Clinical/ Counselling/ Forensic Psychologist

Are you an experienced Clinical, Counselling or Forensic Psychologist looking to take the next step in your career? If so, join The Spinney Hospital in Atherton, Manchester. This is an opportunity to change lives for the better and help some of the most vulnerable people in society.

Working within the Psychology department at the Spinney you will be able to offer your expertise and experience of working with people in a forensic mental health setting. Most importantly, you will be a very valued staff member and your career with us will be enjoyable and rewarding as you develop specialists’ skills throughout your time at The Spinney.

You will work closely with the wider MDT colleagues in Nursing, Allied Health Professionals (Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, and Dietician), Social Workers, Physical Health and Psychiatry to provide multi-disciplinary support.

As part of your role, you will be reporting to the Lead Psychologist and will be responsible for the delivery of evidence-based individual and group interventions, cognitive assessments, MDT working and risk assessments. You will also facilitate staff reflective practice sessions which are often a much-needed space for our staff to slow down, reflect and develop. We have adopted the heads and hearts model to facilitate the space.

Within this role you will be able to build upon and develop skills in all areas relevant to Psychology; person-centred care, consultation, team working, assessment, formulation, therapy, risk assessments and management, service development, leadership and research.

We enjoy having a team in which we can draw on each other’s expertise and as such would support your personal and professional development. There is a monthly CPD slot within our own department to share knowledge, there is also quarterly CPD days with the wider regional Psychology teams, access to external training opportunities, and we are currently organising reflective practice for our own team facilitated externally.

It's a career that brings pride and fulfilment, a true representation of what delivering great healthcare should feel like.

We would encourage you to get in touch for any informal queries or questions you may have, or just to get a feel for us and our team. We can also arrange for you to come and see the hospital to make sure this is a place that you could see yourself working in. For any of these, please do get in touch with the Lead Psychologist Dr Dany Just on or by calling .

As a Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologist you will be:

• Providing specialist psychological assessments, formulations and individualised evidence-based psychological interventions for people with complex mental health difficulties.
• Providing evidence-based and formulation-driven psychological perspectives to multidisciplinary risk management, care planning and decision-making to promote psychological wellbeing.
• Communicating complex and sensitive information to colleagues, service users, carers/relatives and other professionals to support psychological wellbeing, safeguarding, and risk assessments.
• Supporting and promoting open cultures within teams and services.
• Managing a complex caseload as a ward Psychologist working within a multidisciplinary team, in addition to facilitating group psychological interventions.
• Monitoring clinical progress through regular reviews of psychological treatment.
• Providing high-quality clinical supervision to assistant psychologists and/or trainees in the psychology team.
• Supporting staff development through the provision of training, consultation, formulation meetings and reflective practice sessions.
• Contributing to service developments within the psychology team and wider service.
• Receiving regular line management supervision from the Lead Psychologist and clinical supervision from the Lead or other Psychologist from the team.
• Being professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of clinical work and care.
• Maintaining high standards of care in all areas of practice and in accordance the HCPC Code of Conduct, professional guidelines and Company Policies and Procedures.

To be successful in this role, you will need:

• Postgraduate/Doctorate level qualification (or evidence that you will qualify), allowing you to work as a Clinical, Forensic or Counselling psychologist.
• Current registration with the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• We will also consider applicants from newly qualified Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologists, or from those who are about to qualify (please clearly state in the application when you will receive HCPC registration).
• Knowledge and experience of specialist, highly complex assessment, formulation and treatment of people with mental health difficulties.
• Knowledge of risk assessment and risk management.
• Experience of engaging vulnerable people with complex needs and manage uncertainty and risk situations.
• Post qualification training in the specialist application of therapeutic models relevant for working with people with mental health difficulties in forensic services (or for newly qualified psychologists an interest in undertaking further specialist training).
• Experience of supervising psychology and other healthcare colleagues.
• Experience of facilitating reflective practice (or for newly qualified psychologists an interest in doing so with appropriate training and support).
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.

Where you will be working:

The Spinney hospital (Everest Rd, Atherton, Manchester M46 9NT) is made up of medium and low secure services, a separate rehabilitation service and a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

Within the Spinney we offer care and support for men aged 18 years and older with mental health difficulties. All the beds at the Spinney are NHS funded. The Spinney has some great facilities including a swimming pool, a health and fitness suite, education room, art and pottery workshops, computer suites, gardens, and the list goes on. The Spinney has great staff retention rates, and we think one of the reasons is the way we look after each other and the opportunities that are available.

What you will get: