Practitioner Psychologist or Psychological Therapist

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for a Practitioner Psychologist or a Psychological Therapist to join our supportive and highly skilled team of psychologists in West Essex.  The post is based in the Uttlesford Specialist Adult Community Mental Health Services based at Stansted Mountfitchet (Essex).

This post is available at Band 7 or Band 8a level dependent on experience.   We  welcome applications from qualified or soon-to-be qualified Psychological Therapists with experience of working with complex mental health issues to join us at Band 7.  We would also consider a final year Trainee Counselling Psychologist, appointed at Band 6 until HCPC registered.

Main duties of the job

Working alongside an experienced psychologist, you will be responsible for assessing service users presenting with complex needs, formulating their difficulties to help them and MDT colleagues better understand how their difficulties are impacting on their life. You will be responsible for delivering NICE-recommended psychological interventions for chronic conditions such as emotionally unstable personality disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and depression, aiming to promote social inclusion and empower service users within their mental health recovery. You will also provide consultation and training for staff and others, and may offer placement and supervision for a trainee, assistant and undergraduate student depending on your level of experience.

We employ a trauma-informed consultation approach to support MDT colleagues to actively engage clients in safety and stabilisation work to enable them to make effective use of more formal psychological interventions/therapies.

Within Psychology Services in West Essex we have specialist skills and training in variety of areas and approaches, including CAT, CBT, CBTp, DBT, EMDR, Schema Therapy and Trauma-Informed approaches.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To work as an integral member of the Adult Community Psychology Service in West Essex, being primarily based within the Uttlesford locality Specialist Community Mental Health Service (MDT).
• To provide verbal and written formulations that aid clinical interventions for service users presenting with highly complex problems, their families and carers, and other professionals.
• To formulate and deliver plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of service users’ mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the service user’s problems, and to practice within the context of evidence based approaches and the overall therapeutic approach/ philosophy of the service.
• To plan, manage and prioritise own caseload.
• To conduct risk assessment and risk management of service users on your caseload and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk, including safeguarding.
• To attend MDT meetings to provide guidance or advice and to contribute to clinical discussion about service users of the team.