Senior Psychologist in Leeds

We have an exciting opportunity for a motivated and skilled Band 8A Senior Psychologist to join our well-established, dynamic and diverse multi-disciplinary Integrated Mental Health Team, which forms part of the wider Health Care Team at HMP Leeds. HMP Leeds is a busy local Category B prison which holds male prisoners who are both sentenced and remanded. This role gives you the autonomy to grow your skills in a trauma-informed, recovery-focused service. You will work in a challenging secure setting with a diverse mix of patients and complex clinical needs.

Hours: Monday - Friday: 08:00 - 16:00, or 09:00 - 17:00. This is a full-time role working 37.5 hours a week.

Salary: You'll receive an annual salary of 58,025 - 63,300 per annum - depending on experience.

How will we support you?

• Bespoke induction, including our Introducing Health in Justice training course
• Competency framework
• Regional and national career development opportunities
• Our bespoke Learning Management System to address your learning needs

Candidates are required to have a legal right to work in the UK due to the nature of the role; offers of employment will be subject to additional vetting and security checks.

Main duties of the job:

As a Senior Psychologist, your responsibilities will vary. You will:

• Offer leadership, consultancy, assessment and interventions, working under the guidance and support of the overseeing Cluster Psychologist.
• Support the Cluster Lead Psychologist in training initiatives, developing clinical materials, group intervention packages, and in service evaluation and general service development.
• Be skilled in applying diverse psychological theories and modalities, in order to provide trauma-informed one-to-one intervention, formulation and/or consultation for complex cases.
• Oversee and clinically supervise two Assistant Psychologists in their delivery of low-medium intensity work (both group and individual approaches).
• Work across with patients located on the main site of the prison and those who are located in the Complex Care Unit.
• Complete clinical assessments and interventions with patients, as well as consultation and support for the staff in the Complex Care Unit.

Requirements:

• Qualified clinical, counselling or forensic psychologist and registered with the HCPC as a practitioner psychologist;
• Postgraduate qualification/training in at least one specific mode of psychological therapy relevant to people with severe and long-standing mental health difficulties e.g. CBT, Systemic/family therapy, Mindfulness-based therapies, CAT, DBT, Mentalisation, Schema Therapy.
• Experience in complex, high risk or forensic environments.
• Experience in working collaboratively and ability to contribute to ongoing development, adaptation, and delivery of psychologically and trauma-informed practice.
• Working knowledge of clinical governance, including relevant approaches and tools.

Secure environments are one of the most challenging, yet rewarding places for healthcare professionals to work. If you're looking for a role where you can develop your existing healthcare skills and learn something new every day in an environment that never stands still, then this could be the right opportunity for you.

Job responsibilities:

The Senior Psychologist will work within a prison, where the need for specialised psychological support is paramount. This role focuses on embedding a trauma-informed and multidisciplinary approach to care, aimed at minimizing further re-traumatization for people in prison while also addressing the impact and secondary trauma of staff to reduce burnout. As a clinical leader, the Senior Psychologist will develop and implement evidence-based interventions that foster resilience and recovery among men in prison, while simultaneously providing support and training to staff to enhance their understanding of trauma and its effects.

By working closely with multidisciplinary teams, the Senior Psychologist will ensure the delivery of high-quality mental health care, develop and implement trauma-informed and evidence-based treatment programs in line with the Psychological Therapies Services (PTS) model, and contribute to the formulation of policies and practices that promote psychological wellbeing.

In addition to clinical responsibilities, this position includes managerial expectations, such as overseeing junior/trainee psychologists, coordinating mental health services, and contributing to the development of policies that promote a supportive environment for both patients and staff. By cultivating a culture of empathy and understanding, the Senior Psychologist will play a crucial role in improving the overall psychological well-being of the prison population and the staff, ultimately contributing to a more effective and compassionate correctional environment.

