Job summary
We are seeking an experienced and motivated Senior Clinical Psychologist (Band 8a) to join the Psychological Skills Service (PSS Cambridge) within Adult and Specialist Mental Health Services.

This innovative and specialist service supports adults affected by complex trauma and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), delivering evidence-based, trauma-informed psychological interventions while promoting a greater understanding of trauma across the wider healthcare system.

The successful post holder will provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment for individuals experiencing complex trauma-related difficulties. They will deliver a range of evidence-based interventions including EMDR, Trauma-Focused CBT and Compassion Focused approaches, while contributing to service development, supervision, training, consultation and leadership activities.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced practitioner who is passionate about trauma-informed care, clinical excellence, workforce development and improving outcomes for people with complex psychological needs.

Main duties of the job
Clinical Responsibilities
The post holder will provide highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention for adults presenting with complex trauma and Complex PTSD. They will undertake comprehensive assessments and develop individualised, trauma-informed treatment plans that reflect the needs and experiences of service users.

The role involves delivering evidence-based psychological therapies, including:

• Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT)
• Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)
• Schema-informed approaches

The post holder will maintain clinical responsibility for a specialist caseload, monitor outcomes, adapt interventions in response to clinical need and coordinate psychological care packages. They will work collaboratively with service users, carers and multidisciplinary teams to ensure effective and holistic care planning.

Leadership, Consultation and Supervision
Post holder will support the development of trauma-informed practice through leadership, training and consultation activities,including:

• Providing formal and informal clinical supervision.Supporting and developing junior psychologists and multidisciplinary staff.
• Offering expert advice regarding complex clinical presentations, risk management and professional boundaries.
• Contributing to recruitment, induction and workforce development activities.
• Supporting service-wide implementation of trauma-informed care principles.

About us
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead fulfilling lives.

Our clinical teams deliver a wide range of NHS services across inpatient, primary care and community settings, including children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, and research and development.

To achieve our goals, we recruit high calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities' employer, we welcome applications from all sections of the community, particularly under represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

All appointments for new employees to CPFT are subject to the successful completion of a probationary period.

Please note we reserve the right to close adverts early should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all roles. If you apply for a post that does not attract sponsorship, your application will be withdrawn from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at Apply through our website

Job responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

• Undertake specialist psychological assessments, risk assessments and trauma-informed formulations for adults experiencing complex trauma and C-PTSD.
• Deliver evidence-based psychological therapies, including EMDR,
• Trauma-Focused CBT and trauma-informed interventions.
• Maintain a specialist caseload and exercise responsibility for assessment, treatment planning, intervention and discharge.
• Provide psychological consultation, guidance and specialist advice to multidisciplinary colleagues and partner services.
• Deliver individual and group therapeutic interventions and contribute to innovative trauma-informed treatment programmes.
• Provide clinical supervision, mentoring and support to trainee psychologists, assistant psychologists, Clinical Associate Psychologists and staff.
• Promote and embed Trauma-Informed Care principles across services and systems.
• Contribute to service development, quality improvement, research, audit and evaluation activities.
• Participate in multidisciplinary meetings and care planning forums to improve care pathways for service users.
• Support the development of psychoeducational resources, training programmes and materials for staff, service users and carers.
• Ensure high standards of clinical governance, patient safety, safeguarding and professional practice.
• Maintain accurate clinical records and utilise information systems to support service delivery, audit and research activities

Please note for this role you will need the ability to travel independently and in a timely manner across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to meet strict time deadlines.

Person Specification
Education & Qualifications
Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology and HCPC registration as a Clinical Psychologist
• Post graduate training in 2 or more trauma-focussed psychological therapies e.g.TF-CBT, EMDR (Level 3), NET, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy or other.
• Undertaken or intending to undertake training in supervising trainees.

Desirable

• BABCP accredited
• Additional training in advanced techniques e.g. working with parts/ ego states in EMDR, Flash, EMDR 2.0.

Experience
Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of service users across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
• Experience of working with a setting working with service users who have experienced developmental trauma delivering trauma informed interventions
• Experience of delivering EMDR and TF CBT to service users who have experienced complex trauma
• Experience of developing interventions (e.g. group programmes, psychoeducation) for service users who have complex CPTSD

Desirable

• Experience of working with people who are neurodiverse and adapting interventions
• Experience of teaching staff about formulation and trauma informed care

Skills & Abilities
Essential

• Excellent assessment and formulation skills in regard to C-PTSD, with a thorough understanding of up-to-date theory.
• Highly developed skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management including the use of theoretical models to analyse information and to develop formulations upon which to base choice of treatment with particular reference to Adult Mental Health

Knowledge and Understanding
Essential

• Knowledge of working with people with complex needs.
• Good understanding of other professionals' theoretical perspectives of this service user group.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the service user group and the setting, and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group.
• Specialist knowledge of complex trauma and complex PTSD

Desirable

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies to patients specifically ACT, compassion focused therapies,

Other
Essential

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, enabling formation of networks with professionals within the Trust and from other agencies to promote effective team working with clients.

Desirable

• Ability to travel independently and in a timely manner across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to meet strict deadlines.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).