Senior Practitioner Psychologist SEDS

We're looking for people who share our values (compassion, accountability and optimism) to help us provide high quality care to the patients, carers, families and local communities we serve. We specialise in providing NHS mental health and learning disability services.

We are an organisation which puts people first. We'll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. We'll help you learn, acquire new skills and gain further experience to support your career development. And we'll provide the opportunity for you to bring your fresh ideas to work about how we can do things differently and continue improving. You will also be joining a health and care system committed to working together to do the best we can for the communities we serve. Above all, at Sussex Partnership you'll have the chance to make a difference to the lives of the patients, carers and families across our communities. As a Trust we are committed to making a difference. Your development is important to us, so don't forget to ask us during interview what opportunities we can offer. We can offer fully funded lifelong learning opportunities such as an apprenticeship from GCSE to Masters level.

Job overview

Are you looking for an exciting challenge that is hugely rewarding? Do you want to help shape the future of the Sussex Eating Disorder Service (SEDS)? We're looking for like-minded people to join us and help provide top quality care to those who need it. SEDS is developing an exciting new pathway to support patients with severe eating disorders. The Inpatient Transition Pathway (ITP) aims to radically improve patient experience by minimising episodes of inpatient care and transforming transitions between community and inpatient services. The ITP will be based within SEDS, which is an outpatient service delivering NICE recommended treatments and aims to provide the best possible care to adults living with eating disorders.

The Senior Practitioner Psychologists/Psychological Therapist will be a key role in the ITP, leading on pathway development and evaluation. Covering the whole of Sussex, SEDS provides specialist eating disorder services across a large geographical area, including Coastal West Sussex, North West Sussex, Brighton and East Sussex. This post will be supervised by either a Principal or Consultant Psychologist within SEDS. We are a nurturing team, that prioritises supervision, career development and training. This is a chance for you to join an organisation which sets a high priority on the development of services in collaboration with experts through experience.

Main duties of the job

• The post holder will shape an ethos of 'continuity of care' by leading on developing patient formulations to inform care planning across services and providing in-reach into Specialist Eating Disorder Units (SEDU).
• You will hold a caseload of patients who have transitioned from SEDU into community care.
• You will have a senior role in the team, providing supervision and line management to more junior Psychologists/Psychological Therapists.
• The post holder will be responsible for the service evaluation of the ITP. This will be supported by an innovative eating disorder research clinic (SPIRED) attached to SEDS.

This clinic aims to improve the treatment and support available to people with eating disorders; bringing together the expertise and experience of clinicians and people with lived experience of eating disorders.

Working for our organisation

We are committed to supporting staff well-being, developing new roles in teams, and have a thriving Recovery College. We have close links with the local universities and support the training schemes for clinical psychology and nursing, providing high quality placements. The trust is committed to strong integrated, collaborative leadership between managers and clinicians.

• Access to full psychological support, via our internal wellbeing team
• Excellent supervision programmes, with ongoing opportunities for training and development
• Access to a host of discount schemes
• A position within a trust rated as ‘Outstanding’ for caring and ‘Good’ overall by the CQC
• Excellent NHS Pension
• Generous holiday entitlement (starting at 27 days + 8 bank holidays)

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

REQUIREMENTS

Successful applications will be required to have:

• A degree in Psychology and Doctoral level training in Applied Psychology (or its equivalent for those who trained before 1996 or outside the UK)
• Or, you will have accredited training in CBT
• Previous experience of working in an eating disorder service

See attached Job Description and Person Specification for full details.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained before 1996 or outside the UK*] as approved by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology
• *For forensic psychologists working in forensic settings: Master's degree (with the award of the British Psychological Society qualification in forensic psychology or equivalent).
• Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HCPC).

Knowledge/Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
• Demonstrate specialist experience gained post-qualification of working as an applied psychologist with evidence of having received a substantial amount of clinical supervision (normally in the region of approximately 50 hours)
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client A / I 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 teaching, training and/or supervision
• Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.

Sussex Partnership NHS FT is committed to supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. Our workforce is currently under-represented from Black and Minority, Ethnic and disabled communities and we would welcome applications from these communities.

We regret that we are unable to advise candidates if they have not been shortlisted. If you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date please assume that you have been unsuccessful on this occasion. In the event of an excessive number of applicants the Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy earlier than indicated.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust takes its responsibilities for the safeguarding and protection of children and young people and vulnerable adults very seriously and expects this of all its employees and bank workers. The Trust works with adult and children’s social care to ensure that the integrated service has systems in place to equip staff and bank workers with the knowledge and skills to recognize abuse, and take action to safeguard and protect vulnerable adults and children and young people. It is expected that all staff and bank workers familiarise themselves with the appropriate structures and policies and with the Sussex child protection and safeguarding procedures and the Sussex multi-agency policy and procedures for safeguarding vulnerable adults and undertake the relevant essential training and further training appropriate to their role.

Successful candidates are normally offered salaries at the bottom of the relevant salary range. However, where previous or equivalent NHS experience in a similar role can be demonstrated and evidenced, this may be taken into consideration when setting the starting salary.

We are looking for a passionate and dedicated team member. We would welcome a phone conversation about the service/post.