Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist/Psychological Therapist - Dartford - NHS

Description

We are seeking to recruit an enthusiastic, compassionate and motivated Psychological Therapist for a whole-time post (1.0 WTE) in our Forensic Outreach Service (FOS). The role will be community-based, supporting the safe discharge of adult forensic mental health service users as they move from secure hospital care into the community, including the Tilt service, a hostel for men with significant mental health needs and forensic risks. You will play a crucial role in the multi–professional approach to working with service users who have severe mental health and interpersonal issues, often co-occurring with substance dependency or neurodevelopmental disorders, all of whom present a risk that warrants support from forensic services.

Within the forensic community services, there is emphasis on improving quality of life and reducing inequalities for service users, and across the psychological therapies department there is a focus on CBT for psychosis, trauma informed and systemic approaches, with expert supervision available.

Travel between the three Oxleas boroughs – Bexley, Bromley, and Greenwich – is essential. This is a clinically focused role.

Candidates are expected to be psychological therapists with a minimum of 12 months post-qualification experience in relevant clinical services. For further details please contact: Dr Hazell Bale, Principal Psychologist

You will offer direct clinical assessment and interventions in complex cases, including individual, group, and family work. In addition, you will provide support to the system around the service user, offering consultation and reflective practice to other professionals, and delivering staff training to clinical and non-clinical staff. There may also be opportunities to supervise trainees, and to undertake audit and research.

You will be the only psychological therapist in the FOS team but will have links to other forensic psychological therapies services, including receiving clinical supervision from a psychologist in the Forensic Intellectual and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (FIND) community team. You will also join monthly psychological therapies department meetings. The Forensic Psychological Therapies department provides a breadth of professional opportunities across community, prison and hospital settings and opportunities for research and career progression through ongoing professional development. The post holder will be encouraged to consolidate and further develop their skills and clinical interests in a friendly and supportive multi-professional and multi-agency context.

At Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, we offer a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people living in South-East London and to people in prison across England. Our wide array of services includes community health care, such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies.

Oxleas is a great place to work. In 2025 it was again recognised as one of the Best Places to Work by the Sunday Times amongst very big employers. Our staff survey results show that we are ranked second in England and the highest in London for staff experience amongst similar trusts.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

We're Kind

We're Fair

We Listen

We Care

The Forensic Psychological Therapies department is an unusually large, long established and nationally well-regarded specialty. Psychological therapists are highly valued within the wider directorate and trust and occupy a variety of service-wide leadership roles, including as Responsible Clinicians. Staff in the Forensic Directorate report the highest levels of job satisfaction in a Trust recognised for positive employee feedback. The Psychological Therapies team is warm and friendly, whilst also being dynamic and innovative

To travel to clinical venues, training activities and meetings as appropriate and across the Trust when required.

To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group and follow Trust policies relating to its management.

To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations of people in distress or in crisis and who may be abusive and to support others involved in such situations.

To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics or weekend working, within the overall Job Plan.

To be proficient in the use of IT for purposes such as email, electronic calendar, intranet, video calls and electronic clinical records.

To be familiar with word processing, database, and statistical packages, and to use such packages appropriately as necessary.

To maintain high standards of clinical record keeping, including electronic clinical records and report writing, in accordance with professional codes of practice and Trust policies and procedures.

To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues pertaining to the client group.

To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a senior psychological practitioner according to professional and Trust guidelines and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.

To attend Reflective Practice reliably.

To maintain own Continuing Professional Development in line with registered body and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements.

To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.

To comply with the registered body Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics/Standards of Proficiency.

To ensure that all assistant for whom the post-holder has management responsibility maintain professional standards and adhere to all organisational HR policies and procedures.

Maintaining registration and standards of practice according to the employer and any regulating bodies e.g., the UKCP, BABCP & HCPC etc.

Ensuring all aspects of confidentiality relating to both the service and individuals are always maintained.

To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.

To ensure the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry, in those parts of the service for which the post-holder has management or leadership responsibility.

Management responsibilities

To provide line management to pre-qualified staff and to supervise students and trainees.

To support recruitment of psychological therapies staff to the service.

For staff line managed, to ensure local standards are implemented for the allocation and review of work, job planning, review of performance, sickness management and initial stages of grievance or disciplinary action.

To oversee quality line management and supervision within the team structure, ensuring that assistant psychologists and trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies, and experience to contribute effectively to health care, and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.

To supervise psychological work carried out by other professionals as appropriate.

To provide highly specialist advice, consultation and training of staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate. This may include work with the Criminal Justice System and Children's Services.

To implement clinical governance standards within the service and ensure that these are maintained and improved.

Ensure that services to clients are of a high quality and are managed efficiently, according to the overall requirements of the Trust, NHS and government guidance and standards.

To undertake quality improvement projects relevant to the role.

To ensure the engagement of service users in planning and delivering services.

Leadership

To support the effective working of the team and a psychologically informed framework for the team.

Deliver accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.

To be proactive in challenging discrimination.

To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of clients.

To liaise with the service/s MDT and other professionals including to liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients to develop and review care plans.

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature, and research.

Work within the remit of relevant policies and procedures for the safe running of the service.

To provide and support specialist clinical placements for students and trainees in applied psychological practice.

To contribute to the delivery of teaching and training to psychological practitioners and other professions.

To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychological therapy and risk assessment / management and to implement knowledge gained in practice.

To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

To continue to gain wider post-qualification experience of psychological therapies and risk assessment, over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post-holder is employed.

Clinical

To provide highly specialist psychological therapy assessments, formulations and interventions.

To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment, and discharge of community clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans, including taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans with input from clients, their carers, referring agents and others involved in the network of care.

To provide culturally appropriate psychological therapy interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.

To produce reports on clients, in a timely manner, that convey the key findings of psychological assessment and formulation and treatment outcome in a way that does justice to the complexity of the problems described, but that are understandable to the recipients of the reports, including clients and referrers.

To undertake psychometric and neuropsychological testing as appropriate, including selecting the appropriate tests, administering, and scoring the tests in accordance with the manual, and interpreting the findings in the context of all relevant information.

To undertake risk assessment, risk monitoring and risk management for individual clients in line with Trust and inter-agency policies and procedures, and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

To work in partnership with other disciplines and to maintain links with statutory and non-statutory agencies as appropriate.

To ensure that all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities served.

Implement outcome measurement as determined by the local service.

Attend and contribute to psychological therapies and directorate meetings and forums.

Research

To undertake the planning, initiation and completion of research, service evaluation and audits, and quality improvement projects relevant to the service and the directorate research agenda.

To oversee the planning, initiation and completion of research, service evaluation and audits by students, trainees, and colleagues.

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature, and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

Communication

To communicate, in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, to clients, family carers and others as appropriate, information that may be contentious or highly distressing concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care.

Liaises with other team members, team leaders, service managers, and members of other disciplines and agencies responsible for a client's care.