Consultant Practitioner Psychologist - Adult Mental Health

Be part of a 'Healthy Caring Powys' and help us transform the way we provide health and care, so our communities can Start Well, Live Well and Age Well.

Powys Teaching Health Board is seeking an experienced and inspirational Consultant Practitioner Psychologist to lead our Adult Psychology and Psychological Therapies Service. This is a senior leadership position offering the opportunity to shape and influence the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based psychological services across Adult Mental Health. As a key member of the Psychology Leadership Team, you will provide strategic, professional and operational leadership, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and psychologically informed services.

You will lead and manage a multidisciplinary psychology workforce, oversee clinical governance, workforce development, service improvement, audit and research activities, and promote a culture where staff, service users and carers can thrive. Alongside your leadership responsibilities, you will maintain a specialist clinical caseload, providing highly specialist assessment, formulation and intervention for adults experiencing complex and severe mental health difficulties across community and inpatient settings.

Main duties of the job

• Provide strategic, operational and clinical leadership for the Adult Psychology and Psychological Therapies Service, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based psychological care.
• Lead service planning, development and improvement initiatives, oversee clinical governance arrangements and ensure effective supervision, professional development and workforce support for psychological practitioners.
• Manage senior clinical staff, leading recruitment and induction processes, coordinating service meetings, monitoring waiting lists and supporting the delivery of accessible, culturally competent and psychologically informed services.
• Contribute to local, regional and national developments in psychological practice and represent psychology within multidisciplinary and strategic forums.
• Hold a specialist caseload and provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for adults with complex and severe mental health difficulties.
• Offer consultation and supervision to multidisciplinary colleagues, contribute to risk assessment and management, and support evidence-based practice across services.
• Lead and oversee audit, service evaluation and research activities, using outcomes and evidence to drive continuous service improvement and enhance the quality of care provided across Adult Mental Health services.

Working for our organisation

Being the smallest Heath Board in Wales means that you won’t get lost in the crowd. Everybody at Powys Teaching Health Board is valued for the contribution they make to our varied and diverse portfolio of community-based services. Together, we can continue to make a real difference to our patients and build on our unrivalled reputation. As a supportive and progressive employer, we actively encourage you to carve out a career with us, through a range of development pathways. We’re also lucky enough to be situated in one of the most beautiful rural counties in Britain, let alone Wales! Achieving a healthy ’life work’ balance is essential, and something we recognise by prioritising your well-being.

To start your journey with us, and to learn more about what we can offer you please visit: https://pthb.nhs.wales/working-for-us/. There you will find information about our benefits and values, read staff experiences and more about what our beautiful county has to offer.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We are looking for a HCPC-registered Practitioner Psychologist with substantial post-qualification experience, strong leadership skills and a proven track record of service development within NHS mental health services. This is an exciting opportunity to make a significant contribution to the future of psychological practice across Powys and to improve outcomes for the people and communities we serve.

For further details, please see the attached combined Job Description and Person Specification. We would particularly welcome applications from Welsh speakers; but even if you don’t speak any Welsh, or want to develop your skills, don’t worry: the health board will support you with training. The post holder will need to offer face to face clinics in one or more clinical bases across the health board, including in Bronllys, Llandrindod and/or Newtown. The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; Welsh and/or English speakers are equally welcome to apply.

Person specification

Qualifications and Knowledge

• Post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology accredited by the HCPC (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 as accredited by the BPS)
• HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist
• Additional training beyond entry-level qualification in a specialised area of psychological practice through formal post qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses and/or an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice–based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists
• Advanced knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies for adult mental health
• Advanced knowledge of psychological assessment and clinical psychometrics
• Doctoral level knowledge of psychological research methodology and complex statistical analysis
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of management and leadership
• Evidence of peer reviewed publications, presentations at conferences, or similar contributions
• BABCP registration

Experience

• Extensive and demonstrable experience of working as a HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist within services for adults with complex mental health /psychological issues
• Extensive experience of working with a wide range of patient groups presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, and in-patient
• Undertaking leadership and/or management roles
• Teaching, training and professional and clinical supervision
• Exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
• Delivery of evidence based and high intensity psychological interventions
• NHS recruitment and induction processes
• Proposing and implementing service development projects that impact beyond own service area.
• NHS management tasks and negotiating with NHS managers, professionals, colleagues and other agencies
• Audit and evaluation of clinical services
• Working with service users in coproduction
• Leading and managing psychological service(s) in an NHS setting
• Managing practitioner psychologists and psychological practitioners in an NHS setting

Skills & Attributes

• Manage staff (including line management) and negotiate specialty issues
• Design and implement policies for people with complex psychological needs and to propose service changes that impact beyond that area of activity
• Select and administer specialist psychological assessments, interpreting and integrating complex data that require analysis, interpretation and comparison, drawn from several sources, on which expert opinion may differ
• Communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information
• Plan delivery of psychology and psychotherapy services to the client group and carers, involving partner agencies
• Well-developed consultation skills to work with the multi-professional team or other professional groups
• Well-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data and for teaching purposes
• Providing teaching and training to other professional groups
• Identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate
• Some ability to speak, read and/or write Welsh, or an eagerness to learn

Other

• Commitment to working collaboratively with users of services and their care partners to develop and improve services
• Ability to travel between work sites in a timely manner

As a Health Board we embrace diversity and inclusion. We offer a supportive and welcoming place to work which is free from discrimination and fair in all our working practices. We’ll value your contribution whether you’re looking for your first job, an apprenticeship, re-entering the workforce or looking for a career change. Powys Teaching Health Board warmly welcomes all. You can complete your application in Welsh or English, it’s entirely your choice. Once you’ve applied, we will keep you updated on the progress of your application, so be sure to check your emails regularly.

Interested in working with us, but haven’t found the right job opportunity yet, or you require some guidance with your application, please contact our Resourcing Team on 01874 712580 or e-mail powysresourcing@wales.nhs.uk. We’ll be happy to have an informal chat with you.