Employer Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Jessop Wing, Royal Hallamshire Hospital Town Sheffield Salary £46,148 - £52,809 pa/pro rata for part time staff Salary period Yearly Closing 02/07/2025 23:59 Interview date 15/07/2025
Clinical/Counselling Psychologist
NHS AfC: Band 7
We are committed to helping our staff balance their work and home lives and ensure they feel supported, valued and appreciated so whilst you care for our patients and clients, we’ll take care of you. We offer many different ways of helping staff including career development opportunities, flexible working, good annual leave and pension schemes, health and wellbeing packages and financial support systems. 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 varied and innovative 0.8wte Band 7 permanent post into the Neonatal and Birth in Mind Maternal Mental Health services at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust (STHFT). In our latest staff survey, 95% of 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 also welcome applications from Trainees due to complete their course.
As a department, we recognise that diversity of workforce extends our skills, experiences, and ideas, thereby adding value and creativity to our services. The department has an active Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) group and welcomes applications from candidates from all backgrounds. 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
This post will work primarily into the Neonatal and Maternal Mental Health Services. These will be based primarily in Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, but there may also be some working across the South Yorkshire region.
Within this diverse role there will be opportunities for multidisciplinary team working, providing supervision and training along with guidance to the wider staff group. Working with families 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 families with babies being cared for on the Neonatal Unit, and for people affected by birth trauma. There may also be opportunities to work with patients with other physical health conditions.
There may be potential for this post to be full-time. We are currently awaiting confirmation of additional funding.
Working for our organisation
You will be working for an organisation which values and respects all of 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.
As a member of the department, you would be part of a substantial, experienced, and enthusiastic team; benefitting from inhouse professional development including clinical supervision, special interest groups and opportunities to engage in our wider projects. The department is committed to supporting our staff and have a well-supported Staff Engagement and Wellbeing Group. The Trust has a flexible working policy, allowing for a range of flexible / hybrid working options as appropriate to the service needs. 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.
The department has strong links with the Sheffield, Leeds and Hull DClinPsy courses. We also offer placements to trainees on DCounsPsy courses.
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 psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996), or counselling psychology 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. Will consider applicants due to complete training in September (2025).
* Professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
* Eligible for Practitioner Full Membership of the BPS Divisions of Clinical or Counselling Psychology or working towards this.
* Pre-qualification training and qualifications in other fields of applied psychology.
Experience
* Working with a wide variety of presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity
* Specialist psychological assessment and treatment of patients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
* Experience of working with patients across the lifespan
* Experience of working in a physical health setting.
* Experience of working collaboratively within a multidisciplinary setting.
* Experience of teaching and/or training.
* Experience of delivering psychologically informed groups.
* Experience of the application of the practice of psychology in different cultural contexts.
Further Training
* Doctoral or equivalent level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
* Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and HCPC.
* 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).
* High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological or psychotherapeutic approach.
* Knowledge of legislation and national policies and guidance in relation to the patient group, specifically around their physical and mental health.
* Specialist knowledge of psychological issues.
Skills and Knowledge
* Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management
* Skills in working effectively with other professionals in multidisciplinary settings
* Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
* 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
* Ability to establish and maintain professional credibility at all levels of the organisation
* Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
Personal Qualities
* Highly developed ability to communicate effectively (orally and in writing) highly complex and/or clinically sensitive information to patients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
* Ability to manage time effectively and prioritise workload
* Positive attitude, sensitivity, and commitment to working with patient groups affected by medical/physical health conditions
* Ability to deal with frequent exposure to highly distressing or highly emotional circumstances
* Ability to maintain intense concentration on a frequent basis
Please note that in order to comply with the UK Government’s rules on skilled worker sponsorship, any applicants who do not meet the eligibility requirements or concessions on salary thresholds under the skilled worker visa will not be eligible to receive sponsorship from the Trust. Please keep this in mind when submitting your application. Further details on these concessions, and who qualifies for them, can be found here (link to the gov.uk website).
Candidates are advised to read the attached guidance on using AI technology. W hen 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
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
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