Job summary
Are you a motivated and enthusiastic newly qualified or early-career Clinical Psychologist looking to develop their skills within a supportive and progressive service. The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in North East Dorset are looking to recruit you.

In Dorset, we are transforming our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services into a Family Mental Health model that embraces and adopts the THRIVE framework. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to service development and innovation, supporting a whole-family approach grounded in compassion, collaboration and shared decision-making.

You will provide a specialist clinical psychology service to children, young people and their families, delivering high-quality psychological assessment, formulation and evidence-based interventions for complex mental health presentations. Working autonomously within professional guidelines, you will manage a defined caseload and contribute to multidisciplinary and multi-agency care planning.

You will use a range of psychological models and assessment tools to inform intervention, undertake risk assessments and contribute to effective risk management. The role includes providing specialist consultation and advice to colleagues and partner agencies, contributing to service development, audit, outcome evaluation, and maintaining accurate clinical records. Regular supervision, continuing professional development and reflective practice are integral to the role.

Main duties of the job
The Clinical Psychologist role is a full-time post of 37.5 hours per week.

As part of Dorset HealthCare, you will contribute to a compassionate, collaborative and learning-focused service, working closely with health, education, social care and voluntary sector partners to support integrated care pathways. We offer regular high-quality supervision, continuing professional development, and opportunities to be involved in service development, audit and research.

You will provide a specialist psychological service to children and young people with a range of mental health difficulties, working directly with service users and their families, and indirectly through consultation and advice to colleagues within the multidisciplinary team and partner agencies.

You will deliver high-quality psychological assessment, formulation and evidence-based interventions, working autonomously within professional guidelines and service policies. The role requires excellent communication skills and the ability to work with complex, sensitive and emotive presentations.

About us
At Dorset HealthCare we're on a mission to empower people to make the most of their lives through our outstanding, joined-up healthcare services. We're a dynamic, forward-looking Trust, running 12 community hospitals, specialist inpatient facilities and a wide range of integrated community and mental health services for a population of almost800,000 people.

We do things differently here - it's one of the reasons the CQC rated us 'outstanding' in 2019. It's also why 95% of patients across our services say they have a good or very good experience of our services and 89% of staff feel they can really make a difference. Whether you're looking to work with us in one of our bustling market towns, vibrant urban locations, thriving seaside spots, or among the rolling hills of Dorset, there are lots of ways you can make a difference in our communities.

Our 7,000-strong workforce is at the heart of what we do and our success is a testament to our brilliant people. We're all about building a workplace for the future, we believe in equal opportunities and we celebrate diversity. We're an inclusive workplace, where everyone is welcome, everyone can be authentic, and we are all encouraged to be the best version of ourselves.

Working with us you'll be part of a strong team, challenge yourself, build a career, and teach us what we don't know. And you'll be working towards our vision to create healthier lives, empowered citizens and thriving communities.

Job responsibilities
For the main duties and responsibilities for this role please read the attached job description and person specification. When completing your application please ensure your supporting statement reflects the criteria set out in these documents by showing how your experience and skills apply to this post.

We understand that AI can be a useful tool when completing your application. However, we are seeing an increasing over-reliance of AI tools, which can negatively affect your application as it reduces a candidates individuality, and makes it difficult for us to gain a clear and authentic understanding of your experience, skills, and in turn your suitability for the role.

All submissions must be truthful and if you do use AI, it should only be used to enhance your application and not create your supporting statement in its entirety. Your supporting statement should be in your own words and must accurately reflect your personal experience and achievements. Where we have concerns that AI has been used to generate content that misrepresents your experience and suitability for the role, we may withdraw your application.

As part of our vision to have a skilled, diverse and caring workforce, Dorset HealthCare offers support for people getting into work. We offer an employability service to support individuals with application writing, interview skills and other employment support. If you would like or know of anyone who would value this support, please do contact dhc.wideningparticipation@nhs.net

Person Specification
Knowledge, skills and training

• Post-graduate doctorate in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS or HCPC.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology
• Experience of clinical supervision for trainee and assistant clinical psychologists
• Knowledge of legislation, white papers, etc. and implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to older adults and adults with Learning Disabilities
• Membership of HCPC

Job Specific Experience

• Clinical experience with children and families
• Experience of Assessment and Formulation with children and families
• Experience in completing specialist assessments such as capacity assessment, dementia assessment, etc
• Competent knowledge of neuropsychological testing

Information Technology

• Ability to use a computer and Internet for word processing, keeping electronic notes, spreadsheets, presentations, teaching and information seeking purposes

Additional requirements

• Subject to the provisions of the Equality Act, able to travel using own vehicle on Trust business.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the BPS and HCPC and working to professional guidelines. Must be capable of working on their own initiative and acting independently
• Demonstrable skills in written and spoken English to a standard which enables the post holder to carry out the full range of duties and responsibilities of the role effectively.
• Must have a car as role requires driving around the rural area of West Dorset to visit clients in their homes and day centres etc.

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.
Applicants must have current UK professional registration.