Principal Practitioner Psychologist

We are excited to advertise a permanent 0.8 WTE (4 days) Principal Practitioner Psychologist post (Clinical, Counselling, Forensic, grade 8b) to work in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale's adult acute inpatient service.

The two 18-bedded adult acute wards, Hollingworth and Moorside, are based at Birch Hill Hospital and provide specialist assessment, care and treatment for men and women aged 18 to 65 years old with a variety of mental health needs. People will often be admitted via A&E, Liaison, Home Treatment Team, a Mental Health Act Assessment within the community or from an outpatient clinic and are often experiencing distress, a mental health deterioration and/or may be in crisis.

Hollingworth and Moorside are friendly, dynamic ward teams who are keen for a full MDT to help them provide the best possible care they can. We are looking for skilled and compassionate Practitioner Psychologist to join us and provide high-quality psychology input within our acute inpatient services. The post holder will be part of an acute pathway psychology team with a network of colleagues around them and will supported and supervised by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist.

As outlined in the job description, the main duties include:

• To provide clinical leadership and direction in the continual development and provision of a high quality specialist psychology service within the adult acute inpatient service, embedding trauma informed care
• To support with the transformation of acute inpatient care, in line with national direction
• To hold a clinical caseload undertaking evidence-based psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention (individual and/or group). This may include a range of mental health difficulties at the point of crisis including experiences of psychosis, depression and/or Complex Emotional and Relational Needs (CERN)
• To provide specialist psychological support, consultation and guidance to other professionals contributing directly to the assessment, formulation and intervention plan
• To ensure the team have access to a psychologically-based framework for understanding and caring for the service user, through the provision of advice, consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management and to provide general advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management
• To support inpatient colleagues through the provision of supervision, reflective practice and post-incident reflective spaces
• To contribute to audit, policy/service development and research. To propose and implement policy changes within the areas served

Our acute and crisis pathway provides an evidence-based, high quality service across adult acute wards, Home Treatment Teams and Mental Health Liaison teams covering half of Greater Manchester. The Trustwide acute and crisis psychology team meets regularly for team meetings, CPD and a facilitated reflective group and has leadership from a dedicated 8c consultant clinical psychologist and clinical lead for the acute pathway.

We are passionate about staff well-being and compassionate leadership. Our staff survey results support this. In the latest national NHS Staff Survey (2024) Pennine Care was ranked as the best mental health and learning disability trust in the North .

We support staff to work flexibly and recognise and respect the roles our colleagues hold outside of working hours. This focus helps us to retain staff and ensure people are happy in their place of work.

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the top of our agenda. We know a diverse, inclusive and engaged culture is vital; that everyone's value should be recognised and respected.

There are also opportunities to link with local higher education providers and the research & innovation (R&I) team to engage with related research projects.

We are committed to staff development and have an extensive psychological therapies training programme.

For a more detailed overview of the roles job description and main responsibilities, please see the attached job description and personal specification.

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical/counselling/forensic psychology, (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, or post-graduate training in Forensic Psychology or Counselling Psychology
• Current registration as a Clinical, Forensic or Counselling psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council
• Completion of further post qualification training within psychological therapies (e.g. DBT, CBT, CAT, CFT, MBT etc.)
• Completion of further post qualification training in supervision

• Demonstrable post-qualification experience of specialist assessment, formulation and treatment of adult clients and those with psychological difficulties
• Demonstrable post-qualification experience of working with complex mental health…