Job Description

An opportunity for an enthusiastic and dedicated Clinical / Practitioner Psychologist to join our Inpatient Psychology Service working across our Mental Health Inpatient Rehabilitation (0.5wte) and Inpatient Addictions Service (0.5wte). This is a split post .



We are looking for a strong commitment to a compassionate, inclusive, person-centred approach and to social justice and human rights, this is essential to our work in the Inpatient service, as we aim to empower the people we work with to support their recovery.



We welcome and will consider applications from applicants who are registered with the Health Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist and have Post-graduate doctoral level training in the field of applied psychology accredited by the BPS, or its approved equivalent.



This post is advertised as a band 7-8a; we would be willing to accept applications from newly qualified Psychologists, if successful they would be appointed at band 7 Preceptorship with a programme of competencies they had to achieve to reach the level required for the 8a post.



We are also accepting applications from Practitioner Psychologists.



The successful candidate will demonstrate excellent organisation and communication skills and be motivated to ensure high standards of proficiency and professional practice.



The post holder will report directly to the Consultant Clinical Psychologist.



Successful applicants would be working within teams to support people with a range of psychological as well as substance issues. The applicant will provide specialist psychological assessment, therapy and interventions to service users and carers, making use of a range of models where appropriate.



Successful applicants would also offer specialist advice, leadership and consultation to non-psychologist colleagues and support the development of psychological skills across the whole workforce through specialist training, supervision, mentorship and reflective practice. Psychological input is highly valued by staff within the service. You will work alongside the senior Clinical Psychologist to be involved in ongoing service development and in shaping service innovations.



We have excellent links with North West doctoral training programmes and offer placements to trainees from local universities on a regular basis and the post holder would be expected to clinically supervise and manage the workloads of assistant psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists within the service as required.



You will contribute towards the continuing professional development, training, research, advising and supporting the Multi-disciplinary team as appropriate.



Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.



We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.



At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.



Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.



The post holder will be responsible for undertaking psychological work with service users residing on Inpatient Wards at Rathbone Rehabilitation Centre and the Hope Centre for Addictions.

Main duties include:

assessment, formulation, intervention, evaluation, audits/ research, teaching and training, supervision of assistant psychologists and MDT staff, delivering Reflective Practice to ward teams.



The applicant will work closely with an assistant psychologist to support the delivery of individual and group psychological interventions.



This is an exciting time to join the service as we are in the process of introducing new models of care to the Inpatient wards with an emphasis on systemic psychological approaches, including the Self Harm Pathway and Positive Behavioural Support for challenging behaviours, the post holder will support the system to deliver these clinical pathways. The post holder will report directly to the Consultant Clinical Psychologist.



Please refer to the and Person Specification for further details