Principal Applied Psychologist

Job summary Are you a clinical or forensic psychologist looking for a new challenge?Would you like to work in, and be part of the leadership of a psychologically informed and led service?Want to be part of a service that helps make real life changes to the lives of people with complex difficulties and presentations?Then this may be the role for you...We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Principal Clinical or Forensic Psychologist to be part of the leadership team for our innovative service provided jointly between Hampshire Healthcare Trust and Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) in Hampshire.
The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Multi-Agency Personality Service (HMAPS) is a jointly commissioned Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Pathway and Intensive Interventions and Risk Management Service (IIRMS).
This is a psychologically led and informed specialised service.
You will work closely with the Consultant Lead Psychologist for OPD Services and will be part of the leadership of the multidisciplinary team providing psychological formulation, consultation, and training to the National Probation Service within Hampshire, to support the probation staff with formulation-based psychological ways of working with people on probation who have personality difficulties linked to their offending behaviour.
This service takes a relational approach and aims to place psychological understanding at the centre of our input with service users and those who are involved in their care and management.
Main duties of the job The service provides consultation, psychologically informed case management, and intervention to individuals presenting with complex difficulties and high risk of harm to others/offending, through the IIRMS service.
Intervention aims to expedite the care pathway of offenders in hospital settings and prisons and to support offenders living in the community.
The aim is to ensure that intervention and management is psychologically informed through both training and supervision.The role is varied and includes clinical work across both service lines (Pathway, and IIRMS), and managerial and leadership responsibility within the team.The service is based in Ravenswood House, Fareham, but the work is delivered in the community in a range of NHS and non-NHS ( Probation offices) premises across Hampshire.There is a strong commitment to professional development, with further training opportunities, and an understanding that regular clinical supervision is key for all team members.
About us Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a newly established organisation, bringing together expertise from across mental health, learning disabilities, community, and physical health services.
We are dedicated to delivering compassionate, high-quality, and accessible care to the diverse communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.With over 13,000 dedicated staff working across more than 300 sites, we place patients and staff at the centre of everything we do.
Our goal is to create an integrated healthcare system that improves accessibility and ensures more consistent care for patients.
By working together, we aim to improve patient outcomes, drive innovation, and meet the unique needs of the populations we serve.Our Trust unites services from Southern Health, Solent NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trusts community and mental health teams, as well as Hampshire CAMHS, originally part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
This transformation enables us to deliver more seamless care across the region, ensuring that patients receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
We are deeply committed to our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence, and offer outstanding opportunities for career development, training, and collaborative working.
Job description Job responsibilities Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached.
It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert.
The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.
Person Specification Qualifications Essential Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies.
and lifespan developmental psychology.
Formal training in supervision of other psychologists or equivalent experience.
Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist.
Non-Clinical Psychologists will need to be able to demonstrate the above competencies.
Desirable Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
Management/leadership training.
Experience Essential In depth experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist at a highly specialist level.
Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient, and residential care settings severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse, and the threat of physical abuse.
Experience of providing Neuropsychological Assessment.
Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client's psychological care and treatment, within the context of a multi-professional care plan.
Experience of teaching, training, and professional and clinical supervision.
Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of patients in clinical mental health settings, for example, hospitals or community mental health teams.
Experience of working with service users with complex psychological needs.
Experience of engaging and sustaining work with ambivalent clients.
Experience of liaison with other health professionals.
Essential Skills Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to patients, their families, carers, and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
Skills in the application of interventions for young people with complex attachment and trauma histories and mental health difficulties.
Ability to contain, explore and formulate an understanding of high levels of distress both directly with service users and indirectly via supervision of other staff.
Ability to constructively manage situations and people at times of conflict.
Ability to work collaboratively with senior managers and staff in service delivery and developments.
Knowledge of legislation in relation to the patient group and mental health.
Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
Ability to identify provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
IT skills including email, word processing and basic databases.
Interest in models of service delivery and an ability to articulate the value added by clinical psychology services within the context of multi-disciplinary mental health services.
Desirable Post-qualification experience in secure/ inpatient/forensic or other relevant clinical settings.
Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
Experience of delivering group programmes.
Experience of managing staff.
Desirable Skills Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups ( looked after children, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc.).
High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
Knowledge of legislation in relation to the setting, mental health and looked after young people.
Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
A commitment to the evaluation of services, enthusiasm for both multi-professional and uni-professional audit and a wish to continue to develop expertise in the service area.
Ability to demonstrate leadership and management skills.
Additional Criteria Essential What our services users expect of this post holder.
Commitment to working effectively with teams.
Calm under pressure.
Self-motivated.
Diplomatic and empathetic manner.
Able to maintain confidentiality.
Attention to detail.
Other Access to own transport and postholder must be able to travel to multiple locations across the county.