Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Are you an experienced Clinical/Counselling Psychologist looking for the next step into a Principal role?
Are you looking to work within an innovative service that works with families to support both emotional and mental wellbeing?
An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Family Safeguarding Service for a Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to join our team. This service is a collaboration between health services and local authority Children’s Social Care services offering a multiagency initiative allowing us to provide a ‘whole family’ approach to safeguarding children and improve parental mental health.

We support adults who are experiencing difficulties to meet the needs of their children and fulfil requirements of child protection plans. Improving parental mental health improves family functioning and the outcomes for children, contributing to the service aims of keeping families together.

Flexible working is available, with a combination of home visits, on-site appointments, and remote working.

• Work as an integral member of a multi-disciplinary team, which includes children’s social workers, domestic abuse and substance misuse specialists, as well as mental health practitioners and clinical psychologists, to reduce risks to children.
• Address the impact on children where parents have mental health difficulties and limited coping strategies, as well as problems arising from domestic abuse and parental alcohol and substance misuse. This approach engages and empowers parents to make the changes required for better family functioning, more specifically to address parental mental health and improve emotional wellbeing and resilience.
• You will be required to provide evidence-based opinion regarding parental mental health and share this with the MDT through review meetings such as Child in Need reviews and Child Protection Case Conferences.
• Deliver specialist clinical work and support other clinical staff to engage clients in assessment and formulation based on relevant theory and research. They will provide evidence-based psychological interventions to improve parental mental health and improve outcomes for the most vulnerable children and their families.
• Our interventions are underpinned by Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, and Systemic Family Therapy models. Emotional ‘first aid’ skills are key to supporting our clients through periods of crisis, whilst motivational interviewing supports in eliciting and maintaining their engagement.

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, we’re committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire. As an employer, we’re committed to offering an inclusive and compassionate environment where our people share in a sense of belonging and are supported to flourish.

Our Values At Berkshire Healthcare Are:

• Caring for and about you is our top priority
• Committed to providing good quality, safe services
• Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions

Your wellbeing is important to us. Some of the benefits of working for us include:

• Flexible working options to support work-life balance
• 27 days’ annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
• Generous NHS pension scheme
• Excellent learning and career development opportunities
• ‘Cycle to Work’ and car leasing scheme including electric vehicles
• Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
• Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
• Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities, the environment, and armed forces community to support equality
• Generous maternity, paternity, adoption, and special leave
• Free parking across Trust sites