Principal Clinical Psychologist - Mental Health Liaison Lead in Chester

The post is offered as a permanent 8b position within the West Cheshire Mental Health Liaison Service (MHLS). Band 8a candidates are welcome, who have a keen desire to work in this area and are looking to develop their clinical leadership skills and move into a more senior grade in time with the support of a development plan.

This post incorporates both direct client work, team systemic work, and service development. The post is part of a wider workforce plan in Acute Psychology provision that demonstrates CWP's commitment to improving the psychological and trauma informed care provided to patients, families, and staff in the acute pathway.

You will work with the Consultant Clinical Psychologist, locality leadership team(s) and specialty clinical network to enhance and evaluate the psychological care offer within the Acute Pathway (First Response Service) provided by a multi-professional workforce. Providing training, consultancy, supervision and support to multi-professional staff, teams and managers will be essential, as will taking a strategic and pragmatic approach to service evaluation, audit and research as part of ongoing quality improvement.

As the Principal Clinical Psychologist Locality Lead you will be responsible for providing clinical and professional leadership to develop and maintain a high quality, evidence-based psychology service for patients accessing MHLS. We champion relational and person-centred ways of working, based on humanity and compassion across the Acute pathway; you will be leading on embedding this ethos in the team.

CWP is an innovative and transformational all-ages mental health service provider. There will be opportunities to join internal and external professional and clinical networks, undertake research, and provide training and support to the next generation of psychology and mental health practitioners. There are strong connections to the three main DClinPsy regional training programmes (Liverpool, Lancaster and Manchester).

You will join the CWP Senior Psychologists Group, a group that supports leadership, clinical and professional development of Psychologists. Clinical and professional supervision will be provided, and ongoing continuing professional development supported.

• Provide clinical and professional leadership to develop and maintain a high quality, evidence-based psychology service for patients accessing MHLS.
• Lead on embedding relational and person-centred ways of working across the Acute pathway.
• Provide training, consultancy, supervision and support to multi-professional staff, teams and managers.
• Engage in service evaluation, audit and research as part of ongoing quality improvement.
• Collaborate with the Consultant Clinical Psychologist, locality leadership teams and specialty clinical networks to enhance and evaluate the psychological care offer within the Acute Pathway (First Response Service).
• Work within a multi-professional workforce and participate in strategic planning as part of the wider workforce plan in Acute Psychology provision.

All applicants must be HCPC registered Clinical Psychologists with significant, relevant experience as per the job description and person specification. Flexibility for flexible, part-time and job-sharing requests is welcome. We encourage applications from suitably qualified and experienced people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

Cheshire and Wirral Partnership (CWP) provides health and care services for a population of over one million people, including mental health, learning disability, community physical health and all-age disability care, as well as the provision of three GP surgeries in Cheshire. We employ around 4,500 staff across 73 sites and have services across Wirral and Cheshire, as well as Trafford, Warrington, Bolton, Halton, Liverpool and Stockport. Our aim is to help improve the lives of everyone in our communities, adopting a compassionate, person-centred approach to everything we do. We are rated as Outstanding for Caring by the Care Quality Commission, with a Good rating overall.

As a Disability Confident Employer, Rainbow Badge Scheme member, Veteran Aware organisation and proud holder of the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award, CWP is committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible and developing a culture that values differences, and welcomes applications from people who have direct experience of accessing our services.

All new starters will commence in post on one fixed start date each month, in line with our Prepare to Care (P2C) induction programme date. P2C offers up to 3 weeks training to support you to meet the induction / initial training requirements of the role. Please download a copy of the job description for full details of the main responsibilities for this role. At CWP, our recruitment selection processes are based on both competence and values, and we use a values-based approach in our interviews. Please review the Trust values and reflect on alignment with your own personal values in your application.

An applicant guide to help and support you through your recruitment journey can be accessed at the bottom of this page. For further guidance, contact our recruitment team via email or by calling 01244 393100. If you have a disability that meets the Equality Act 2010 criteria, or you meet the essential criteria for an available position, please consider the Guaranteed Interview Scheme. Please inform the team if you have any special support needs to be considered as part of the interview and selection processes.

The trust offers a Guaranteed Interview Scheme to armed forces community applicants and encourages applications from armed forces reservists or cadet force adult volunteers. Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check, with costs deducted from salary following appointment. You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service (small annual fee of £16). New entrants to the NHS will commence on the minimum of the scale stated above. Applicants are advised to apply early as we reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the advertised date if a large number of applications are received. Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team CWP very soon!