Job summary
- Main area
- Community LD
- Grade
- Band 8b
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 820-7808025-LD
- Employer
- Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- The Greenfields
- Town
- Kings Norton
- Salary
- £64,455 - £74,896 per annum (pro rata)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 06/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Band 8b Highly Specialist Psychologist
Band 8b
Job overview
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Learning Disabilities Service - Community Team
Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist – Band 8b 0.9 wte (part/time flexible working possible)
Following the promotion of the existing post-holder, we are seeking an experienced, innovative and passionate psychologist who can play a key role in the leadership of community learning disability services in Birmingham.
This post will encourage the utilisation of a wide range of psychological, therapeutic, research and leadership skills both within psychology and in the wider Learning Disabilities service.
Main duties of the job
· As a community psychology lead, you will play a key role in ensuring that clients with learning disabilities, who may present with complexity, risk and associated health conditions live a meaningful life with minimal restrictions within their local community. You will provide assurance to our leadership team that our clients receive timely access to high quality, formulation driven, evidence based support in line with their presenting biopsychosocial needs. You will be responsible for the delivery, supervision and line management of psychological assessments, formulation and therapy, for referred individuals and families as well as consultation to professional carers and MDT colleagues.
Working for our organisation
Be Part of Our Team...
BCHC has more than 5000 staff working across Birmingham and the West Midlands in a wide range of community nursing and specialist healthcare roles. BCHC delivers over 100 clinical services, in people's homes, health centres, clinics and inpatient facilities. We deliver a wide range of services for children, young people and families as well as adults and community services, two community hospitals, services for people with Learning Disabilities, the internationally recognised West Midlands Rehab Centre and one of Europe’s leading Dental Hospitals and School of Dentistry. We deliver all of this with a commitment to integrated, personalised care that is rooted in our local communities. We have an ambition to deliver outstanding, integrated care as one of the key NHS providers in the West Midlands.
If you want to ‘Be Part of Our Team’ and work with a Foundation Trust which is continuously striving for best care and healthy communities, we want to hear from you.
IMPORTANT
- Please ensure you check your Trac account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you during the shortlisting and selection process
- Please ensure all sections of the application form are completed fully. Please particularly ensure that you provide full details of all referees including business email address, telephone contact details and postal address
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We pride ourselves on our compassionate and inclusive ways of working, which seek to reduce the risk of inpatient admission and associated trauma. We seek to improve quality of life for our clients, whilst strengthening relationships and attachments with others. We have a focus on wellbeing, both for ourselves as a psychology team, but also for our colleagues, clients and staff teams that we work with. We would be particularly interested to hear from applicants who have proven experience in leading strategic development or quality improvement initiatives within MDT teams and across services.
Here is some feedback from trainees who have been on placement in the community team:
“the clients, close knit MDT and supportive supervisors make the community LD service a great place to work”
“lots of opportunities for getting involved with other aspects of the service, for example with staff wellbeing or the Service User Group”
“variety of interests within the psychology team which means you get to experience different models and perspectives. For example, there are opportunities to work systemically or from a trauma informed perspective”
You would be based one of our Community Learning Disability bases which are situated within the Birmingham community. Whilst our work is moving towards a locality based model of care, you may be expected to travel throughout Birmingham, with occasional out of area visits. Requests for part-time or flexible working will be considered in line with the needs of our clients and the wider service.
You will be welcomed into an established group of experienced, friendly and supportive psychologists, banded from 8C to 7, as well as Honorary Assistant Psychologists and Trainees who are valued members of our team. We work closely with psychology colleagues in the Community Forensic Team and Intensive Support Team. We have expertise in a broad range of adapted psychological models, including behavioural (primarily PBS), systemic, narrative, CBT, ACT, psychodynamic and attachment, CFT, Video Interaction Guidance, CAT and EMDR. We are passionate about trauma-informed care and are constantly advocate for these principles to be embedded at all levels of service and pathway development. We have developed a thriving family therapy and consultation service. Psychologists are actively encouraged to participate within research, which is facilitated by our close working links with Professor Peter Langdon who holds a position as an Approved Clinician within our service.
Our specialist healthcare service for people with learning disabilities also offers a wide and diverse range of experiences for the post holder, such as opportunities to develop clinical leadership skills and be involved with wider clinical projects, including projects to address and reduce health inequalities. The Psychology Service offers support and close links with other psychologists through peer supervision, CPD events and team meetings. There are good links with the local DClinPsy training course and the MSCi pathway at Birmingham University. You are also invited to join the newly developed West Midlands Learning Disability special interest group, which brings together clinicians and academic colleagues from across the region to improve the standards of our services via research and collaboration.
The post holder will also be part of the professional network of Applied Psychologists working across BCHC NHS Foundation Trust, within our Learning Disabilities, NeuroRehabilitation, Stroke, Pain Management, Weight Management services and Children’s Neurodevelopmental pathway team, with access to a variety of models for clinical supervision, expert coaching, mentoring and other CPD opportunities.
Person specification
Qualifications/training
Essential criteria
- Satisfactory completion of a British Psychological Society accredited Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training course in clinical/ psychology completion of which includes the study of models of psychopathology, psychometric and neuropsychological assessment, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
- Eligibility for entry onto the Register of Chartered Psychologists. (Candidates for Clinical Psychology posts who i) possess a qualification in clinical psychology obtained oversees, that does not fully meet UK training requirements; ii) are seeking lateral transfer from another branch of applied psychology; or iii) hold a research degree in a clinical subject, must provide evidence that they have obtained a Statement of Equivalence in Clinical Psychology awarded by the BPS Committee for the Scrutiny of Individual Clinical Qualifications (CSICQ), further to the satisfactory completion of such additional training as is required by the CSICQ.)
- Post-doctoral training in clinical psychology.
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
- HCPC Registration
- The Graduate Basis for registration (further to completion of an honours degree in psychology accredited by the British Psychological Society, or, in the case of courses that are not accredited or where the first degree is not in psychology, by completion of the Society’s Qualifying examination, or completion of a Society accredited Conversion Course).
Experience
Essential criteria
- Assessed significant experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist at a specialist level with complex behavioural, physical health or mental health issues such as acute self-injurious behaviours
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client 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 exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment and also working within the context of a multidisciplinary team.
- Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings.
- Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts
Skills/knowledge
Essential criteria
- Doctorate level knowledge of Clinical Psychology.
- Highly specialist skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management including specialist clinical interviewing, behavioural observation, complex psychometric testing and specialist neuropsychological testing
- Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, 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 design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
- Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. Learning disabilities, personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies.
Personal qualities
Essential criteria
- Self-motivated and resilient
- Positive, energetic, enthusiastic in outlook and able to set a good example
- Keen to develop services in line with service, educational and research priorities with the service.
- Able to work independently or as part of a team
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of strong leadership skills, the ability to negotiate, persuade and influence at a senior level with a supportive style whilst also able to take difficult decisions and act assertively
- Keen to develop services in line with service, educational and research priorities with the service.
Other job requirements
Essential criteria
- Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
- Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
- Ability to reach scheduled appointments across the city in a timely fashion. Ability to travel independently Trustwide
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Lisa Morris
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Telephone number
- 01214666700
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