Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is growing and changing. We provide specialist mental health, learning disability and community services across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton, and we’re hiring people who want to shape what comes next. Formed on 1 April 2020 through the merger of Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, we’re now focused on the future with a new Trust Strategy and our Best for the Black Country programme. What we do · Adult and older adult mental health · Children and young people’s mental health · Specialist learning disability services · Community healthcare for children, young people and families in Dudley Why join now · We’ve got real momentum right now. New strategy, clear priorities and our Best for the Black Country work mean things are moving in the right way, fast. · Our values aren’t just posters. People are genuinely compassionate, take responsibility, treat you with respect and help you feel confident and empowered. · You’ll be looked after. Flexible working, family-friendly policies, supportive teams, proper wellbeing support and chances to learn with coaching and development. · There’s room to grow. Loads of services to explore and real space to try ideas and be heard. · It’s a good place to live. Friendly diverse communities, easy transport, good schools and colleges, shopping, food, lots to do, plenty of green space and a lower cost of living than many other city regions. What it’s like to work here You’ll join friendly, skilled teams who look out for each other. We plan together, share caseload pressures, and celebrate wins. New starters get a warm welcome and clear induction; early careers colleagues have preceptorship and buddying; experienced staff can lead, teach and innovate. You’ll have space to do good work, speak up, and see the difference you make. Who we are We’re 4,000 colleagues from many backgrounds, committed to improving health and wellbeing for our communities and for each other. If you’re excited about the role but don’t tick every box, please apply. We value potential and transferable experience. Job overview Band 7 to 8a Applied Psychologist/Senior Applied Psychologist This post is available as either a Band 8a, or as a Band 7 with preceptorship to 8a. Hours: Full time. Flexible working is available. Base: As this service covers a wide geographical region, post holders are officially based at home, but you would have use of a Psychology office in Selly Oak, Birmingham and an office in Dudley. This role will require travel in the West and East Midlands regions, and you may need to provide support to clients in the South Central region. All travel would be in work time and paid from home. We are well resourced for remote working, and most of our team meetings are held remotely. We have an exciting opportunity for an Applied Psychologist to join the National Deaf CAMHS team for Central England, which covers the West Midlands, East Midlands and South Central regions. We particularly welcome and encourage applications from deaf psychologists. The Trust has a guaranteed interview scheme and we strongly encourage deaf applicants to declare so that they can be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria. We encourage applications from psychologists with a good level of British Sign Language (BSL). Be part of the national team to improve and provide mental health services for children, young people and parents who are severely to profoundly deaf across England. Advert You will be joining our team in providing an excellent assessment and therapeutic service to young people and families, as well as joining at a time when we are strengthening the teams’ psychologically-informed culture. This post is to provide a specialist Applied Psychology service to deaf children, young people and families accessing the NDCAMHS. The post-holder will be required to work flexibly across pathways of care and in a variety of community settings across the East Midlands, West Midlands and South Central regions. The role will involve working closely with deaf and hearing clinicians/practitioners as part of a multi-disciplinary team and with BSL/English Interpreters. The post-holder will contribute to service users’ care directly via specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention, and indirectly by providing advice and consultation to colleagues both within service, and also outside of the service. The post holder will be required to work with a range of other professionals and non-professionals providing care and support to deaf children, young people and their families (e.g. teachers, teachers of the deaf, generic CAMHS, social workers). The role will involve engaging with psychologist colleagues across the Central regions of Deaf CAMHS and across the wider National Service. The post-holder will utilise their research skills for audit, service evaluation and research in order to inform service and practice development. Working for our organisation National Deaf CAMHS NDCAMHS is an innovative community and inpatient mental health service delivering a pathway of care for 0-18 year olds across England. The national service is delivered by four NHS Trusts, and our teams link closely together. You will be working closely with our key partners where together we have an ambition to deliver an outstanding model of mental health care for the deaf children, young people and parents of England. NDCAMHS is a unique and truly individual service! We are continuously learning and evolving, as we work together to meet the mental health needs of children, young people and parents who are deaf. We are a fully integrated multi-disciplinary team comprising Psychologists; Psychiatrists; Systemic Family Therapists; Nurses; Occupational Therapists and Family Support Workers. A key aspect of the role is working closely with clinicians/practitioners as part of a bi-lingual, bi-cultural multi-disciplinary team with deaf and hearing practitioners and BSL/English Interpreters. We welcome deaf applicants, and applicants who already have a high level of British Sign Language, however specialist training and development will be provided to develop BSL, and knowledge and skills for working with deaf children and young