Senior Stroke Psychologist

Job Overview
We have an exciting opportunity for an 8a (or Preceptorship Band 7) Psychologist to join the Community Stroke Rehabilitation Wards Teams covering Mid and South Essex population. We welcome applications from psychologists who are newly qualified, as well as from those with more experience.

The post holder will work with individuals and families post stroke and working alongside a team of dedicated psychologists working in stroke care pathways locally and across the region. Whilst this is a new post, the stroke psychology services have been established since 2013 and are seen as integral to the community and acute stroke pathways by our partners and ICB leads.

The community rehabilitation wards (Rochford and Brentwood) run by multidisciplinary teams and interface with the acute hospital teams and the Early Supported Discharge Team (ESD) based across Mid and South Essex.

Main duties of the job
The stroke psychology service provides neuro/psychological assessment, one-to-one and group interventions for individuals who have experienced stroke and their families, alongside collaborative work with our MDT teams in joint sessions, consultation and training. Therefore, knowledge and skill in psychological therapy and neuropsychological approaches are fundamental to this post. This will be supported through supervision and peer relationships in Clinical Health Psychological Therapies Services. The post holder will be responsible for ensuring high quality care is delivered in a timely manner in line with client needs, our wider services and national guidance.

In Clinical Health Psychology Services (CHPS) we work in the interface between physical and mental health, which provides unique opportunities for relationship building and service development. In CHPS across Essex, peer support is encouraged and there are other services e.g. Mental Health Liaison, Breathlessness and Pain Management, where psychologists have a range of therapeutic interests; narrative therapy, systemic approaches, acceptance and commitment therapy, motivational interviewing and cognitive behaviour therapy. Collaborative working with peers is supported and has generated innovative and creative projects to date.

Working for our organisation
We acknowledge there can be commutes within Essex, and that London salaries command inner weighting. However, the Psychological Services Directorate is committed to investing in you as an individual and in your career development. EPUT highly respects and values psychological thinking and we welcome you to join our team.

EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;

• Season Ticket Loans
• NHS discounts for staff
• Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
• Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
• The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
• Day One Flexible Employer

The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment.

Important note: please ensure that as part of your application, you include professional references with business contact information covering your last three years of employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.

As a newly appointed employee, you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post; the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.

Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on or email and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.

The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.

Important Notice: Recently the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) which amended on 22 July 2021 and come into force on 11 November 2021 that anyone directly employed to work in a Care Home or who are required as part of their role to be deployed to a CQC registered care home are required to have had both their COVID vaccinations, unless they are exempt. This is therefore a requirement of this role and will form part of our pre-employment checks.

Please note -
staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered 'suitable alternative employment' to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.