To provide a highly-specialist psychology service to adult mental health clients both in-patient and community and to be the continuity link between ward and community. Providing specialist psychological assessment, formulation and therapy, offering advice and consultation on clients’ psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other non-professional carers, and working within the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures . The post holder will work as a part of the multi-disciplinary team which has close links with a wide range of agencies.
** Please note that this is a split post working 18.75 hours in Erith Centre and 18.75 hours Woodlands Unit Queen Mary's Hospital - the successful candidate will be offered two part time roles **
- To contribute to the provision of psychology therapies service to the Bexley Psychosis Pathway/ Acute Inpatient Wards
- To provide specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions of clients referred to the ICMP Community Mental Health Service and Acute Inpatient Wards, working directly and indirectly with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care, including providing specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
- To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, including delivering NICE approved CBTp and Family Interventions for Psychosis
Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.
We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.
Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:
We’re Kind
We’re Fair
We Listen
We Care
Management responsibilities
Responsible For: Assistant Psychologists, Graduate Psychologists, Trainee clinical psychologists
- To contribute to the overall management and functioning of the service.
- To participate as appropriate in staff recruitment,
- To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team’s operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.
- To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organizational matters need addressing.
- To manage the workloads of assistant and trainee clinical psychologists, within the framework of the team/service’s policies and procedures.
Leadership
Accountable to: Operationally - Psychology Lead/ Mental Health Team Manager
Professional Lead
- Responsible for the development of more junior psychological therapy staff.
- Participate in service development.
Clinical
- To contribute to the provision of psychology therapies service to the Bexley Psychosis Pathway/ Acute Inpatient Wards
- To provide specialist psychological assessments, formulation and intervention of clients referred to the ICMP Mental Health Service and Acute Inpatient Wards based upon the appropriate use, interpretation, and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi- structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
- To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods of proven efficacy.
- To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
- To deliver NICE approved CBTp and Family Interventions for Psychosis.
- To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment, and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based care plans.
To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
To ensure that all members of the treating team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of clients of the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory
To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and provide general advice and guidance to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management, including responsibilities within the policies and clinical duties to safeguarding vulnerable adults and children.
To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, complex information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care. This will require being able to convey this to clients, families and colleagues with a range of understanding and knowledge so will require the ability to be flexible, adaptive and simple but yet retain a sophisticated understanding and approach
To provide expertise, advice, and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the treatment team.
Responsibilities for team or service functioning:
To provide specialist psychological advice, supervision, guidance, and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to the formulation and treatment plans of individual patients: including advice on psychological aspects of risk and in the use of objective/standardized measures.
To ensure a psychologically informed framework for ICMP Mental Health Service and Acute Inpatient Wards. Ensure that all members of the multidisciplinary team have access to a psychologically based framework for the understanding and care of service users referred to the service through the provision of advice and consultation. This includes ensuring that a psychological perspective is provided in a wide range of settings where service user care is discussed, planned and organized
Contribute to the systematic governance of psychological practice within the ICMP Mental Health Service and Acute Inpatient Wards .
To contribute to developing the service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities
To support the development of culturally competent services
To liaise with referrers GPs and other professionals concerned with clients to develop and review or contribe to care plans
To utilize theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence- based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
Teaching, training, and supervision:
contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the ICMP Mental Health Service and Acute Inpatient Wards by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychology and psychosis and by implementing knowledge gained in practice
To provide clinical placements for trainee clinical and/or counselling psychologists/CBT therapists, ensuring that trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies, and experience to contribute effectively to good menta l health care and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.
To provide advice, consultation, training and clinical supervision to other members of the service for their provision of psychologically based interventions to help improve clients’ functioning.
To receive regular clinical supervision from an appropriately qualified clinician in accordance with professional registration requirements.
To maintain and develop skills in the area of professional pre- and post- graduate training and clinical supervision.
To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.
General:
To maintain registration with the Health Professions Council as a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or with the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapists.
To ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes.
To ensure the development maintenance and dissemination of best practice in psychology within the service area and contribute across the service by exercising the skills of a reflexive and reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of clinical psychology and related disciplines.
To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and mental health.
Research
To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence- based practice within the service.
To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.
To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, in collaboration with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision
Communication
- To maintain and promulgate the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society, Health Professions Council and Trust policies and procedures.
- To competently utilise Microsoft packages including Word, Excel and Power point in order to produce professional clinical and training materials for use as part of normal clinical responsibilities.
On Call/Unsocial Hours
- Post does not require the post holder to work unsociable hours.
To be noted:
- This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities, and the postholder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with the manager.
- The post holder is expected to comply with all relevant Trust policies, procedures and guidelines, including those relating to Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety and Confidentiality of Information.
- The psychosis teams within Oxleas are currently undergoing a redesign process, with the new service model commencing in August 2026. The ICMP team will be moving to a care teams approach, which will include more dedicated assertive outreach teams. Whilst there will be no change in how the psychology service in ICMP operates and its staffing, this fixed term contract does come at an exciting time where there may be more flexibility to shape how psychology services function and best serves the broader ICMP team.
