Job overview

The Tamarind Centre is looking for a permanent full time 8B Practitioner Psychologist to join the psychology department.  The role will be specific to the personality-focussed recovery service which is a specialist ward for men who have complex histories including violence, trauma and interpersonal conflict. We are ideally looking for someone who has experience in working alongside service users in providing therapeutic interventions to individuals, groups and the system.  We strongly encourage applicants with expertise in MBT, DBT, forensic psychodynamic psychotherapy or others that have a strong evidence base for this client group, although this is not essential.  Having an interest in working with and adapting therapies to suit men with high risk of violence would be highly valued.

The Tamarind Centre is an 89-bed medium secure unit working with men who experience severe and enduring mental health problems that have a component or history of violence.  The psychology team values its safety with each other, operating in an open, transparent and authentic space where people can be themselves and find a place for themselves in the team. Our work is often a balance of care and containment, which means understanding the relationships between trauma, mental health and violence, whilst resisting the pull to be binary in our approach.  

Main duties of the job

Much of the departments work outside of the therapy room, focusses on ensuring co-production and service user involvement is the foundation blocks of our service development and delivery.  Holding in mind the constraints of being a secure unit, and the implications of a forensic institution, we have developed small but powerful pieces of work.  These include a culturally informed mental health awareness group, a co-produced and co-delivered trauma-informed care training package for staff and service users, and more recently a co-produced group with carers on holding the service to account.

As a Principal Psychologist, you will be leading on elements of work focussing on trauma-informed care as a process of culture change within Tamarind and across the Division.  You will be supported by the Lead Psychologist and a range of staff such as Nurses, Occupational Therapists and Psychiatrists amongst others including community partners.  You will also be supported to develop your leadership competencies, both explicitly and implicitly, viewing leadership as a living and organic process, rather than something that comes with a given role or title.

The current context of the NHS, along with historical and some societal and systemic views about men, violence and mental illness makes the work complex and challenging. Therefore being able to see the small progressive steps, and support service users and staff to value these too is a crucial element of the role. 

Working for our organisation

Welcome to Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.  Our 4000 clinical and support staff help us to improve mental health wellbeing and meet the needs of the 70,000 people we serve each year.  We provide a range of mental healthcare services across Birmingham and Solihull, as well as specialised services nationally. We also offer medical, nursing and psychology training and are proud of our international reputation for both research and innovation.

Our population is culturally diverse, characterised in places by high levels of deprivation which create an increasing demand for our services and a necessity for us to make sure everyone can access the help they need. We are a team of compassionate, inclusive and committed people working together to provide excellent care to support our community.  If you are looking for a place to belong, where you can make a real difference to people’s lives, join our team where our warm welcome is waiting for you.