Senior Psychological Therapist

Please note this is a part time post and the salary for this position will be pro-rata.

Please note this is a fixed term post until March 2024. Where a post only has temporary funding and an existing member of NHS Lanarkshire staff wishes to apply, this will be treated as a secondment. The employee MUST already have written agreement from their line manager to be released on a secondment before applying for the post.  

Psychological Services Staff Support Team (PSSST) are a small and supportive team who pride themselves in providing a trauma-informed service that offers mental health assessment and intervention for members of the health and social care workforce, who live or work within Lanarkshire.

We have a broad referral network, which includes the usual routes into a clinical service, as well as self-referral and requests from others in supportive roles, such as colleagues in Staff Care, Salus and Line Managers. Our service users often prefer remote video appointments, but we are flexible with face to face, phone or video appointments to suit clinical need and service user preference, with our staff tending to have blended job plans with some onsite and remote working in the week. This is flexible depending on personal circumstances.

The key purpose of this role is to provide evidence-based psychological assessment and therapy to members of the health and social care workforce, and to work alongside the other staff support services within Lanarkshire. The post holder will deliver psychological intervention for individuals with moderate psychological difficulties. In addition to individual psychological therapy, the post holder will carry out early ‘Engagement Appointments’ which are offered within a few weeks of referrals being received, and consult with our referrers and others in supportive roles to assist staff being signposted to the most suitable service to meet their needs.

The post-holder will also work alongside NHSL Psychological Services generally and will at times become involved in the broader activities of this group including; training or supporting specific projects.

KNOWLEDGE, TRAINING AND/OR EXPERIENCE REQUIRED TO DO THE JOB

The post holder must:

• Hold one of the following:

a) HCPC registered psychologist (doctorate degree) or NMC (honours degree) or Allied Health Professional (AHP) (honours degree) or accredited membership of BABCP / BACP / UKCP or

b) Graduate basis for chartership (GBC) with BPS and have completed a clinical skills training programme at Masters level (accredited by the BPS).

• As well as having completed training in at least one evidence based psychological therapy the postholder must have additional relevant experience of providing a highly specialised psychological assessment and treatment service.
• Have knowledge of NHSL Health Board's Policies and Procedures, and national and professional guidelines for optimal standards of clinical care e.g. child protection guidelines.
• Ensure supervision skills are maintained in line with professional guidelines and programme supervision requirements.
• Have knowledge of MDT working in order to understand complex clinical presentations.
• Work in a sensitive manner with respect to diversity and gender, ethnic, culture and philosophical issues with a wide range of individuals and organisations.
• Be aware of the limits of own competence and expertise.
• Maintain and update knowledge of legislation and local policies and issues in relation to Adult Mental Health generally.
• Attend in-house and external mandatory training courses (e.g. computer training, Moving and Handling, Management of Aggression and Violence).
• Be aware of the need to deploy valuable Health Service resources in an effective and rational manner according to contemporary evidence-based practice.

Informal enquiries regarding the post will be welcomed by Claire Stewart on claire.stewart1@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk. 

For queries regarding the application form or recruitment process only , please contact Anne Osho on anne.osho@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk,  stating the job title and reference number in the subject.  Please note:  all job related queries must be directed to the informal contact noted above.

Please note: we anticipate a high level of interest in this position and may close the advert once sufficient applications are received.  Please complete and submit your application early.

‘In NHS Lanarkshire we are committed to recruiting a workforce that fully reflects the diverse make-up of our society. A place where every individual can thrive, develop and succeed based on skill, knowledge and talent, regardless of race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, care experienced* or any other dimension that can be used to differentiate people from one another.

*Care experienced applicants are people who live/have lived with foster parents/kinship carers or who live/have lived in a residential children’s setting/secure unit.’