Job summary
Psychotherapist, Band 7 (18.75 hours a week) For a newly created and innovative post, we are seeking a skilled and compassionate psychotherapist to provide a specialist psychological service to colleagues in our trust

This is an exciting opportunity for a creative professional to engage in service development alongside other psychology colleagues in the Staff Psychology Service, with plenty of scope to develop the role according to the post holder's interests. The remit of the work will include developing and providing specialist interventions at an individual and group level, consultation and advice on wellbeing in the trust, and education and training for colleagues through workshops and webinars. The postholder will work closely with colleagues in the Staff Advice and Support hub supporting effective triage assessments and signposting as well as colleagues in Organisational Development to support the integration of psychologically informed practice across the hospital sites focusing on both preventative and responsive approaches.

Interview date: w/c 3rd August

Main duties of the job

• providing specialist psychological interventions to staff including trauma focused therapy
• providing psychological expertise around indirect clinical work including consultation and training for staff
• providing psychoeducation and skills-based training/workshops on identified areas of emotional difficulty
• using knowledge and skills to identify and implement audit, service evaluation and development activities.
• acting independently and being accountable for own actions within professional guidelines and trust policies.

About us
We take pride in placing people at the centre of everything we do, working together as a united team. Driven by a shared ambition to continually grow, develop, and learn, we recognise and value every contribution. By combining our experience and skills, we not only support our vibrant, diverse communities, but also support one another.

With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire and rank among the top 10 largest Trusts in the South West region. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one or both of our innovative hospitals.

As well as generous annual leave allowance, you will have access to the excellent NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, discounts at local shops and restaurants, access to two on-site nurseries, discounted public transport, reward and recognition and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Job description
Job responsibilities
Provision of Clinical Services/Clinical Responsibilities

• Direct clinical intervention through the application of a range of psychological theories and models to analyse, understand and interpret complex situations and behaviours to formulate interventions which are tailored to both individual and team needs. This requires the capacity to engage in intense concentration for prolonged periods of time.
• To act autonomously and be professionally accountable for their own practice and in common with all psychotherapists to undertake regular clinical supervision.
• To develop strong working relationships with divisions, departments and managers who are struggling with work-related distress/trauma or supporting those going through these experiences.
• Clinical interventions may be delivered in person or online and take the form of i) decompression sessions for staff teams following an internal incident or period of prolonged stress ii) providing psychoeducation and skills based training on identified areas of emotional difficulty iii)providing 1:1 psychological support for employees struggling with work related stress or distress or iiii) co-facilitating online workshops/mindfulness drop in sessions.
• Provide specialised consultation to staff, groups and managers on topics related to staff well-being.
• Take responsibility for managing own time, planning clinics and other clinical work. Organising workload of, and supervising students / assistants where appropriate.
• To have responsibility for maintaining clear and accurate records.
• Application of current evidence-based interventions.
• There will be a frequent requirement for intense concentration during sessions and exposure to distressing or emotional circumstances.

Professional Development, Education and Training

• Provider of professional advice/education on psychological factors around trauma/wellbeing
• Implement policies and service developments in line with government directives.
• Identify service needs, support with setting up new initiatives which will enhance outcomes.
• To attend and contribute to the regular professional meetings of the staff psychology team, the Department of Psychology and other relevant meetings as required.
• Deliver specialist psychological teaching /training to colleagues, as relevant to experience and knowledge.
• Teaching psychological workshops to staff/co-facilitating psychological debriefs
• Use appropriate information technology to support teaching and training.
• Participate in current Trust performance / development review systems (e.g. appraisal).
• Responsibility for maintenance and development for own professional skills based.
• Remain abreast of recent developments in relevant areas of psychological therapy/theory through personal study and attendance at workshops / conferences.
• Actively participate in local and national special interest groups.

Research and Development

• To undertake applied audit programmes and research where relevant, using a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies with the aim of improving interventions and health outcomes for staff. This utilises reflective scientist-practitioner and research skills.
• Offer consultation to other professionals with reference to research or audit-based activity.
• Regularly carry out evaluation of clinical intervention and making adjustments indicated by this.
• Comply with Clinical Governance requirements.

Communications and Working Relationships

• The post holder will be line-managed and clinically supervised by a Consultant Counselling Psychologist, the Lead for the Staff Psychology Service. There are close working relationships with 2 other psychologist posts within the service, a principal clinical psychologist and a senior clinical psychologist.
• The post holder would also be linking in and building relationships with other psychologists in the wider department and colleagues in People services as well as staff and teams across the organisation.

Person Specification
Qualifications, Knowledge and skills, Experience, personal attributes
Essential

• Accredited post-graduate psychotherapy / CBT training
• Registration with UKCP, BACP or BABCP
• Able to communicate in a highly sensitive and skilled manner, sensitive information to staff members in a compassionate and effective way, for example where there are high levels of distress, psychological risk, anger, or where barriers to self-care exist.
• Ability to put psychological theory into practice in novel and complex clinical settings, synthesizing data and theory from a range of evidence-based sources to develop individual, group and team interventions
• Highly developed skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment and treatment; experience in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of audit and clinical data
• Ability to contain and work therapeutically with people in psychological distress
• Able to work exceptionally well within a team, to foster psychological safety and a climate of care, compassion and learning
• Ability to evaluate and prioritise competing clinical demands and to use planned and ad hoc supervision as part of coping with these
• Mobile to meet the requirements of the post
• Proficient use of standard IT systems for clinical work training, and research purposes including Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint
• Experience of working in a clinical setting in the NHS
• Significant understanding of, and experience with, evidence-based psychological models and therapeutic approaches to health and wellbeing (e.g. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
• Ability to build positive working relationships, respecting and valuing the contributions made by others and acting in an inclusive, considerate and helpful manner at all times
• Able to demonstrate a realistic awareness of the potential emotional impact of working within staff support with strategies to compassionately manage this, both within themselves and fostering colleague and team wellbeing
• Efficient and well organised
• Can cope with working across sites in a busy and changing environment
• Able to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of, at times, highly emotive and distressing issues
• Ability to be flexible and tolerate systemic challenges

Desirable

• Further relevant training eg; in specific therapeutic approaches such as EMDR, Compassion Focused Therapy and Mindfulness based interventions
• Experience of brief interventions
• Knowledge of healthcare systems
• Evidence of regular CPD
• Significant understanding and experience of working with staff/patients with mental health difficulties/trauma
• Experience of providing advice, consultation and supervision to other healthcare professionals regarding psychological aspects of wellbeing
• Experience of scoping, delivery and evaluating a project or service improvement
• A commitment to the evaluation of services

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
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.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see the NHS Careers website.