Senior Staff Psychologist

Job summary

Senior Staff Psychologist (Clinical, Counselling, Health Psychologist), Band 8a ( hours a week)

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Staff Psychology Service. We are seeking a skilled and compassionate staff psychologist to contribute to a specialist psychology service which supports colleagues in our Trust with the emotional impact of work, promoting psychological safety and a culture of compassionate care at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust. The service supports individual colleagues and teams with direct psychological interventions. Our psychologists also work at an organisational level to encourage wider cultural change concerning staff wellbeing at work.

The successful candidate will provide 1:1 psychological interventions and team psychological interventions on virtual platforms and in person within clinical areas of the hospital. They will also support the Staff Psychology lead in the delivery of the service and maintaining key relationships within and outside of the trust.

The successful candidate will be committed to the compassionate behaviours and values of the trust and will be able to demonstrate good personal, professional and clinical skills. The role requires a warm, flexible, compassionate and motivated team member who has excellent organisational skills and the ability to use their own initiative.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will have a post-graduate doctorate in clinical, counselling or health psychology and will be registered with the HCPC as a psychological practitioner. It is desirable that the candidate would have further training in specialist trauma interventions such as EMDR and/or post qualification in Compassion Focused Therapy.

They will have knowledge and experience of occupational health problems and psychological aspects of work-related problems and trauma. That the candidate will have experience of facilitating brief psychological interventions with teams or in a group setting. It is desirable that the candidate has experience of culture change/ change in the NHS.

The successful candidate will be responsible for providing 1:1 psychological intervention for colleagues who are experiencing work related distress and stress. They will provide team psychological interventions on virtual platforms and in person within clinical areas of the hospital utilising a Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) framework. Including but not limited to delivering workshops and psychoeducation sessions.

They will form strong working relationships with divisions, departments and line managers across the Trust who are struggling with work related distress. There will be a particular focus on supporting staff groups that have had a key role in managing high levels of ongoing operational pressure.

About us

Our Trust has been improving colleague health and wellbeing services for a number of years and in 2019 introduced the 2020 Staff Support and Advice Hub.

Looking after ourselves and our colleagues continues to be a priority as we all continue to work within the rapidly changing and challenging circumstances. As a result, the Staff Psychology Service was developed from expanding and developing the previous staff support service.

This has meant the service is able to offer more timely, accessible and tailored support to teams and individuals, helping them to understand and manage the emotional impact of their work. The service offers 1:1 support for individuals and managers, team interventions and remote workshops.

The successive candidate will also be part of the collective group of psychologists from across the whole of Gloucestershire working collaboratively to improve service provision.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Act as a Staff Support Psychologist, forming strong working relationships with divisions, departments and line managers across the Trust who are struggling with work related stress or distress. There will be a particular focus on supporting staff groups that have had a key role in managing high levels of ongoing operational pressure leading to an inevitable emotional impact of the work.

- Provide specialised psychological advice and consultation to multidisciplinary teams, staff groups, leaders and managers on topics related to psychological wellbeing, including on matters which have been caused, exacerbated or influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated legacies.

- Formulate and deliver direct clinical intervention through the application of a range of evidenced based psychological theories and models in individual and group work, to help analyse, understand and interpret complex situations and behaviours.

- Clinical interventions may be delivered in person or online and take the form of i) decompression groups for staff teams following an internal incident or period of prolonged stress ii) providing psychoeducation and skills-based training on identified areas of emotional difficulty, iii) providing 1:1 psychological support for employees struggling with work-related stress or distress or iiii) co-facilitating online workshops. workshops

- The post holder will need to apply knowledge of the current evidence-based clinical interventions in clinical/counselling psychology and mental health, when working in this setting.

- The Staff Psychology Service is underpinned by a compassion focused therapy (CFT) framework. As a result, the role necessitates advanced theoretical and practical knowledge in this model and the ability to assimilate CFT ideas (and other evidenced based psychological theories) in an ad-hoc, flexible and responsive way during decompression groups, consultancy and individual work.

- The post holder will be expected to design and facilitate staff support sessions with groups and individuals, deploying the highest levels of interpersonal and communication skills, along with sensitivity and diplomacy. This may require confronting rigidly held unrealistic beliefs and expectations.

- There will be a frequent requirement for intense concentration during individual and group sessions and exposure to distressing or emotional circumstances. This potentially includes occasionally dealing with verbally or even physically aggressive individuals.

- Effective communication of highly complex, contentious, delicate and often unwelcome information to colleagues in a highly emotive atmosphere, and in a rapidly changing or uncertain context is expected.

- The post holder may be called upon by other individuals referring colleagues/team members into the service for support. For instance, providing advice or risk related support to those working in the 2020 Staff Advice and Support Hub who may not have a clinical background.

- Although the post holder acts autonomously and is professionally accountable for their own practice, in common with all clinical psychologists to undertake regular guided reflective practice with a (senior) colleague in accordance with good practice guidelines (often referred to as clinical supervision).

- The post holder will have the opportunity to attend regular in-house psychology meetings, which include a focus on reflective practice.

- There will also be CPD opportunities.

Person Specification

Qualifications, Experience, Knowledge and Skills

Essential

Post-graduate doctorate in clinical, counselling or Health psychology Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a psychological practitioner Knowledge and experience of occupational health problems and psychological aspects of work related problems Doctoral-level knowledge and expertise in research methods for audit and evaluation to meet the clinical governance agenda, including complex multivariate data analysis as practised within the field of clinical psychology Experience in treating trauma in a therapeutic setting Knowledge of relevant government frameworks and initiatives. Knowledge of current evidence based clinical interventions in clinical psychology Knowledge of evidence-based approaches for trauma Able to work in a highly complex and pressured environment

Desirable

Training in specialist trauma interventions, such as EMDR Post qualification training in Compassion Focused Therapy and Mindfulness Further post-graduate training consultancy, coaching, mediation/conflict resolution Experience as a qualified/independent psychologist in formulation and delivering a range of therapeutic approaches for adults with mental health problems

---