Clinical/Counselling Psychologist - Islington Resettlement Project

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and dedicated Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to join the Islington Resettlement Scheme Wellbeing Project. The purpose of the project is to provide an outreach and screening service for refugee families resettled in the London Borough of Islington. We offer holistic assessments and treatment of complex post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and common trauma related mental health difficulties, as well as a programme of workshops, consultation and liaison with caseworkers and multidisciplinary mental health staff, teaching, and training. The project sits within the established Traumatic Stress Clinic.

Main duties of the job

The role of the clinical psychologist includes psychological assessment and providing specialist psychological interventions, including trauma focused therapy. Therapy will be primarily carried out at St Pancras Hospital, but travel may also be required to conduct home visits or deliver workshops in other sites in Islington. We are keen to recruit an enthusiastic and committed individual who shares our team's passion for human rights and social justice. We offer excellent development opportunities including high quality supervision, CPD, and close working with other specialist refugee trauma services across London. We also support the development of leadership skills and aim to nurture our staff and support them to become confident supervisors, devise and implement training, and conduct research. If you would like to make a positive difference to the lives of refugee clients, we would love to hear from you.

We will consider applications from newly qualified psychologists with appropriate skills and experience in refugee mental health. In the event of a successful candidate being pre HCPC registered the post will be re banded to Band 6 and made fixed term until such a time as the post holder achieves registered status in order for the post to become Band 7 substantive. The below duties therefore would be subject to appropriate clinical supervision from a HCPC registered psychologist in the team.

In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. This may mean that you are required to work at any location that falls under Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey or Islington. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.

Person Specification

Qualifications/ Registrations

• Post graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 2000) as accredited by the British Psychological Society, or British Psychological Society Statement of Equivalence.
• Professional registration with the appropriate professional body - HCPC.
• Completion of further post doctoral post qualification specialist training including (1) trauma focused therapy model e.g. EMDR; (2) Training in supervision of trainee clinical psychologists.

Skills/ Abilities

• Highly skilled psychological assessment and treatment of complex mental health difficulties, using evidence based models.
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management of complex and acute PTSD.
• 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.

Experience/ Knowledge

• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, including with acute and complex PTSD, across the whole life course and presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity.
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of assessment and management of risk and safeguarding adults/children.
• Experience working with refugees/forced migrants.
• Knowledge of refugee mental health, particularly working clinically with clients with psychological problems following multiple traumas and forced relocation.
• Experience of providing evidence based psychological treatments with interpreters.
• Experience of working with Afghan refugees and/or refugees on resettlement schemes.
• Experience of clinically relevant research and/or service evaluation with refugees/forced migrants.

Personal Qualities

• An interest in and enthusiasm for refugee mental health care and resettlement support.

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.

£58,133 to £65,261 a year per annum inclusive of Inner London HCAS.