Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an innovative and flexible psychologist to join our Mental Health and Wellness and Older Adult psychology provision in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. This is a band 7 to 8a development post: the post holder will initially start at band 7 with the opportunity to progress to band 8a within the role. Applications from newly qualified psychologists are welcome.

The post holder will join a group of passionate psychologists who value diversity and inclusion. We are firm believers in the importance of co-designing and co-delivering with experts by experience, carers, peer workers and partnering with third sector organisations. We have a range of specialist interests, and experience in delivering a range of specialist assessments, therapies and consultation.

We believe in the importance of richness in delivering secondary care services to effectively meet the needs of the population we serve, therefore integrated working with the multi-disciplinary Older Adult and Mental Health and Wellness Teams is essential. The successful candidate will be joining the borough at an exciting time of transformation where they’ll have the opportunity to contribute to shaping meaningful services for those it is set up to serve. 

Salary for band 7 is £46,148 - £52,809
Salary for band 8a is £53,755 - £60,504

Main duties of the job

Supporting the multidisciplinary Older Adult and Mental Health and Wellness teams in their work and in the provision of psychologically informed interventions.

Exercising clinical responsibility for undertaking psychological assessment, psychological treatment and discharge planning of clients in consultation with the multi-disciplinary teams.

 Assisting in the management, supervision, teaching and coordinating of qualified psychologists and psychological therapists, clinical associates in psychology (both qualified and in training), trainee psychologists, and assistant psychologists.

Participating in the development and implementation of high standards of clinical care ensuring the service provided is needs led, compliant with national guidance and is viewed positively by service users and families / carers.

Working for our organisation

Starting with NELFT
NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focusing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff). 

High Cost Area Supplement - London

This post attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (minimum payment of £4,551 and a maximum payment of £5,735 per annum pro rata).

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points based system. 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Conducting high quality psychological assessments, treatments, and systematic outcome measurements for service users under the care of the Older Adult and Mental Health and Wellness Teams. 

• Providing specialist consultation on complex cases presenting with significant distress associated with cognitive impairment, anxiety, mood disorders, and enduring difficulties.

• Working in close collaboration with other psychology services to ensure a smooth pathway for service-users and their families, under the direction of the Psychological Professional Leads. 

• Ensuring that a high quality, timely, accessible and evidence-based psychological service is available to all service users who need it, under the direction of the Psychological Professional Leads.

Use of AI
Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Doctoral level qualification in Clinical or Counselling Psychology Professional registration with the appropriate body (HCPC)

Desirable criteria

Additional specialist post-graduate training relevant to this population

Experience

Essential criteria

Experience of working with high levels of risk and severe mental health difficulties Experience of applying NICE compliant therapies relevant to the target population (working age and older adults accessing secondary care mental health services, including those with physical health conditions and cognitive impairment) Knowledge, understanding and experience of working with service users and families from diverse ethnic, economic and cultural backgrounds Experience of multi- disciplinary team working

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Expert knowledge of the theory and practice of specialized evidence-based psychological therapies in clients presenting with complex mood, anxiety and personality based difficulties and their families and carers. An awareness of relevant local and national priorities, frameworks and clinical governance

Skills

Essential criteria

Highly developed skills in the engagement and delivery of therapy to clients presenting with complex difficulties and their families. An ability to work autonomously, setting appropriate goals, in accordance with professional ethics guidelines and Trust policies Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the preparation of highly complex clinical reports and assessments

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff. A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity. Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors. Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.