Joining CNWL offers the opportunity to be part of a progressive and innovative organisation committed to high-quality care, professional excellence and staff development. Successful candidates will benefit from excellent career progression opportunities within a large and thriving psychology profession.

About The Service

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Perinatal Mental Health Service operates across four women's prisons: HMP Bronzefield, HMP Downview, and HMP Send. This post will be primarily based at HMP Bronzefield, although travel between sites will be required.

The service provides specialist psychological and mental health support to women who are pregnant in custody, preparing for motherhood while in prison, or experiencing the profound impact of separation from their infant as a consequence of imprisonment. Alongside this work, psychologists contribute to the care of women presenting with complex trauma, attachment difficulties, personality disorders and co-occurring mental health needs.

You will join a highly skilled multidisciplinary team comprising Consultant Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists, Occupational Therapists and Nursing staff, working collaboratively to provide trauma-informed, formulation-driven care.

Person specification

Previous Experience

Essential criteria

• Substantial assessed experience of working as a qualified psychologist including at a highly specialist level or an alternative agreed by the Chief Psychologist
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in-patient settings
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including 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 teaching and training.
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
• Advanced knowledge, experience and expertise in at least one relevant specialist area of clinical practice gained through specialist training and supervised practice (e.g. psychotherapy, neuropsychology, risk assessment, clinical supervision).
• Experience of leading on projects of service design or improvement.
• Experience of leadership, management and supervision of trainees and qualified staff including those from other disciplines.
• Experience of working together with service users to ensure that they are equal partners in service design, evaluation, research and training
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Experience of working effectively in multidisciplinary settings.

Desirable criteria

• Awareness of institutional dynamics
• Research/publications on relevant issues
• Experience of working indirectly with staff groups
• Experience of working within secure environments and/or forensic mental health and of supporting and developing psychological services in such
• Expertise in delivering gender sensitive services
• Experience of using a trauma-informed approach
• Experience and expertise in the specialist area of learning disability and/or neurodiversity.

Education And Qualifications

Essential criteria

• An honours degree in Psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
• Doctoral level training in clinical, counselling or forensic psychology or equivalent, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, equivalent to that accredited by the BPS.
• Evidence of significant post-qualification specialist training, experience and developing expertise in a specialist area of clinical practice relevant to this role.
• HCPC Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Completion of supervisor training course.

Desirable criteria

• Other relevant CPD qualifications, pre- or post-training. Especially training in working with people with trauma and/or neurodiverse presentations, research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Skills, Knowledge, Abilities

Essential criteria

• Advanced 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, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Possesses a range of clinical knowledge, skills & information technology expertise relevant to demands of senior post.
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• 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.
• Broad knowledge of models of assessment, management and treatment of those in the criminal justice system with mental health difficulties and personality disorder.
• Ability to work intensively with people who present challenges in the complexity of their problems and needs, including sexual and violent offending and self-harming and suicidal behaviours.
• High level of ability to plan and organise clinical service provision to meet service demands, and to maintain high quality professional practice.
• Evidence of continuing professional development relevant to the forensic population as recommended by the HCPC.
• An understanding of the social determinates of health inequalities and relevant psychological theory and practice
• Excellent IT skills.

Desirable criteria

• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work flexibly according to changing demands and to work well within a team
• Appreciation of the interface between our personal and professional lives, high level of self-awareness and knowledge of principles of self-care.

Other

Essential criteria

• Ability to work in a secure environment, in line with HMPS policy and procedures and obtain and maintain enhanced security clearance.