Job summary
- Main area
- Forensic
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- Fixed term: 12 months (n/a)
- Hours
- Part time
- Job share
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 277-7405070-FOR
- Employer
- Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Lewisham Probation Office
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £64,156 - £71,148 pro rata, HCAS inc
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 07/09/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Senior Psychological Therapist
Band 8a
Job overview
This post offers an exciting opportunity for a Clinical/Forensic/Counselling Psychologist or Psychological Therapist with an interest in working with offenders with complex personality difficulties and a high risk of harm to others, and colleagues within the Probation Service London (PSL), as part of the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Pathway.
This post comprises and 0.4 WTE into the SE ICPS and 0.4 WTE into the Workforce Development Team. The role is pan-London and may require some travel across London and working from different offices.
Main duties of the job
To provide highly specialist psychological consultations, assessments, formulations and interventions.
To work in partnership with other disciplines and to maintain links with statutory and non-statutory and partnership agencies.
Attend and contribute to relevant meetings and forums.
To be proficient in the use of IT for purposes such as email, electronic calendar, intranet, video calls, electronic clinical records, word processing, database and statistical packages.
To provide managerial and clinical supervision to assistant and qualified psychological therapies staff and psychologists in training as appropriate.
To lead on the development and delivery of a range of specialised Offender Personality Disorder training to all PSL staff, AP staff and allied agencies (e.g. police), including the National Core PD Pathway modules;
To support the delivery and evaluation of KUF Basic Awareness Training and Women’s KUF training.
To work closely with the workforce development team to evaluate and review training needs of all staff
To input and support development of the OPD Community Pathway Training Strategy
To support and promote attendance of specialised PD Training
To work closely with senior probation and NHS staff to co-ordinate and support training delivery, evaluation and implementation of new learning.
Working for our organisation
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:
- We’re Kind
- We’re Fair
- We Listen
- We Care
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The South East London Integrated Community Pathways Service (SE ICPS) is a team of Psychological therapists, Clinical Practitioners, and Probation Officers that provides direct and indirect support to people on the OPD pathway by supporting probation practitioners with consultation and working alongside them and the people they manage, as well as offering assessment and psychologically informed care and treatment directly to people on the OPD pathway.
As part of the broader Community OPD Pathway in London, we have the joint aims of reducing offending and improving psychological wellbeing.
In the indirect component of the ICPS work, the post holder will be responsible for providing support to probation practitioners in identifying and managing people on probation who present a high risk of serious offending that is linked to personality difficulties. This will include offering individual and group consultations, joint working, training, staff support, and reflective practice.
In the direct component of the work, the post holder will carry out intake assessments for the SE ICPS, including structured risk assessments, and make recommendations for risk management and treatment.
The post holder will oversee the work of clinical practitioners working with the individuals presenting with the highest level of risk and need. The post holder will also provide enhanced therapeutic interventions (e.g., Mentalisation Based Therapy, EMDR, Schema Therapy) and other evidenced based interventions for people with complex trauma and personality difficulties.
Within the Workforce Development team, the post holder will be responsible for developing, reviewing and quality controlling training materials that support the ongoing confidence and competence of a wide range of staff delivering the OPD Community Pathway. There is an expectation that the post holder will be able to develop training packages to meet the learning needs of a wide range of staff working from a variety of disciplines and levels of expertise. They will take a lead on supporting staff to utilise and implementing training within their day-to-day work. Training will be delivered in person and online.
The post holder will utilise research skills in audit and other research and development activities. They will supervise and direct the work of junior psychological therapists and assistant and trainee psychologists as required. The post holder will work autonomously within professional guidelines, policies and procedures of LPP’s services, and overarching objectives of LPP and the OPD Pathway.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Entry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy/mental health/social welfare profession or equivalent and demonstrable practice in this field (ie professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level/supervised practice/additional training) that has been accepted for the purposes of professional registration
- Additional training beyond entry-level qualification in a specialised area of psychological practice (through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses and/an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice–based learning in a specialist area of clinical psychological therapy practice, assessed by a registered body and/or an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma or higher
- Registered with professional body or regulatory body as appropriate to psychological therapy discipline ie HCPC/UKCP/BACP/BABCP
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the professional body
Desirable criteria
- Training in an evidence-based treatment for the client
- Completed training course in clinical supervision
- Training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
- Accredited training in structured professional judgement approaches to risk assessment (including but not limited to the HCR20)
Experience
Essential criteria
- Completion of a minimum of two years full-time (or equivalent part-time) post-doctoral / post qualification supervised experience
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with the full range of clinical severity under supervision
- Post-qualification of working with and addressing issues of diversity, including experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Experience of maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
- Experience of providing teaching and training to psychological practitioners or other professional groups.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of work or research undertaken in forensic / secure / locked settings
- Experience of providing supervision to pre-qualified psychological therapies staff or students, or other professionals
- Experience of carrying out post-qualification research, audit or service evaluation projects.
- Experience of inter-agency working
Knowledge and skills
Essential criteria
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Ability to administer, score and interpret psychometric and neuropsychological tests with appropriate training and supervision
- Understanding psychological formulation for complex high risk service users.
- Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group, mental health and child protection.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of psychological therapies relevant to the client group.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies and two assessment methodologies
- Knowledge of current mental health legislation and initiatives and of safeguarding legislation
- Knowledge of the principles and practice of clinical governance, clinical audit and risk management
- Knowledge of equal opportunities, confidentiality and consent issues
- Knowledge of key NHS policies and procedures
- Knowledge of relevant Health & Safety legislation
- Ability to manage severely challenging behaviour/crisis intervention
- Ability to manage unpredictable workloads and frequent demands on concentration and attention
- Report writing and presentation skills
- Competent in Microsoft Office packages
- Ability to manage within available, and sometimes limited, resources
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex data analysis.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Awareness of Criminal Justice and mental health services.
Other
Essential criteria
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
- Experience of working with diversity, including but not limited to a multicultural framework.
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Ability to form good working relationships with others in a multi-disciplinary setting.
- Interest and ability to contribute to service development.
- Commitment to Equal Opportunities
- Ability to travel across London and work flexibly from different sites
Desirable criteria
- Personal experience of mental health problems.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Chloe Charteris
- Job title
- South East ICPS Interim Joint Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07500816124
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