Employer Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site HMP Drake Hall Town Stafford Salary £53,755 - £60,504 per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 29/06/2025 23:59
Band 8a Practitioner Psychologist - Enhanced Support Service
Band 8a
Please note that this post may close earlier than the indicated closing date if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Job overview
A new role has arisen within the Secure Care and Offender Health (SCOH) division of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust (BSMHFT), to extend Offender Personality Disorder Pathway services, with a new Enhanced Support Service based at HMP Drake Hall. HMP Drake Hall is located in the rural area of Eccleshall, between Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent, within easy commuting distance from north Birmingham, Staffordshire, Shropshire and south Cheshire. It is a closed prison with capacity for around 340 adult women, making it one of the largest women’s prisons in the UK. It specialises in rehabilitation, reintegration and resettlement, and has a small open unit for 25 women.
We are recruiting for permanent Band 8A Practitioner Psychologist to launch the ESS service with support from the ESS Clinical lead at HMP Foston Hall. ESS will work intensively with people in prison in a collaborative manner to develop motivation to facilitate better settlement, improved psychological wellbeing and in the long term, access to sentence planning services. It will also include working directly with staff to increase understanding and appropriate management of the people in prison from a psychologically informed perspective.
One of the joys of working within SCOH is the access to model-specific supervision, in addition to individual supervision, management supervision and group reflective spaces. Model specific supervision includes CBT (including ACT), CAT, DBT, EMDR, and CFT.
Main duties of the job
The postholder will work within HMP Drake Hall, leading the day-to-day delivery of the ESS service. It will involve managing referrals into the service, undertaking clinical assessments and interventions as required and developing case formulations and support plans, in conjunction with other professionals involved. The successful candidate will need exceptional communication skills as well as an empathic and non-judgemental attitude towards the individuals within the service and within the prison environment. You will also need to be resilient and be able to work and make decisions in both an independent and collaborative manner. The successful candidate will have some experience of working with adults with personality disorder and challenging behaviour, in addition to those with other psychological difficulties, neurodiversity and complex needs and risks. Working autonomously and supporting other disciplines will be key responsibility.
If you are ready for the next stage of your career progression, and able to compassionately challenge systems and staff to be better, hold integrity and also connect with the people around them, we hope that you speak to us and apply.
Working for our organisation
Welcome to Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Our 4000 clinical and support staff help us to improve mental health wellbeing and meet the needs of the 70,000 people we serve each year. We provide a range of mental healthcare services across Birmingham and Solihull, as well as specialised services nationally. We also offer medical, nursing and psychology training and are proud of our international reputation for both research and innovation.
Our population is culturally diverse, characterised in places by high levels of deprivation which create an increasing demand for our services and a necessity for us to make sure everyone can access the help they need. We are a team of compassionate, inclusive and committed people working together to provide excellent care to support our community. If you are looking for a place to belong, where you can make a real difference to people's lives, join our team where our warm welcome is waiting for you.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For further information about the main responsibilities please view the attached job description and person specification.
Person specification
Qualifications
* Satisfactory completion of a British Psychological Society accredited Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training course in clinical/forensic psychology completion of which includes the study of models of psychopathology, psychometric and neuropsychological assessment, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
* Eligibility for entry onto the Register of Chartered Psychologists
Experience
* Experience of specialist psychological assessment and individual and group based treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including primary and secondary/ specialist care and inpatient/residential, outpatient and community team settings.
* Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, including forensic contexts with clients of all ages across the lifespan and of wide-ranging presenting problems that reflect the full spectrum of clinical complexity and severity.
* Experience of working therapeutically with ‘difficult to treat’ clients.
* • Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
Knowledge
* Skills commensurate with doctoral level training in the formulation of problems from a psychological perspective and in the implementation of highly specialist psychological therapies, interventions and management techniques that are appropriate for use with complex presenting problems. Able to deliver established/evidenced based psychological therapy to fidelity.
* Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) including the ability to empathically, sensitively and effectively communicate clinical and condition related information to clients, their families, carers and professional colleagues (within and outside the NHS) that is extremely complicated or technical; extremely sensitive and potentially distressing to the recipient; or that is extremely contentious or challenging.
* Skills in providing consultation and advice from a psychological perspective to members of other professional and non-professional groups.
* Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific ’difficult to treat’ groups (e.g. personality disorder, challenging behaviour, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
Personal
* Ability to interact and to build and sustain relationships with people with mental health problems and associated disabilities
* Is a ‘team player’ and has demonstrated ability to work and deliver to team and organisational objectives
Other
* Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
* Awareness and understanding of the purpose and mechanisms of clinical governance and an ability to employ such mechanisms to maintain and improve standards of clinical practice
Our Trust is committed to treating individuals fairly and ensuring they have the same opportunities to fulfil their potential, even if this means doing things differently for different people sometimes. We are working hard to ensure our workforce reflects the diversity within Birmingham and Solihull and that our services meet the needs of all diverse service users and carers.
The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. As part of our safe recruitment practice pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. As part of the selection process you may be required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, however all cases of criminal record history are dealt with on a case by case basis.
Please note, if applicable for your role you will be required to cover the cost of your DBS certificate. This will be deducted from your salary over 3 months. You will also be required to sign up to the DBS Update Service before commencement with the Trust. The Trust will reimburse this. You will be contractually obliged to maintain your subscription.
All successful applicants will be required to complete the Trust’s induction programme. The Fundamental (Statutory and Mandatory) training will be in an e-learning format. You will be required to complete training modules online (approx. 9-14 hours depending on post) by the end of your second week with us.
If you are successful at the shortlisting stage of the recruitment process we may contact you via email to advise you of the interview details. Please ensure you access your email account from which you applied regularly once the position has closed.
Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the United Kingdom (UK) are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. However, please ensure that you check if this role meets the eligibility criteria for sponsorship. Non UK /Republic of Ireland candidates wishing to apply can self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship here Browse: Work in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The minimum salary threshold for a Health and Social Care is £25,000 and for the Skilled Worker route is £38,700. If the starting salary for this role is below this, we will not be able to provide sponsorship.
Relocation expenses may be reimbursed subject to eligibility. The policy provides for reimbursement up to £8,000.
Please note - if you are applying for a role within Police custody, due to Police Vetting requirements you must have been a UK resident for the last years.
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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