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Senior Psychologist (Clinical / Forensic / Counselling or therapist)

Greater Manchester Mental HealthWimslow, GB

20 days ago

Job type

Full-time

Job description

Job overview

Health and Justice Services part of GMMH Specialist Service Care Group are looking to recruit a committed and dynamic HCPC Registered Psychologist or Senior Psychological therapist to work within the multi-disciplinary Integrated Mental Health Team (IMHT) at HMP Styal. The service implements a stepped-care model to provide mental health and psychological care within HMP Styal.

We are seeking a full-time psychologist or senior psychological therapist to support the team and wider establishment in providing psychological and formulation driven understanding of mental health, emotional distress, complex personality presentations and trauma responses.

The post holder would be expected to work with a caseload of clients providing detailed assessment, formulations, interventions, and therapy. The successful candidate would also be expected to provide high-quality psychological advice and support to the IMHT team and wider HMPPS staff and stakeholders.

Working within a prison environment can be a challenging place to work, we are seeking someone not only with strong clinical skills but also the ability to manage and respond to the dynamic needs of the team, the client group, and the environment, to ensure that provision is accessible and appropriate. The post-holder will be provided with high level support including opportunity for specialist training and supervision from the senior psychological professions team, across Health and Justice.

Main duties of the job

To work with individual service-users and others involved in their care to support improved psychological health and well-being and more generally to contribute to a reduction in the risk of offending behaviour.

To complete detailed and thorough psychological assessments to develop idiosyncratic and nuanced formulations considering a range of relevant factors. Ideally, the post holder would be expected to have experience of and a strong working knowledge of the impact that trauma and adversity would have on the development of personality, interpersonal interaction and subsequent behaviour.

To carefully consider service-user’s interpersonal interactions, management of emotional regulation, past traumatic experiences and consideration of how this is linked to their mental health and behavioural presentation within custody.

To provide individual therapy, which is driven by detailed assessment and a strong working formulation.

To contribute to the multi-professional understanding of service-user presentation and support the development of a psychologically informed environment for the services-users to reside within.

To contribute to the development and delivery of training to the IMHT team physical health partners, prison staff and other stakeholders.

To support and supervise junior staff such as Psychological Assistants and Psychological Well-being Practitioners

To support the psychological lead with research and service development opportunities.

Working for our organisation

Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations.

We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford, Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.

Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.

Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.

Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification

Staff benefits

Pay Enhancements :

Band

Saturday (midnight to midnight) and any week day after 8pm and before 6am

All time on Sundays and Public Holidays (midnight to midnight)

Time plus 47%

Time plus 94%

Time plus 41%

Time plus 83%

Time plus 35%

Time plus 69%

4 – 9

Time plus 30%

Time plus 60%

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years

Excellent pension

Cycle to work scheme

Salary sacrifice car scheme

Wellbeing programme

fuelGenie Fuel Cards (for applicable roles)

Person specification

Education / Qualifications

Essential criteria

Doctoral level (or equivalent qualification) in clinical or counselling psychology, or HCPC registered forensic psychologist, with additional therapy training.

HCPC or other appropriate registration or accreditation as a senior psychological therapist with additional evidence of working within multidisciplinary complex risk services.

Be expected to pass HMPPS security clearance (to be applied for post interview for successful applicant)

Desirable criteria

Post graduate advanced training in one or more therapeutic modalities (, EMDR, DBT, CFT, CBT, CAT, Schema)

Clinical supervisor training

Experience

Essential criteria

Experience of developing assessments, formulations and therapeutic intervention to people presenting with complex mental health, personality difficulties or offending behaviours.

Experience of working with people with trauma.

Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary or engaging with wider stakeholders.

Experience of providing in-depth psychological therapy, using a range of skills and techniques.

Desirable criteria

Experience of working within a custodial, secure environment or with offenders.

Experience of providing supervision to others.

Experience of working within a trauma-informed environment.

Experience of facilitating therapeutic group intervention.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Knowledge and awareness of the factors that contribute to offending behaviour, complex personality presentations, emotional dysregulation and interpersonal difficulties.

Knowledge of psychological treatment approaches for working with those presenting with complex presentations and difficulties.

Evidence of CPD as recommended by a professional registration body.

Desirable criteria

Awareness of CPA and stepped care approach to mental health care and provision

Knowledge of policy and legislation in relation to prisoner mental health and well-being.

Skills and Abilities

Essential criteria

High level communication skills (written and verbal).

Strong presentation skills and ability to deliver training to staff teams.

Ability to work collaboratively with service-users and staff teams. And to liaise with a range of other professionals and communicate sensitive and risk information.

Ability to organise time effectively.

Ability to promote and advocate for a psychologically informed way of working.

To show resilience within a challenging working environment and have awareness of own professional and personal limitations.

The ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and threat of physical abuse.

Desirable criteria

Experience of providing training to multidisciplinary staff groups

Other Requirements

Essential criteria

There is an occasional requirement to travel across the wide footprint of the Trust to attend meetings and events relevant to the role.

Desirable criteria

Experience of working within a multi-cultural framework

The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.

Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.

The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications

A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application. The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.

We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.

Sponsorship

We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – click .

If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.

The Home Office introduces new changes from 09 / 04 / 2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it .

Do you have experience outside the NHS?

We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.

We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment.

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Senior Psychologist • Wimslow, GB