Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced 8A Clinical, Forensic, or Counselling Psychologist to join AWP Secure Services.

This role offers opportunities to work across our medium and low secure hospitals for men, women, and individuals with learning disabilities and autism, who present significant risks and mental health difficulties such as psychosis.

You will work as part of a broad MDT, including medics, nursing, occupational therapy, social work, and speech and language therapy colleagues, contributing senior psychological leadership to shared formulation and care planning.

You will also join a diverse group of psychological therapists and contribute to embedding a coherent, integrated PTS. The team includes Clinical, Forensic, and Counselling Psychologists, and Art, Drama, and Music Therapists, alongside students, trainees, and assistants.

Secure Inpatient Services consists of Fromeside, an 81‑bed medium secure unit, and Wickham, a 30‑bed low secure unit, both based on the Blackberry Hill Hospital site in north Bristol. The service includes a specialist women’s ward and a ward for men with learning disabilities and/or autism. Our large, friendly psychology team has expertise in working with violence, sexual offending, fire‑setting, learning disabilities, autism, personality disorders, and psychosis.

Main duties of the job

The role will involve providing direct clinical work, consultation, teaching, staff support, and supervision for assistant psychologists and Band 7 psychologists, as well as working collaboratively with other members of the MDT, including psychiatry, nursing, arts psychotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech and language therapists. The role will also involve completing specialist assessments, developing complex formulations, and designing and delivering individualised therapeutic interventions, as well as facilitating therapeutic groups and engaging in complex systemic work. There will also be opportunities to engage in service development projects.

The successful post‑holder will need to be adaptable and creative, have good communication and team‑working skills, and have experience and/or an interest in working with people with significant mental health difficulties, such as psychosis, who present a significant risk to others. There will be regular supervision and support for the role.

Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities

Working for our organisation

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust); a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care. 

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.