Lead Psychologist

Are you an experienced and compassionate Forensic, Clinical or Counselling Psychologist looking for an opportunity to combine advanced clinical practice with professional leadership, service development and innovation?

Join Farmfield Hospital as Lead Psychologist, a Consultant-level role, and play a key part in shaping and delivering high-quality psychological services within a specialist forensic mental health setting.

Farmfield Hospital provides medium and low secure inpatient care for adult men with complex mental health and forensic needs. This is a rewarding opportunity to provide senior psychological leadership while making a meaningful contribution to patients' recovery, rehabilitation and the development of psychologically informed care.

The role

As Lead Psychologist, you will provide strategic, professional and clinical leadership for Psychology across the service and will be a key member of the Senior Leadership Team. You will contribute to the wider strategic direction and development of the hospital, ensuring that psychological perspectives are represented within senior-level decision-making, clinical governance and service development.

The role offers a balance of clinical practice and leadership and management responsibilities, providing the opportunity to maintain meaningful clinical involvement while leading and developing the Psychology service.

Working closely with the multidisciplinary team and senior leadership, you will ensure that psychological thinking is embedded within assessment, formulation, care planning, risk management and treatment. You will provide specialist psychological advice and consultation, supporting teams to develop a shared understanding of complex presentations, risk and individual patient needs.

You will maintain a senior clinical role, providing and overseeing highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation and evidence-based interventions for patients with complex mental health and forensic needs. You will exercise autonomous professional judgement in clinical decision-making and risk management and contribute psychological expertise to complex care and treatment decisions.

As Lead Psychologist, you will lead the continued development of the Psychology service, identifying opportunities for innovation, quality improvement and new approaches to psychologically informed care. You will use research, audit, outcome measures and service evaluation to inform practice and ensure that psychological services continue to respond effectively to patient, service and organisational needs.

You will provide professional and operational leadership for the Psychology department, including qualified Psychologists, Clinical Associate Psychologists, Trainee Psychologists, Assistant Psychologists and Psychology Support staff, as applicable within the service. This will include clinical supervision, professional support, appraisal, recruitment, workforce development and continuing professional development.

Through consultation, training and reflective practice, you will also support the wider multidisciplinary workforce to develop psychologically informed and trauma-informed approaches to care.

You will have professional responsibility for the governance and quality of psychological practice, ensuring that the Psychology service meets professional, ethical, safeguarding, clinical governance and organisational standards.

As Lead Psychologist, you will:

• Provide strategic, professional and clinical leadership for Psychology across the service.
• Act as a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, contributing psychological expertise to hospital strategy, clinical governance and service development.
• Work across an approximate 50/50 clinical and leadership/management split.
• Lead the planning, development and delivery of high-quality, evidence-based psychological care.
• Deliver and oversee highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation and individual and group interventions.
• Provide expert psychological input into risk assessment, risk formulation, care planning and clinical decision-making.
• Exercise autonomous professional judgement in relation to complex clinical and risk matters.
• Provide professional leadership, clinical supervision and support to qualified Psychologists, Clinical Associate Psychologists, Trainee Psychologists, Assistant Psychologists and Psychology Students.
• Provide psychological consultation, training and guidance to the wider multidisciplinary team.
• Promote psychologically informed and trauma-informed approaches across the service.
• Lead service improvement, innovation, audit, research and evaluation, using evidence and outcomes to inform practice and service development.
• Ensure robust clinical governance, safeguarding, ethical practice and quality assurance within Psychology.
• Lead Psychology workforce development, including recruitment, appraisal, professional development, resource management and workforce planning.
• Represent Psychology within senior leadership, clinical governance and multidisciplinary forums.
• Contribute to the development, review and implementation of relevant policies, protocols and clinical pathways.
• Work collaboratively with internal and external professionals to enhance treatment pathways and improve patient outcomes.

To be successful as Lead Psychologist, you will need:

• A Doctoral-level qualification in Clinical, Counselling or Forensic Psychology, or an equivalent qualification that enables registration with the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Current HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Extensive experience of working with patients presenting with complex psychological, mental health and/or forensic needs.
• Advanced skills in psychological assessment, formulation and evidence-based intervention.
• Strong knowledge and experience of clinical risk assessment, risk formulation and risk management.
• Experience delivering a range of evidence-based individual and group psychological interventions.
• Significant experience of multidisciplinary working and contributing psychological expertise to complex care planning and decision-making.
• Substantial experience of providing clinical supervision, consultation, training and professional leadership.
• Demonstrable experience of leadership, workforce development, service improvement and organisational change.
• The ability to provide leadership and professional support across a Psychology team at different levels of qualification and training.
• A strong understanding of clinical governance, safeguarding, ethical practice and relevant professional, legal and policy frameworks.
• Experience using research, audit, outcome measures and service evaluation to develop and improve clinical practice.
• Excellent communication, leadership, influencing and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work effectively within a complex clinical environment.

Experience within forensic or secure mental health services, eligibility for Chartered Psychologist status with the British Psychological Society, specialist psychological training, research experience, policy or service development experience and expertise in trauma-informed approaches would be advantageous.

Your development

At Elysium, your professional development is important. As Lead Psychologist, you will have opportunities to continue developing your clinical, leadership, research and service-development expertise, alongside support from the wider regional network of Psychology and healthcare professionals.

This is an opportunity to combine Consultant-level psychological practice with strategic and professional leadership, maintaining direct clinical involvement while shaping the Psychology service and contributing to the wider leadership and psychologically informed culture of Farmfield Hospital.

What You’ll Get

At Elysium Healthcare, we believe in taking care of the people who care for others, you’ll enjoy a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your wellbeing, growth, and future:

• Competitive Annual Salary plus Benefits
• The equivalent of 33 days annual leave (including bank holidays) – plus your birthday off and the option to buy additional annual leave, in our annual selection window.
• Career development and training to help you achieve your professional goals
• Access to our Rewards & Benefits platform Ely-Vate; Your one-stop destination for everyday savings, exclusive benefits, and wellbeing hub!
• Wellbeing support and activities to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance
• Access to Blue Light Card, which provides a range of exclusive offers and discounts
• Life Assurance, for added peace of mind
• Stream – instant access to earned wages when you need it, plus access to save, directly from your wages, alongside financial wellbeing support.
• 24/7 GP service and second medical opinion, to ensure you are the best you can be
• Enhanced Maternity Package, so you can truly enjoy this special time
• Pension contribution, to help secure your future
• Free/subsidised meals and onsite/local free parking

About us:

Elysium Health care has over 8,000 employees and a unique approach to the delivery of care. With a network of over 80 services across England and Wales covering Mental Health, Neurological, Learning Disabilities & Autism, Children & Education, there is opportunity for you to grow and move.

Elysium Healthcare is part of Ramsay Health Care with a global network that extends across 10 countries and employs over 86,000 people globally.

Elysium Healthcare follows safer recruitment of staff for all appointments and is a Disability Confident employer, committed to inclusive and accessible recruitment. It is a requirement that all staff understand it is each person’s individual responsibility to promote and safeguard the welfare of service users. All candidates will be subject to a DBS disclosure