Clinical Psychologist

Recovery In-patient Services Greenfields & Syrena Unit Mount Gould Hospital

8a 37.5 hours per week

We are seeking a motivated and enthusiastic Clinical or Forensic Psychologist or Principal Clinical Forensic Psychologist to join our Recovery Inpatient Services at Mount Gould Hospital. This fulltime post offers the opportunity to work across both the women's and men's recovery pathways, providing a rich and varied clinical experience within a cohesive service.

The role includes work on Greenfields Unit, a 9-bedded women's recovery ward, as well as the equivalent 9‑bedded men's recovery service on the same hospital site which will also have an additional 6 step‑down beds. This is an exciting time of change as Syrena will be moving from Plymstock to the Mount Gould Hospital site.

You will be part of the wider Specialist Adult Mental Health Psychology Service, a team known for its supportive culture, creative approaches to service delivery, and strong commitment to professional development. Regular supervision, peer support, and informal learning opportunities are integral to the team.

Main duties of the job

You will provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention to support the recovery of individuals who experience severe and complex mental health difficulties and who benefit from longer periods of inpatient admission. This includes supporting women & men returning from out‑of‑area and secure settings, on the Mount Gould Hospital site.

You will be a key member of the multidisciplinary team across both pathways, offering consultation and guidance to ensure that care is psychologically informed. You will deliver training, provide advice and supervision to colleagues, and support the development of individualised care plans and risk assessments. In addition, you will contribute to the leadership of the units by identifying, shaping and leading quality improvement initiatives that enhance the recovery environment and the psychological safety of the service.

May not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route; please refer to the Direct Gov website for more information regarding eligibility.

Job responsibilities

Clinical Skills:

• Possess and practice a high level of communication and relationship skills in situations where emotional distress, and risk of self‑harm and of life‑threatening behaviour can be expected.
• Be able to engage clients in a therapeutic alliance and maintain this through periods of doubt and relapse.
• Be able to identify and manage the need for more complex reformulation of the client’s difficulties and to promote a realistic treatment plan.
• To identify and be able to complete formal psychometric assessments with one’s own clients and those of other team members, where this is appropriate.
• Be able to communicate, by talking and by writing, psychological formulations and treatment plans to the client and to appropriate professional colleagues and to family members or carers, as appropriate.
• Prepare and provide complex medico‑legal reports and reports for housing and employing bodies.
• Have knowledge of and skill within several psychological models of understanding and managing behaviour including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Systemic Therapy and Psychotherapy.
• Be able to add both an understanding of psychosocial factors and an appropriate intervention to the planning of treatment for clients referred to the recovery services but not on psychologist’s caseload.
• Develop and maintain systems for referrals to Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy with professional colleagues working in adult mental health services. Within these systems to be able to manage an appropriate individual caseload whilst also being able to negotiate and manage the need for waiting lists for assessment and treatment so that there is steady movement of clients through the stages of referral, assessment, treatment and discharge.
• Be able to develop specialised individual treatment plans or packages of care for clients with complex psychological problems such as the long‑term effects of childhood trauma, eating disorders, personality disorders, psychosis, severe and chronic depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive‑compulsive disorder and others who may be at risk of self‑harm and suicide.
• Be able to manage the emotional impact of working, often one‑to‑one, with people who can be in crisis and who can show high levels of arousal and can be actively self‑harming or suicidal.
• Be able to analyse complex situations and think through an appropriate pattern or sequence of strategies to respond therapeutically.
• Ensure receipt of clinical and personal supervision in accordance with good practice guidelines for all practitioner psychologists.
• Fulfil all the requirements of a CPA coordinator (Standard level CPA) as set out in the CPA Policy including risk assessment and management.

Policy and Service Development:

• Contribute to the planning, development and promotion of specialist psychology services within the recovery services.
• Attend Adult Mental Health Psychology, recovery services and other relevant meetings regularly.
• Take responsibility for representation of the profession at appropriate service development and governance meetings as agreed with the Lead Consultant Psychologists and in line with Personal and Professional Development Plans (PDPs).

