Job Description
PRACTITIONER PSYCHOLOGIST Band 8A
(Band 7-8a Preceptorship programme available)
The Service & Team:
We work with children, young people and their families who are known to the Local Authority. The children we support have experienced neglect, abuse, trauma, loss and many have had a number of adverse childhood experiences. We use a range of attachment and trauma/recovery approaches in assessment, formulation and to guide our interventions. Our aim is to improve outcomes (including stability, attachment security, trauma recovery and permanence) for children from vulnerable groups. We are trauma-informed and are curious to understand what has happened to children (and their families) from a psychological perspective. The social care teams we support, value psychology highly, welcome our input and we are being encouraged to expand.
The Role:
We are looking for an innovative and enthusiastic Practitioner Psychologist to join our post-abuse team who work with children known to the Local Authority.
You will be employed by Cornwall Council on Agenda for Change terms and conditions which will acknowledge any NHS continuous service and allow you to continue an NHS pension. We have close links with Psychologists in CPFT who support our clinical governance and CPD.
The post is Band 8a, but we encourage applications from newly/early qualified psychologists to be appointed at Band 7 under a preceptorship to work towards requirements for Band 8a, subject to satisfactory completion of preceptorship process. Full details available on request.
This new, full-time post will provide Psychology input to the Children Family Services' Family Help Teams. These are newly established multi-disciplinary family help services, which bring together early help and child in need provision. They aim to ensure families with multiple needs receive earlier, seamless support so that they can overcome challenges, stay together and thrive. The aim is to increase psychological awareness of the impact of adverse childhood experiences for parents and the systems who support them. As such the work is diverse, working through systems to increase psychological skills and knowledge using consultations, team supervisions and training. The post is part of a wider expansion; we have already appointed two new Clinical Psychologists to work in the Family Help Teams and this post will join these new workers and provide provision in the West of Cornwall.
The posts offer exciting opportunities to join a highly experienced and supportive multi-disciplinary team of Clinical Psychologists and Post Abuse Counsellors. Our team are happy in their work and are supported with relational-based, trauma-informed leadership. The team is part of Education & Community Health within the Together for Families Directorate of Cornwall Council with close links to Specialist CAMHS and the voluntary sector.
This is a public/customer-facing role, where the statutory English language requirement for public sector workers applies.
This position will be subject to an enhanced criminal record disclosure check.
What you'll need to succeed:
You will need to have a post graduate qualification in Applied Psychology (e.g. Clinical, forensic, counselling) and be registered with the HCPC. You will be experienced in working with children and young people with social / emotional and mental health needs and have a passion for improving outcomes for vulnerable groups. You will need a good understanding of attachment theory and complex developmental trauma and experience of working psychologically through consultation and training. You will be resilient and have well developed self-care skills as well as experience in supporting other professionals in working successfully with emotionally challenging and emotive subjects including trauma and abuse. We welcome enquiries and discussions about flexible working.
Please read the role profile for the full details of this role attached below in this advert
What you'll get in return:
Cornwall Council's ambition is to be an employer of choice, a high performing Council and a learning organisation. We commit to providing a reward and benefits package to attract, motivate and reward our employees. We offer a range of flexible working options to our staff. This helps provide our employees with a greater work/life balance. Whilst still ensuring that service needs are met.
Our core employee rewards and benefits include:
• a competitive salary.
• a defined benefit pension scheme, based on your career average earnings. This includes the option for extra voluntary contributions
• a generous annual leave entitlement with the potential to purchase additional leave.
• A national award-winning employee health and wellbeing programme
• Employee benefits scheme giving employees access to a wide range of discounts to local and national goods and services.
Additional Information:
Please note, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role
The full role profile is attached here.
We recommend saving a copy of this to refer to if you are invited to an interview.
For further information please contact Dr Bryony Field, Highly Specialised Clinical Psychologist on jigsaw@cornwall.gov.uk
Application Process
Please attach a supporting statement to your application, you can add your Education & Qualifications details manually using the application form timeline or you can upload your CV. Remember to demonstrate why you are suitable against each of the points marked as 'Application' on the Role Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had. Guidance on how to complete your application can be found here - The application process.
Please note that applications cannot be edited after they have been submitted, please contact careers@cornwall.gov.uk if you have any queries or require assistance with your application.
Existing employees must apply using their Cornwall Council email address through the Opportunity Marketplace on Oracle.
About Us
Cornwall Council deliver services to more than half a million local people and over five million visitors a year. Working here - Cornwall Council
We are happy to talk about flexible working options such as part-time or compressed hours. More examples of our flexible working opportunities can be found here - flexible working options.
Fairness and inclusion are at the heart of our vision for Cornwall. In order to best serve our communities, we are striving to achieve a diverse workforce that is inclusive of all backgrounds, cultures and identities; e.g., race, disability, sex, gender, age, religion and sexual orientation. We are an equal opportunities and Disability Confident employer, and we will assess applicants on their merits.
Cornwall Council is committed to safeguarding and following safer recruitment principles to help make sure our staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children, young people and adults at risk. It's a vital part of creating a safe and positive environment and making a commitment to keeping all service users safe from harm. #J-18808-Ljbffr