Job Summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to work on the Older Adult wards in the Mental Health Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team at Prospect Park Hospital in Reading. We welcome applications for this band 7 developmental post, with the opportunity to progress to band 8a when developmental competencies are met. There are opportunities for flexible working patterns which would include face-to-face clinical work as well as home working. We are also flexible in accommodating requests for part-time working days.

Main duties of the job

• Work on allocated wards-predominantly older adults mental health.
• Offer psychological consultation to community and hospital staff (e.g. team formulation, teaching sessions, joint working, supervision and staff support groups).
• Supervise Assistant Psychologist.
• Clinical work with service users and carers involving assessment (including neuropsychological assessments and behavioural support assessments), formulation and interventions with varied and complex mental health and cognitive presentations.
• Contribute to service improvement initiatives in a ward/community team, as well as contributing to projects arising from the Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team.

About us
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated 'outstanding' by the CQC, we're committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire. As an employer, we're committed to offering an inclusive and compassionate environment where our people share in a sense of belonging and are supported to flourish.

Job responsibilities
The 5 must haves for you to be considered for this role:

• Postgraduate doctoral qualification in Clinical or Counselling Psychology (or equivalent)
• You will have experience working with adults and/or older adults with complex mental health problems, cognitive impairment or other disabilities and have excellent therapeutic and management skills.
• You will enjoy working in teams and providing psychological consultation, teaching and supervision.
• Calm, confident and assertive in emotionally demanding situations, you will be astute at setting and maintaining professional boundaries and will be efficient at dealing with distressing or hostile situations and behaviour.
• Self-motivated and confident, you will show initiative and a determination to support clients and their families through creative engagement. This includes an ability to work integrative in your clinical work.

Person Specification
Education/Qualifications/Training

• Postgraduate doctorate in clinical or counselling psychology (or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996 or for those who completed their training overseas)
• Registered as a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• (Eligibility for) Chartered Membership of British Psychological Society (BPS)

Continuous Professional Development

• Evidence of training and/or interest and knowledge in psychological models or therapeutic approaches relevant to the post
• Commitment to continuing professional development as recommended by the relevant accrediting body

Experience

• Experience of working in evidence-based ways with services users (and their carers/families) presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the range of settings, 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 dealing with highly distressing or emotional circumstances, such as serious mental illness, child and sexual abuse, exploitation, and complex family dynamics
• Experience of working effectively in a multi-disciplinary team and multi-agency environments
• Experience of service development and carrying out clinical audits, evaluative research and applying the findings
• Experience of working with, and addressing, issues of diversity, including experience of working with diversity, multiculturalism, and equality of access to the service

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Demonstrable knowledge, skills and abilities in the practice of assessment, formulation and intervention, relevant to the specialist modality and service area
• Knowledge and understanding of service evaluation, audit and research and how to undertake these activities in an NHS context, including how to implement learning
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, complex, technical and/or sensitive information to service users, their carers/families and other professional colleagues, both within and outside of an NHS setting
• Well-developed interpersonal skills, with the ability to support, influence and engage with clinicians, stakeholders and service users to create change and improvement
• The ability and skills to act as an advocate for the service, to engage and foster positive relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of the service within the wider health care system
• Advanced IT skills and the ability to navigate various systems and software packages (such as RiO, Outlook, databases, MS Office/Teams, One Consultation and the Internet)

Additional Requirements

• Able to work flexibly around working patterns as required
• Ability to travel independently between locations in Berkshire to fulfil the requirements and duties of the position

Were committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.