Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Joining the Trust also allows you access to a number of saving options via our salary sacrifice schemes and a wide range of discount opportunities with retailers and service providers.

Job overview

We are delighted to advertise this permanent post at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust (STHFT). In our latest staff survey, 95% of DPS staff report feeling valued and cared for and that their role makes a difference.

We aim to attract a committed, diverse, and talented workforce who are passionate about delivering psychological care within an acute hospital setting and adapting approaches to meet the needs of our services and service users. In return, we offer a supportive, dynamic work setting where you can link with colleagues and develop your career.

We welcome applications from HCPC registered Clinical or Counselling Psychologists with skills and experience relevant to this context; support will be given for anyone returning to the workplace.

We particularly encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and the LGBTQ+ community.

Please see the attachment “Department overview” for more details about working with us.

Main duties of the job

Although the post is clinical in nature it is critical for applicants to demonstrate an ability to work with the wider hospital system and support system change. The post holder will be part of the Inpatient and Acute Psychology team and may be asked to work across other areas.

Working with patients and team members, there is potential to have a far-reaching positive impact both directly and indirectly, making a huge difference to outcomes and quality of life for patients. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to provide supervision, training and advice to the wider staff group, and engage with key stakeholders.

Working for our organisation

You will be working for an organisation which values and respects all its staff and the community it serves. The Trust is a leader in the NHS and research sectors and provides excellent benefits for its staff. This includes commitments to professional development but also many policies to support employees in balancing their personal and professional lives.

The attached document outlines our department strategy.

As a dynamic department, we have seen considerable growth in recent years and have a portfolio of new service developments. Continuing professional development is strongly supported, as appropriate to the individual’s and organisation’s requirements.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please view the attached Job Description and Person Specification documents for full details regarding this post.

When completing your application please ensure that you clearly demonstrate how you meet the role criteria.

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical or counselling psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996), as accredited by the HCPC, including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, as accredited by the British Psychological Society.
• Professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
• Eligible for Practitioner Full Membership of the BPS Divisions of Clinical or Counselling Psychology

• Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice

Experience

• Experience of working as a qualified clinical or counselling psychologist at a highly specialist level.
• Experience of working and communicating with a wide variety of patient groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across a range of care settings including inpatient, community, outpatient, residential, primary care
• Experience in the management of services, including the management of psychology staff groups.
• Experience in leading on the promotion and development of psychological approaches within health care settings.
• Experience of working clinically within health and medical settings.
• Experience of maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing psychological and physical health problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan
• Experience of teaching, training, and professional and clinical supervision.

• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of representing psychology and trauma-informed care within the context of multi-disciplinary care
• Experience in project management.

Skills and Knowledge

• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical/counselling psychology, including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
• Highly developed skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention , and management, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• A high-level ability to communicate effectively both in writing and orally complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to patients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons.
• Ability to exercise judgement when presented with highly complex facts or situations, which require the analysis, interpretation , and comparison of a range of options.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non - professional groups, including a trauma-informed care approach.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical or counselling psychology .
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Knowledge of legislation & policy in relation to DPS’s patient groups and psychological, neurological and physical health/mental health.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by HCPC and BPS.
• Skills in working with diversity

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g., personality disorder, chronic or terminal illness, complex psychological or physical problems, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).

Personal Qualities

• Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
• Ability to identify, and employ as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• The ability to manage conflicting priorities in an efficient way, excellent organisational and prioritisation skills. A good track record of delivery on objectives .
• Experience in working with interpreters.
• Excellent organisational skills, able to work with appropriate autonomy and able to recognise when escalation to the DPS senior management team is required.

• Ability to think and act creatively and flexibly about psychology as applied to designated services
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.

Candidates are advised to read the attached guidance on using AI technology. When you complete your application, you are required to declare that the information in your application form is true and complete. The personal statement is exactly that; personal.

When selecting to apply via NHS Jobs, you will be redirected to our preferred recruitment system called Trac. You will be asked to create and submit your application via the Trac recruitment system.

You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. All communications should be sent via your Trac system account.

If you are offered employment at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals your information will be transferred from the Trac recruitment system into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system. In addition, in submitting an application form, you authorise our Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the ESR IAT process should you be appointed.

Please note, all communication regarding your application will be made via email sent via the Trac recruitment system, please ensure you check your junk/spam folders as emails are sometimes filtered there.

The Trust is committed to its obligations in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, and we positively encourage applications from all sections of the community. Should you require any assistance in applying for the position please contact the General or Medical Human Resources Departments on the number identified on the NHS Jobs page for the organisation.

Job Share applicants are welcome for all full time posts unless indicated but cannot be guaranteed. In addition for Fixed Term Contracts, internal secondments may be considered, please seek the approval of your current line manager before applying for the position.

All employment with the Trust is subject to a number of NHS Employment Checks being met to a satisfactory standard including verification of identity, eligibility to work in the United Kingdom, references and qualifications in addition to professional registration, a disclosure and barring records check and occupational health check if these are deemed to be a requirement for the position to be undertaken.

For more information about our organisation and the opportunities available, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.