Clinical Psychologist (Band 8a) or Preceptorship (Band 7)

The CMHT part of the post will include providing a specialist clinical service to clients and families, supervising both qualified and trainee psychologists, as required. You will join a dynamic and integrative team, in which different models of therapy are used creatively and according to our service users' needs.

The ward provides an assessment and intervention service to older people with a range of mental health needs including dementia. This offers stimulating and fulfilling opportunities of working in a multi-modal trans-diagnostic approach with people with a wide variety of presentations and their families and carers.

On the ward, you will have a pivotal role in supporting the wider inpatient team to think more psychologically and reflect on the wider organisation of care. There is a strong focus on indirect work through team formulation, reflective practice and staff training.

We will support you to learn the skills you need to thrive in this role. Specialist clinical supervision will be provided. The post sits alongside other highly skilled and motivated psychological therapies staff who meet regularly to provide peer support, and develop/review the psychological service across the Acute and Crisis Pathway.

We strongly encourage applications from newly/recently qualified Clinical or Counselling Psychologists, or those close to obtaining qualified status, who will initially be offered a preceptorship position (Agenda for Change Band 7) and then supported to be eligible to move into the Band 8a role within 18-24 months of appointment/post-qualification, on the condition of meeting the competencies (see attached document for further information).

Job descriptions, person specifications and details of the pathway from Band 7 Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to Band 8a Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist are attached. Please ensure you read both JD/PS.

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

Training & Qualifications

Desirable: - Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology

Experience

Desirable: - Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision; - Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts

Knowledge & Skills

Effort & Environment

Desirable: - Genuine interest in working with Older People