Job responsibilities

To work as a Practitioner Psychologist or Psychological Therapist in the South Staffordshire Perinatal and Maternal Mental Health Service, providing clinical services directly to mothers, babies and their families within the perinatal period or those experiencing moderate to severe mental health difficulties arising from their maternity experience. This role will incorporate complex assessments leading to psychological formulations of mental health; interpretation, of assessment instruments and forming intervention plans, and the delivery of interventions to this population. The role will require provision of consultation and advice to professionals across South Staffordshire.

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualification in relevant core mental health professional training
• t is a condition of employment that the post-holder is registered with their core professional body - e.g. Health and Care Professions Counsil (HCPC), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC etc).
• Doctoral training in Clinical or Counselling Psychology or Post-graduate training and accreditation in one or more psychological approaches. For a Psychological Therapist this would need to include CBT and/or EMDR with relevant accreditation by BABCP or EMDR Association UK.

Desirable

• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by relevant professional bodies.
• Additional therapy training and accreditation relevant to perinatal or maternal mental health.
• Additional therapy training in approaches relevant for trauma or loss.

Experience

Essential

• Assessed experience of working as a qualified psychological therapist at a highly specialist level.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, presenting with the full range of clinical severity across a range of care settings. Including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment.
• Experience of working clinically with people presenting with challenging behaviour, and/or people who have communication difficulties.

Desirable

• Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Experience of the application of psychological therapy in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of group work
• Training or experience in parent-infant relational work such as Vance, Circle of Security. ideo Interaction Guid

Skills, knowledge and abilities

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex data analysis as practiced within the field of psychological care.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by professional bodies.
• Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.

Desirable

• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies with diverse client groups.
• Experience of assessing and treating clients psychologically within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.

Personal Attributes

Essential

• A passion and enthusiasm for working with people experiencing complex mental health problems.
• Able to prioritise, work independently and on own initiative
• Able to multi-task and set goals for completion.
• Ability to work well under pressure and/or in times of crisis.
• Flexibility, creativity, and preparedness to be innovative in a developing organisation.
• Ability to be reliable, co-operative and consistent both as an independent clinician and in team settings.
• Ability to demonstrate commitment to own personal & professional development.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate to support and maintain practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material
• Ability to work across community settings and travel across a geographical area.
• Computer literate.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).