Human Resources:

• Be responsible for providing clinical supervision and professional support and guidance as required to qualified and unqualified psychologists within the recovery services who are less experienced (i.e. trainees, assistants, undergraduates).
• Be responsible for providing clinical supervision to non‑clinical psychology members of the recovery services.
• Be responsible for supervising qualified clinical psychologists from other specialties, as required, in relation to their work with clients who may have mental health problems.
• Be responsible for planning and supervising the work of undergraduate psychology students on year‑long and short‑term placements.
• Be responsible for planning and for supervising the work of Assistant Psychologists.
• Be responsible for contributing to the planning and providing a clinical training placement to trainees on the postgraduate Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology of the Universities of Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol. This clinical placement requires liaison with Human Resources to arrange appropriate DBS checks, honorary contracts and IT access as well as completion of the Livewell Southwest and service inductions. It also requires a sensitive awareness to the impact on trainees of induction to being members of a large and complex organisation as the context for learning and practising their professional skills. Engagement in this activity would start one year post qualification in a limited way with increasing responsibility for trainees as experience is gained. This can include responsibility as liaison or deputy liaison tutor.
• Teach on the postgraduate Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology at the University of Plymouth and on pre and post‑qualification professional courses for other disciplines represented within Livewell Southwest as required.
• Contribute to the teaching and training activities relating to psychological approaches and therapies for the staff working within mental health services and when appropriate in other services within Livewell Southwest.
• Ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training and development programmes and courses.

Research and Development:

• Conduct and supervise research and audit and evaluation relevant to the provision of specialist psychological services and the provision of a good mental health service.
• Initiate and implement project management techniques and tools in order to achieve completion of evaluations, audits, research and service developments.
• Collaborate with Universities of Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol in setting up and conducting Doctoral level long‑term research projects on mental health issues.
• Use SPSS and other packages in the analysis of data and to write up the information in a meaningful format that is accessible and understood by the target audience.
• Prepare and present information from audits, evaluations and research to professional audiences within and outside Livewell Southwest.
• Prepare papers for publication based on audit, evaluation, research and development work.
• Utilise theory, evidence‑based literature and research to support evidence‑based practice in individual work and work with team members in the recovery services and Clinical Psychology.

Information Technology:

• Contribute to the maintenance and development of office systems and procedures within the clinical psychology service of the recovery services.
• Be able to use a range of software packages including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and SPSS.
• Be responsible for maintaining appropriate service statistics and records of work within the requirement of policies covering the Care Programme Approach.
• Ensure that electronic CPA and System1 computer databases are kept up‑to‑date.
• Provide information on services delivered at least bi‑monthly to the Head of Adult Mental Health Clinical Psychology and the Manager of Greenfields Unit.

Person Specification

Experience

• Experience of work in a multidisciplinary team
• Documented evidence of CPD
• Research, audit and evaluation experience
• Experience of working with adults and children with a range of presentations and in a range of settings
• Experience of working with people with mental health conditions in acute and community settings
• Supervision of other professions
• Service innovation and development
• Project management

Qualifications

• Accredited Postgraduate Qualification in Clinical or Forensic Psychology
• Eligibility for Health Care Professionals Council accreditation as a practitioner psychologist
• Ability to travel across Plymouth
• Advanced IT and keyboard skills
• Other related academic qualifications to Masters or Doctoral level
• Clinical Supervision training for Doctoral Trainees
• Specialist skills in a specific therapeutic approach
• Full driving licence

Personal

• Highly skilled communicator
• Able to work for prolonged periods during assessments, patient interviews and case conferences
• Ability to deal with patients and carers who may be distressed, angry, confrontational or violent
• Able to contain and work with organisational challenges and ability to hold the stress of others
• Able to cope and deal with frequent exposure to highly distressing and emotional situations
• Ability to work autonomously and as part of a team
• Warmth, Empathy & Integrity

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Livewell Southwest values diversity and encourages applications from all sections of the community, including those with armed forces experience, lived experience of mental health, neuro‑diverse conditions and learning disabilities.

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