Principal Clinical Psychologist in Clitheroe

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Principal Clinical Psychologist to join the team/service within Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT). We require a motivated and dynamic Clinical Psychologist to join our growing team offering input to adult mental health inpatient facilities within Pennine Lancashire locality.

Opened in early 2023, the Woodview Unit is a recently refurbished building on the Whalley site which has a total of 32 beds including 12 Male, 12 Female and an 8 bedded Male PICU unit. These additional beds complement those on the Pendleview Unit, Royal Blackburn Hospital. Woodview Unit was designed with extensive input from service users and clinicians and is based on 'safety by design' to ensure that it can provide high quality care. The ethos of the unit is to provide therapeutic care which is empowering, person-centred and needs led, and focuses on promoting recovery and independence.

The post holder will be responsible for providing confident, experienced clinical and managerial input. This will include the following within a multi-disciplinary team:

• To provide a qualified and experienced Clinical Psychology Service to service users of the Whalley, Woodview Unit including the provision of enhanced specialist psychological assessment and intervention with complex cases.

Main duties of the job include:

• To offer advice and consultation on service user's psychological care to psychology and non-psychology colleagues and to other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the services policies and procedures.
• To provide wider clinical leadership across both Woodview site and reaching into Pendleview site.
• To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area in which the post holder works.

You would be joining a wider team of Pennine Lancashire clinical psychologists that includes Senior Psychologists, and a Consultant Psychology Lead. Assistant psychologists are also employed on a fixed term basis and the post would be required to contribute to professional leadership of these posts. In addition to the direct input, consultation and wider clinical leadership, as a Principal Psychologist there would be expectation for the post holder to deputise for the Consultant Psychology Lead as appropriate.

We are committed to providing the best development opportunities for our staff and the post holder would have the option to pursue their Continuing Professional Development (CPD), agreed post qualification development and training in their desired area of specialism or theoretical approach which the Trust would actively seek to support.

There are also opportunities to build research interests within this dynamic and forward thinking service. The organisation has good links with local Doctorate courses and there would be an expectation of supporting trainees as part of this role. We are very willing to consider funding training in development of skills and further qualifications in relevant treatment approaches that will benefit inpatient psychology service provision.

LSCFT is an organisation that recognises and values the contribution of clinical psychology in the provision of high quality services as evidenced by the expansion of the profession within inpatient services. Psychology provision within inpatient services is established, well regarded and highly valued.

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation. Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services. LSCFT supports flexible working, believing that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Education/Qualifications required include:

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.

Knowledge required includes:

• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Knowledge of legislation, and its implications in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS by completion of CPD log demonstrating a minimum of 40 hours per year.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.

Experience required includes:

• Several years experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist.
• 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 exercising full clinical responsibility for client's psychological care and treatment both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of multidisciplinary care plan.
• Experience of teaching, training and supervising.
• Demonstrable experience of conducting complex audit/research and service evaluation.

Skills and abilities required include:

• 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.
• Keyboard skills sufficient to enter data/write reports.
• Ability to sustain intense levels of concentration responding and participating as required.
• Ability to self-reflect and use clinical supervision appropriately.

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 to check for any previous criminal convictions. Applicants must have current UK professional registration.