Consultant Psychologist/Psychotherapist and Clinical Lead

Job overview
Please note, at this stage, the role is open only to internal staff (including NHSP and Agency staff currently on placement within our organisation) and staff substantively employed within Kent and Medway NHS Trusts and the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB). Any individual who is at risk of redundancy will be given priority, provided they meet the essential criteria.
We are looking for a part-time (32 hours/week) committed Band 8c Consultant Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or Psychotherapist to take on the Clinical Lead for MHT/MHT+ Psychological Therapy Services in East Kent, on a 6-month secondment basis. You will be based at Eureka Place in Ashford and the role consists of supporting the MHT/MHT+ Psychological Therapy Services in Ashford/Canterbury, South Kent Coast and Thanet.
These services consist of a team of psychological practitioners of several disciplines providing a comprehensive and multidisciplinary service to adults with complex and enduring mental health conditions.
The teams provide clinical interventions such as individual psychological therapy (including EMDR, CBT, psychodynamic, art therapy and integrative) and group therapy (including MBT, DBT and art therapy groups), as well as supporting the wider MHT/MHT+ teams with training, supervision and consultation.
We have strong links with the South Thames Clinical Psychology Training Centre, attached to Canterbury Christ Church University, and offer training placements to clinical trainees as well as other Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy training courses. These links also provide access to a variety of post-qualification training courses and events.
The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).

Main duties of the job
To provide professional and clinical leadership in the provision of Psychological Practice to adults with severe and enduring mental health difficulties, aged 18 and upwards, within the East Kent Directorate served by Kent & Medway NHS Trust.
In particular:

• To ensure the planning and development of a strategic response to service need, interpreting professional policies and ensuring that the service operates at the highest level of quality and current best practice and taking a major role in the development and implementation of policy for the service system as a whole
• To provide clinical services at a high level of expertise, supporting and advising colleagues on all issues concerned with psychological practice and providing expert clinical consultation and professional guidance to other psychological practitioners and MDT staff.
• To lead on psychological practice in the Service.

The post holder will be expected to participate in the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust senior manager on call rota.

Working for our organisation
We are the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway. Our teams support adults with a wide range of mental health needs. Because we cover the whole county and both hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the 1.8 million people of Kent and Medway. We care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 in the community each year.
Our vision is simple: We are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It's why we're passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. And everything we do is guided by our values caring, inclusive, curious and confident.
Join us - if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that's doing well together.
Take a look at our Consultant Clinical Forensic Psychologist Video
Take a look at our Clinical Associate Psychologist Video

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification
We are serious about diversity and inclusion, and we are working hard to build this into our DNA. We warmly welcome applications for any of our roles from people from diverse backgrounds, and we are proactively encouraging applications from under-represented communities for our more senior roles, like this one.

Person specification

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to comprehend and communicate verbally and in writing highly complex and sensitive information in a manner appropriate to a range of settings and audiences, including complex highly emotive situations and those with significantly impaired communication capacities.
• Ability to analyse and manage complex multi-factorial clinical information from a range of sources integrating it into a formulation utilising a variety of psychological perspectives.
• Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Ability to organise own workload effectively, prioritising a complex range of tasks and responsibilities to meet agreed deadlines.
• Adequate keyboard skills and sound understanding of I.T. packages

Desirable criteria

• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies

Training, Qualifications and Registration

Essential criteria

• Achieved grade will refer to JD depending if Psychologists or Psychotherapists

Desirable criteria

• Achieved grade

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience working as a qualified specialist psychologist / psychotherapist for a minimum of six years in the NHS, including substantial post-qualification experience within the speciality where the post is located.
• Experience of minimum of 100 hours specialist clinical supervision in this area of practice
• Experience of providing supervision on psychological work to MDT staff & psychological practitioners.
• Experience of working successfully in a multi-disciplinary team context, providing clinical leadership and promoting effective team working.
• Experience of managing applied/assistant psychologists and psychological therapists
• Experience of facilitating reflective practice, post incident debriefs and complex case discussions

Important Information:
In cases where we receive a high volume of applications for a post, it may be necessary to bring the closing date forward. Please submit your completed application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
Due to the high volume of applications received, it is not possible to respond individually to your application. Should you not hear from us within six weeks of the vacancy closing, please assume that your application has not been successful.

Probation Period. New employees external to the trust are subject to a six-month probationary period.
To deliver an effective service it is essential i