people. Our clients use a wide range of communication modalities including British Sign Language, Sign Supported English, various spoken languages and minimal language. Detailed job description and main responsibilities You would hold a varied caseload, which will include carrying out specialist assessment and therapeutic interventions, working flexibly across pathways of care in a variety of community settings, and to work closely with clinicians/practitioners in multi-disciplinary teams. We work both directly with families, as well as offering joint care with local CAMHS services, multi-agency working and consultation. Excellent problem-solving, communication and interpersonal skills and a positive attitude towards working with deaf children, and their families, with complex mental health needs are essential. You would take a key role in our neurodevelopmental assessment pathway, with support from the Lead Psychologist for the Neurodevelopmental Pathway and the Consultant Clinical Psychologist. You would care co-ordinate for children on the neuro-developmental pathway in the Midlands, as well as take a key role in the assessment processes including cognitive assessment, and a role within the multidisciplinary team in assessment of Autism Spectrum Condition and ADHD. You would take a role in developing post-diagnostic support for deaf children, which may include group work and resources. You will have access to highly specialised national group supervision and continuing professional development with a neuropsychologist specialist in assessment of deaf children. We are keen to support the training of psychologists who want to bring new skills to the team and develop new areas of service provision. You may already have a therapeutic specialism that you can offer across our region. You would have access to training opportunities to support you to develop areas of expertise. We are particularly keen to develop our trauma and attachment care-pathways and strengthen our Systemic Family Therapy offer, so applicants with qualifications in trauma/attachment models and Systemic Family Therapy would be able to help us to develop these areas. Further training and specialist supervision in these areas would be supported. You would also input into the governance and development of specialist services for deaf children and young people, including audit, research and service development. We regularly have Trainee Clinical Psychologists working with us from the Birmingham and Coventry & Warwick and Trent courses, and Honorary Assistant Psychology placements from the Birmingham Masters in Clinical Psychology, and Year in Industry placements from Aston University. We would be keen to develop more links with courses across our geographical region. As well as the links with the BCHF Trust Psychologists, we also have a Psychology Best Practice Group across NDCAMHS, and a wider network of Applied Psychologists working with Deaf People Special Interest Group (APDSIG). We are also developing therapy specific Special Interest Groups across NDCAMHS and wider networks working with deaf children and adults. We have access to a lease car scheme and paid for overnight-accommodation if needing to be further from home. Clinical and office spaces can be booked across the region as needed. We have the ability to offer an integrated approach for clinical work using video conferencing as well as face-to-face work to manage our travel where appropriate. We also hold most of our meetings by video conferencing, but aim for an integrated model balancing the need for team connection with reducing travel. Post holders would be provided with facilities to enable remote working. For further supporting information to apply for this role please see documents attached under ‘Additional documents’. IMPORTANT: This position is only open to people who are HCPC Registered/Practitioner Psychologists. Final Year Clinical /Applied Doctoral Psychology Trainees who will achieve HCPC status in the near future are welcome to apply. Applying and timelines We may close this advert early if we receive a high volume of applications, so please apply soon. We shortlist after the closing date and will contact shortlisted candidates usually within two weeks. If you haven’t heard by then, you haven’t been shortlisted. Please check your email for updates and contact Recruitment for feedback. Pay and contracts Most NHS roles are paid under NHS Agenda for Change. With us - your starting point is set against the advertised band and your relevant NHS service, with progression through annual increments. Medical and Very Senior Manager roles follow separate national pay frameworks, not Agenda for Change. Details are provided in each advert and during recruitment. Standards and checks · Clinical posts up to and including Band 4 are expected to hold the Care Certificate. If you don’t have it yet, we’ll support you to complete it in post. · Some roles require a Standard or Enhanced DBS check under part V of the Police Act 1997. Having a criminal record won’t automatically prevent employment. We consider the role and individual circumstances. · We are an equal opportunities employer, offer flexible working, and are a smoke free Trust. Inclusion, equality and adjustments · We are an equal opportunities employer and offer flexible working. · We are an anti-racist, disability-inclusive and LGBTQ-inclusive Trust. · We welcome applications from under-represented groups and people with lived experience relevant to our services, including Black and Asian colleagues, Disabled people (including non-visible disabilities such as neurodiversity and mental health) and LGBTQ people. · Disabled applicants can request consideration under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme where essential criteria are met. You can ask for reasonable adjustments at every stage of the process. Our culture and values Best for the Black Country is our improvement journey. We share a clear vision and values, lead with compassion and visibility, listen to every voice, keep improving what we do and take ownership for delivery. You’ll feel it in how teams support each other and in the impact your work has on local people. If you want to contribute, learn and progress, this is a great time to join us.