Job summary
- Main area
- Clinical or Counselling Psychologist
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- 12 months (Fixed term)
- Hours
- Part time - 22.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 363-NEW7317069
- Employer
- East London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Newham Specialist Psychological Therapies Services
- Town
- Stratford
- Salary
- £59,490 - £66,239 per annum Inc HCAs
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 15/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Clinical / Counselling Psychologist
Band 8a
ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job overview
Clinical or Counselling Psychologist
This is an exciting opportunity for a HCPC registered Clinical or Counselling Psychologist or an Allied Professional with experience in MBT to join the Newham Mentalisation Based Therapy Service. The post is a fixed term post covering maternity leave. The role is a part-time 8a role at 0.6
The service offers a full MBT program to individuals with Complex Emotional Needs. Candidates with past experience in working therapeutically with individuals with complex mental health needs are welcome to apply. Past experience in MBT treatment is preferable.
This post is an exciting opportunity to progress into a band 8a role and for individuals look to develop their clinical and leadership experience. In addition to offering clinical interventions, you will be involved in other service development initiatives including consultation to other services, improving the our offer to families and young people, and outreach work to community and inpatient teams within the borough.
MBT in Newham is a team based approach. We would like to hear from candidates who value working as part of a reflective, in-person team. Service Users are discussed regularly and the team collaborates closely around care planning, treatment and management. We would welcome applications from people who are reflective and can consider the therapeutic relationship and the impact the work has on them.
Main duties of the job
To provide a clinical service to patients open to the Newham Mentalisation Based Therapy Service and to provide expert support and advice to other members of the team.
The role will require the post holder to:
· Undertake specialist psychological assessment of patients referred to the Mentalisation Based Therapy Service and provide specialist reports to referrers and patients
· Formulate and implement appropriate treatment plans and provide specialist Mentalisation-Based therapy to patients under the care of the service
· Offer clinical supervision to colleagues as well as consultation to professionals and agencies
· Liaise with other professionals to contribute to the establishment of continuity of care across services
· Work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.
· To take a lead role in the team for the provision of offering a treatment approach for patients with complex needs; offering specialist assessment, intervention and treatment.
· Assist in participating, collating and developing on-going research within the specialist service.
Working for our organisation
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For full details of the role, please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification.
Person specification
Education/ Qualification/ Training
Essential criteria
- Doctorate in Clinical / Counselling Psychology or equivalence (statement of equivalence and able to demonstrate eligibility for BPS CPsychol (Chartered Psychologist)
- HCPC registration or allied registration
Desirable criteria
- Accredited Practitioner Training in MBT
- Further training in a therapeutic modality relevant to personality disorder
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience in working with patients with complex emotional needs presentations (i.e. ‘Personality Disorder’) and/or risk of self-harm.
- Experience of delivering therapeutic interventions to individuals with Complex Emotional Needs.
- Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team offering support to adults with severe and enduring mental health problems.
- Experience of group work.
- Experience of delivering training/consultation and providing clinical supervision.
Desirable criteria
- Work within at least two therapeutic modalities.
- Experience of the application of psychology/therapy in different cultural contexts
Knowledge and Skills
Essential criteria
- Skills in psychological assessment, intervention and management, including the use of theoretical models to develop formulations upon which to base choice of treatment.
- Skills in the effective communication of technical and/or clinically sensitive information to a wide variety of recipients in a range of settings within and outside the NHS, including the ability to produce comprehensive and coherent letters, reports and associated documentation.
- Skills in the assessment of risk for patients with mental health problems and specifically for patients with complex Emotional Needs
- Capacity to work calmly and thoughtfully when working with traumatic psychological issues, demonstrating an awareness of the sensitivity and unpredictability of patients with complex needs, and a capacity to tolerate the strong emotions evoked by such work
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Knowledge and understanding of diagnosis of Personality Disorder.
- Skills in working in multidisciplinary settings.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation mental health.
- Evidence of CPD
- Ability to provide a culturally-competent and non-stigmatising service including an awareness of the potential impact of discrimination and disadvantage on mental health.
- Knowledge of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult - to - treat groups (e.g. complex needs, self harm, personality disorder/psychosis, dual diagnosis, persons with additional disabilities etc).
Desirable criteria
- Some knowledge and understanding of psychoanalytic models and developmental processes associated with Personality Disorder (eg: Transference Focused Psychotherapy (TFP), Mentalization-based Treatment (MBT).
Other
Essential criteria
- Ability to manage effectively verbal aggression and abuse from service users, carers etc, and the risk of physical aggression.
- Ability to independently travel across sites as required
Desirable criteria
- Demonstrably respectful approach to service users, carers, colleagues, other professionals and professional contacts. Willingness to negotiate and ability to handle confrontation effectively and professional
- Ability to speak to local community language (e.g Hindi/Urdu/Bengali/Somali etc)
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
- David Beecraft
- Job title
- MBT Service Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 020 8221 6000
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