Band 8a Inpatient Clinical​/Counselling Psychologist

Job overview

Based on experience, this post can be offered as Band 8a or Band 7/8a Preceptorship.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to join the Bristol Inpatient Psychology Service. This role will provide psychology input to Aspen ward (mixed gender later life mental health ward) at Callington Road Hospital, Bristol.

You will join a supportive team of seven other inpatient psychologists with opportunities to link with peers through team meetings, shared projects, and peer supervision groups. Opportunities for CPD will be available, tailored to the acute care pathway. If you enjoy the challenges and rewards of influencing best clinical practice and the development of psychologically informed environments, then this post offers a wealth of opportunities.

The inpatient psychology team is engaged in a range of ongoing service development and research projects and welcomes applicants who have a passion to collaborate in advancing the quality of the services we offer. The service is also currently developing and delivering a new programme of CBT groups across the acute pathway. This is an exciting time to be joining the service and be a part of its expansion and development.

We have close ties with the University of Bath Clinical Psychology Doctorate programme, with opportunities to teach, provide placements, and collaborate on research.

The post-holder will provide a comprehensive psychology service to the Aspen team, including: specialist assessment (including cognitive assessments where applicable), formulation, individual and group interventions, and work with families and carers where appropriate. Applicants should have skills to work with a wide range of mental health issues whilst adapting interventions to the dynamic inpatient setting and specific needs of people in later life.

There is a strong focus on indirect work through team formulation, reflective practice and training with staff teams. You will need to be well organised with the ability to prioritise your work according to clinical need, with good communication skills. This role will involve some supervision and potential line management of other staff.

We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

We aim to provide High Quality, Compassionate Care everywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy.

Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200 miles, to more than 1.8 million people.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

The post holder will work 22.5hrs/3 days a week on Aspen ward, a later life acute mental health ward. For full job description, person specification and further information about the role please see documents within the full…