Psychosexual Therapist/ psychologist

We are looking for a psychosexual and relationship therapist, or psychologist/ psychotherapist with sex and relationship therapy experience, to work at The Royal Marsden Hospital.

We are looking for a 0.4wte, AfC band 7 qualified clinician. The role requires the postholder to be onsite 2 days each week (1 day in Chelsea and 1 day in Sutton).

The Adult Psychological Support Service (APSS) provides psychosexual and relationship therapy to cancer patients and their partners to manage the impact of cancer and its treatment on functioning and emotional intimacy.

As well as providing direct clinical services, you would provide specialist advice and consultation on patients’ cancer related sexual and relationship difficulties to APSS, medical, nursing and AHP colleagues through multidisciplinary team meetings and attendance at clinics as appropriate. You would offer clinical supervision to trainees in the service; as well as to medical, nursing and AHP colleagues. You would also input to service policy and development.

Main duties of the job

To provide a qualified psychosexual and relationship therapy service to cancer patients, as partof the Adult Psychological Support Service (APSS), within a specialist cancer treatment centre at The Royal Marsden.

To provide specialist advice and consultation on patients’ cancer related sexual and relationship difficulties to APSS, medical, nursing and AHP colleagues through multidisciplinary team meetings and attendance at clinics as appropriate.

To offer clinical supervision to trainees on placement; as well as to medical, nursing and AHP colleagues.

Psychosexual and relationship service development through new and innovative ways of working, for example, the development of clinical guidelines and the establishment and evaluation of psycho-education interventions.

In consultation with the Consultant Psychologist/ APSS Lead, to contribute to the strategic development of APSS on matters relating to psychosexual and relationship therapy.

Participation in audit, policy and service development and research,

Work autonomously within professional guidelines and within the overall framework of the department and trust’s policies and procedures.

Working for our organisation

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals – one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey – as well as a Medical Daycare Unit in Kingston Hospital.

At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.

At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits, learning and development opportunities and clear career pathways. There are opportunities to work flexibly across a range of areas and specialities and we welcome flexible working requests from point of hire to support employees work life balance. We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To work as a qualified clinician contributing to the development of an outpatient psychosexual and relationship therapy service for adult cancer patients; delivering a range of interventions to support individuals / couples affected by cancer across the lifespan, in the form of individual or couple therapy and psycho-educational groups. The post willrequire independent management of caseload and provision of a psychosexual and relationship therapy service with appropriate supervision and professional management, as per professional body guidelines.

Working within the highly specialised area of psycho-oncology to provide appropriate psychosexual and relationship assessments, based upon the use, interpretation and integration of complex psychosexual data from a variety of sources including self-report measures, surgical, radiation, SACT and endocrine treatment plans, pharmacological and supportive care management and semi-structured interviews with patients, partners and others involved in the patient’s care.

You will be joining a supportive and friendly team of qualified and trainee staff from across a range of clinical backgrounds, including counselling, psychology, psychiatry and mental health nursing. There are excellent CPD opportunities.

We encourage you to contact us to discuss the role and/ or to arrange an informal visit. Please contact Dr Justin Grayer, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Lead of Adult Psychological Support Service on Justin.grayer@rmh.nhs.uk or Isabel White, Psychosexual Therapist (Weds/Thurs), on isabel.white@rmh.nhs.uk and 020 8661 3006.

Closing date: 2 weeks from advert publication Provisional interview date and location: date TBC, The Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham Rd, London

Education/Qualifications

• Post-Graduate Diploma level training in Psychosexual Therapy, accredited by COSRT
• AND Professional health care practitioner training such as nurse, occupational therapist, accredited by appropriate professional body AND
• Registered with COSRT/ BACP or other recognised psychological therapy professional body
• Post-Graduate Master’s level training in Psychosexual Therapy, accredited by COSRT, or psychotherapy training
• Registered with COSRT/ BACP or other recognised therapy body
• Post-Graduate Doctoral level training in Clinical/ Counselling Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996), accredited by the BPS
• Registered with HCPC

Experience

• Specialist assessment and therapy using an integrative psychosexual therapy approach incorporating CBT, Couple/ Systems Therapy & Biomedical management principles
• Specialist psychosexual assessment and treatment of a variety of client groups across the lifespan, presenting with a wide range of clinical severity
• Specialist psychosexual assessment and treatment of patients with a long-term and / or life limiting illness
• Collaborative work within multi-disciplinary teams within a hospital setting, and the ability to form good working relationships
• Exercising full clinical responsibility for patients’ psychosexual care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified clinician and within a multi-disciplinary team
• Experience of working as a qualified psychosexual therapist within a multi-cultural setting
• Training and experience in couple’s therapy.
• Specialist psychosexual assessment and treatment of patients with cancer
• Provision of supervision (group and 1:1) to trainee and qualified psychosexual therapists/ psychologists/ counsellors
• Teaching & training to psychological and other health care practitioners on psychosexual matters
• Evidence of research productivity

Skills Abilities/knowledge

• Post-graduate level knowledge of Psychosexual Therapy
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychosexual assessment and intervention frequently requiring use of sustained and intense concentration
• A high-level ability to communicate complex and sensitive information effectively in written and oral format, to patients, their families, carers, and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside of NHS
• Skills in providing consultation and advice to other professional and non-professional groups
• Post-graduate level knowledge and experience in research design and methodology
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by COSRT/ BPS/ BACP
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance to maintain high quality clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotional and distressing material
• Ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
• Knowledge of legislation and implications for clinical practice
• Knowledge of theory related to couple’s therapy
• Training in the supervision of psychosexual therapists/ psychologists/ counsellors
• Training in the delivery and process of supervision of other healthcare professionals, clinical nurse specialists
• Knowledge of psycho-oncology theory and practice of psychosexual and psychological therapies applied to cancer care settings
• An understanding of the impact of illness on patient’s psychosexual and psychological wellbeing

Other Requirements

• Enthusiasm for psychosexual therapy, its application to physical health care, specifically psycho-oncology, and a wish to continue to develop expertise
• Team player
• Able to be self-directive and act as an autonomous practitioner
• Ability to effectively manage competing demands
• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to contain and understand the stress of others in a team
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• A commitment to the evaluation of services, including audit, and service development
• Ability to provide appropriate support to carers and staff
• A commitment to keeping abreast of literature and of new developments in the field
• Computer literate (including Excel), and ability to use multi-media materials for presentations
• Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance and audit mechanisms to reflect, assess and maintain the effectiveness of clinical practice
• Ability to articulate and interpret the role of psychosexual therapy in local and national contexts
• Able to work on both sites and to be flexible to meet the needs of the role
• Able to adapt to a constantly changing environment and to respond under pressure

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Please ensure your information is accurate to avoid errors with processing your application

All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.

Flu Vaccination – What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.

The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.