapies, identify opportunities for and conduct service development projects in collaboration with other members of the multidisciplinary team;
• Participate in and contribute to CPD and peer supervision within the wider healthcare team;
• Active engagement in appropriate practice supervision and keep a log of evidence of core competencies in line with agreed preceptorship plan.
Teaching, training and supervision
• To provide regular reflective practice sessions to the mental health team and other ad-hoc opportunities for reflection on practice, including individual or group debriefing following incidents;
• To provide training to other members of the multidisciplinary team in the delivery of trauma and psychologically informed care and treatment;
• To contribute to CPD and peer supervision sessions within the wider PTS team;
• To receive regular clinical supervision from an appropriately qualified and experienced supervisor, in accordance with the BPS and the HCPC guidelines and, where appropriate, from other senior professional colleagues
Management, recruitment, policy and service development
• To participate in multi-disciplinary meetings concerned with the delivery and development of clinical services and contribute a psychological perspective as appropriate;
• To advise the Mental Health lead and/or Heads of Healthcare on those aspects of the service where psychological matters need addressing in line with best practice and service objectives;
• To contribute to proposals for and implementation of policy and service development changes in relation to psychology and psychological therapies within the service
Research, service evaluation & audit
• To utilise theory, evidence based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual/ group work and work with other team members;
• To contribute to project management, including complex audit, research and service evaluation projects, with colleagues within the service, to help develop service provision
Professional -
• To attend regional and national Psychological Therapies meetings, service development and other relevant meetings regularly;
• To adhere to professional/accrediting body codes of conduct, policies and procedures (e.g. HCPC, BABCP, BPS);
• To be aware of, adhere to, and where appropriate, contribute to the formulation and review of Practice Plus Group policies and procedures;
• To maintain and develop high standards of psychology/psychological therapy practice by engaging in continuing professional development and co-operative working/networking with therapists, clinical, counselling and forensic psychologist colleagues;
• To receive regular line management supervision by the Head of Healthcare
• To participate in the organisations annual performance review and personal development planning process with the clinical supervisor and line manager;
• To keep up to date with legislation, national directives, policies and NICE guidelines in relation to the work delivered.
Other This Job Description is not exhaustive and may change as the post develops, but such change will not take place without consultation between the post holder and their manager. Job descriptions should be reviewed at least annually at the appraisal meeting.


• A doctoral qualification or equivalent in Clinical/Counselling Psychology, or postgraduate training in Psychotherapy
• Registration with the HCPC, or equivalent professional registration/accreditation for psychological therapists (e.g. UKCP or BPC)
• Experience working with individuals with complex mental health needs, ideally within forensic, secure, or other high-risk settings
• Experience delivering group and 1:1 intervention using a range of therapeutic modalities (e.g. CBT, DBT, EMDR)
• Confidence in working across therapeutic models, and applying trauma-informed approaches
Secure environments are one of the most challenging, yet rewarding places for healthcare professionals to work. If you're looking for a role where you can develop your existing healthcare skills and learn something new every day in an environment that never stands still, then this could be the right opportunity for you.

The Health in Justice team at Practice Plus Group makes a real difference across over 53 prisons, young offenders and immigration removal centres. Were the UKs leading independent provider of NHS services to over 40,000 patients in secure environments, always putting their needs first, regardless of their background. Practice Plus Groups mission is Access to Excellence. Our core values are;
• we treat patients and each other as we would like to be treated
• we act with integrity
• we embrace diversity
• we strive to do things better together
  
  You'll receive a salary of up to £53,000 FTE per annum, depending on experience
How will we support you?
• Bespoke induction, including our Introducing Health in Justice training course
• Our bespoke Learning Management System to address your learning needs
• Support from the wider Psychological Therapies team
• Support with ISW training
Candidates are required to have a Legal right to work in the UK and due to the nature of the role, offers of employment will be subject to additional vetting and security checks.