Main Duties/Responsibilities:

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessment of patients based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with patients, family members (when appropriate) and others involved in the patients care.
• To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to patients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
• To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models, and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses; engage in structured and dynamic risk assessments.
• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors including historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a trauma-informed, psychologically-based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, promoting the psychological mindedness of staff.
• To contribute a psychosocial, trauma-informed perspective within the multidisciplinary team including for those patients not directly on the psychologists caseload and attend individual patient reviews and risk management meetings where appropriate.
• To attend ACCT reviews and segregation reviews in the prison as appropriate and to offer psychological opinion about management and appropriate referrals in that context and, offer psychological understanding into CSIP plans to support management of patients within the wing by prison staff.
• To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, highly complex/sensitive information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans to the patient, appropriate professional colleagues and to family members, as appropriate, and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of multi-disciplinary discussions.
• To be able to complete and interpret formal psychometric assessments.
• To maintain accurate clinical records and keep the PTS dashboard up to date with outcomes data for patient/service and staff outcomes.
• To contribute to the development of specialized individual treatment plans or packages of care for patients with complex psychological problems and who may present a risk of harm to themselves or others.
• To be able to manage the emotional impact of working, often one-to-one, with people who can be in crisis, who can show high levels of arousal and can be actively self-harming or suicidal.
• To work jointly with other psychologists/therapists, to plan and hand over the psychological assessment and treatments of patients that may continue after either transfer to other prisons or released in the community or other recovery-based settings.
• In liaison with Mental Leads and/or Heads of Healthcare and the National head of Psychological Therapies, identify opportunities for and conduct service development projects in collaboration with other members of the multidisciplinary team.
• Participate in and contribute to CPD and peer supervision within the wider healthcare team; Active engagement in appropriate practice supervision.

Teaching, training and supervision:

• To receive regular clinical supervision from an appropriately qualified and experienced supervisor, in accordance with the BPS and the HCPC guidelines and, where appropriate, from other senior professional colleagues and, to supervise junior psychology colleagues and other therapists and MDT colleagues as appropriate.
• To provide training and supervision for members of the service (healthcare and prison) in the delivery of psychologically, trauma-informed care and treatment.
• To provide specialist advice and consultation and training to members of other disciplines within the teams and to non-psychology manager of the teams on psychological understanding, interventions and evaluations.
• To develop and deliver teaching as appropriate for members of staff from other disciplines.
• Responsible for planning, delivery and clinical supervision of a specialist psychology training placement for trainees on the postgraduate doctoral courses in clinical/counselling and/or forensic psychology.
• To develop further post-qualification experience in psychology over and above that provided through training by engaging in a clearly planned CPD programme in accordance with British Psychological Society guidance and in line with service model and needs.
• To contribute to peer psychology supervision sessions.

Management, recruitment, policy and service development:

• To plan and supervise the work of undergraduate psychology students, and trainee psychologists and be responsible for their support in their placements.
• To contribute to proposals and implementation of policy and service development changes in relation to psychology and psychological therapies.
• To advise the Mental Health lead and/or Heads of Healthcare on those aspects of the service where psychological matters need addressing in line with best practice and service objectives.
• Responsible for contributing to the planning, organizing, auditing and developing of policy strategies for the delivery of the psychological therapies service.
• To contribute to proposals for and implementation of policy and service development changes in relation to psychology and psychological therapies within the service.
• To take responsibility for representation of the profession at appropriate service development and governance meetings as agreed with their Line Manager and in line with Personal and Professional Development Plans (PDPs).
• To contribute to recruitment shortlisting and interviewing as appropriate across the service.

Research, service evaluation & audit:

• To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual/group work and work with other team members.
• To undertake project management, including complex audit, research and service evaluation projects, with colleagues within the service, to help develop service provision.
• To prepare and present information from audits, evaluations and research to professional audiences within and outside the Organisation.
• To prepare papers for publication based on audit, evaluation, research and development work.

Professional:

• To attend regional and national Psychological Therapies meetings, service development and other relevant meetings regularly.
• To adhere to professional/accrediting body codes of conduct, policies and procedures (e.g. HCPC, BABCP, BPS).
• To be aware of, adhere to, and where appropriate, contribute to the formulation and review of Practice Plus Group policies and procedures.
• To maintain and develop high standards of psychology/psychological therapy practice by engaging in continuing professional development and co-operative working/networking with therapists, clinical, counselling and forensic psychologist colleagues.
• To receive regular line management supervision by the Head of Healthcare.
• To participate in the organisations annual performance review and personal development planning process with the clinical supervisor and line manager.
• To keep up to date with legislation, national directives, policies and NICE guidelines in relation to the work delivered.

This Job Description is not exhaustive and may change as the post develops, but such change will not take place without consultation between the post holder and their manager. Job descriptions should be reviewed at least annually at the appraisal meeting.