Senior Psychologist / Psychotherapist / Systemic Therapist: Sponsorship Available

Job summary

We are looking for an experienced and motivated Senior Psychologist / Psychotherapist / Systemic Therapist to join the healthcare team at Oasis Restore Secure School (ORSS).

This is an exciting opportunity to work within the UK’s first secure school, providing a highly specialist, trauma-informed therapeutic service to children and young people within a unique residential, education and healthcare environment.

The postholder will provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention, alongside consultation and advice to the wider multidisciplinary team. You will work closely with healthcare, residential and education colleagues to promote a therapeutic culture and support the emotional and psychological wellbeing of children at ORSS.

The role requires a clinician who can work confidently with complexity, develop strong therapeutic relationships and apply specialist clinical knowledge within a secure and highly structured environment. You will contribute to the development of trauma-informed practice across the school, including reflective practice, training, consultation and staff development.

You will also provide professional and clinical supervision to relevant colleagues and contribute to service development, audit, research and quality improvement.

The post is Band 8a, 1.0 WTE, based at Oasis Restore Secure School.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will:

• Provide highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention to children and young people at Oasis Restore Secure School.
• Develop and deliver psychologically informed, evidence-based care plans and interventions tailored to the individual needs of children.
• Work within a trauma-informed, culturally sensitive and developmentally informed framework, recognising the impact of children’s experiences on their strengths, needs and difficulties.
• Develop effective therapeutic relationships with children and their families and support children to express their views and participate meaningfully in decisions about their care.
• Provide specialist psychological advice and consultation to healthcare, residential and education colleagues.
• Contribute to multidisciplinary formulation, risk assessment, risk management and treatment planning.
• Support the development of a therapeutic culture across ORSS through training, consultation, reflective practice and staff support.
• Provide professional and clinical supervision to Band 7 Highly Specialist Clinical Practitioners, Assistant Practitioners and other colleagues as appropriate.
• Contribute to whole-school training and education programmes relating to psychological understanding and therapeutic interventions.
• Contribute to service development, audit, research and evaluation to support evidence-based practice and continuous improvement.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• A good honours degree in Psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS). A recognised professional post-graduate qualification in Systemic Therapy, Family Therapy, Arts Therapies, Psychotherapy or relevant core mental health professional therapeutic training.
• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specific models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, equivalent to that accredited by the BPS
• Evidence of post-qualification specialist training, experience and developing expertise in a specialist area of clinical practice.
• HCPC Registration.

Desirable

• Pre- or Post-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
• Reflective practice training and experience
• Post-qualification experience and training in neurodevelopmental assessment and intervention in a forensic mental health setting.
• Completion of supervisor training course.
• Post-qualification training in a recognised psychological therapy for trauma
• Post-graduate training or experience in a forensic mental health setting.

Skills , Knowledge and Abilities

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Broad knowledge of models of assessment, management and treatment of children and young people in secure settings.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Ability to work intensively with people who present challenges in the complexity of their problems and needs, including sexual and violent offending and self-harming and suicidal behaviours.
• An understanding of the social determinates of health inequalities and relevant psychological theory and practice
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology or equivalent for non-psychology professionals
• Possesses range of clinical knowledge, skills & information technology expertise relevant to post
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
• oAbility to work intensively with people who present challenges in the complexity of their problems and needs, including sexual and violent offending and self-harming and suicidal behaviours

Desirable

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult-to-treat groups (e.g. people with additional disabilities).
• Ability to write reports for varied audiences, including courts and purchasers of services.
• Can apply psychological knowledge creatively in developing new initiatives

Previous Experience

Essential

• Demonstrate further specialist training / experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist or equivalent professional mental health disciplines, or an alternative agreed by the Consultant Clinical Psychologist
• Experience of using a trauma informed approach
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical 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 specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings
• Experience of working effectively in multidisciplinary settings and preferably within a secure or education setting.
• Advanced knowledge, experience and expertise in at least one specialist area of clinical practice gained through specialist training and supervised practice (e.g. psychotherapy, neuropsychology, risk assessment, clinical supervision
• Experience of working with adolescents/children

Desirable

• Experience of teaching and training
• Experience of representing psychology/psychotherapy within the context of multi-disciplinary care
• Experience of working with neurodevelopmental difficulties among children
• oExperience of working with sexual behaviour difficulties and/or sexual offending.

Closing Date: 24 October 2026