Please note this is a national post and can be based anywhere but there is frequent and regular travel (the successful candidate.....
Please note this is a national post and can be based anywhere but there is frequent and regular travel (the successful candidate will be expected to travel to different regions to attend regional pathfinder meetings which are monthly). There will also be a requirement to come to London for meetings.
This is a new post within the PSG CT central team. This role will work closely with the Joint Extremism Unit (JEXU) and the Joint Counter Terrorism Prison and Probation Hub (JCTPPH). JEXU is a HMPPS and Home Office venture that was established in April 2017 to be the strategic centre for all CT work in prison and probation. The unit has oversight of operational delivery against the Prevent and Pursue strands of CONTEST. Delivery is underpinned by a specialist CT case management process (Pathfinder), which is delivered by multi-disciplinary teams. Pathfinder focuses on individuals who have been convicted of TACT or TACT connected offences and, those individuals for whom there are concerns they are engaging/ engaged with a Terrorist group, cause and or ideology. It provides end-to-end management of this group. This is the mechanism through which an offender’s risk and rehabilitative pathways are assessed and monitored in relation to the concerns of engagement with an extremist group, cause and or ideology.
The HMPPS teams work proactively at a local, regional and national level, across custody and community, with operational partners, including Police and security services, to case manage individuals, share information and intelligence and assist with active investigations. The regional teams include operational and probation colleagues. Currently Psychology do not attend the regional pathfinder meetings each month. However, after the intelligence breach (Nov 23), there has been an increasing need for appropriately cleared psychologists to provide case consultation regarding risk identification, risk reduction and risk management at the regional pathfinder meetings. This post will establish a ‘sterile corridor’ approach between ERG authors and sensitive intelligence that will ensure ERG authors have the right information at the right time to inform their assessment without compromise to the integrity of the intelligence.
Overview of the job
This is a functional management job within an establishment.
Summary
The job holder will be responsible for managing a number of work area(s) within the Psychology of the establishment. These include all aspects of the Psychology and should include the management of registered and trainee psychologists. As a member of the senior management team, they will contribute and implement their objectives as defined in the Establishment’s Business Plan.
The Head of Psychology must be a registered psychologist and where there is a requirement of the post, a chartered psychologist.
This is a non-operational job with line management responsibility.
Responsibilities, Activities and Duties
The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:
Accountable for managing and providing professional leadership of psychologists.
Accountable for ensuring the psychology service exhibits key competencies, provides performance reports to key stakeholders and complies with HMPPS and professional standards
Accountable for the delivery and quality of those aspects of treatment programmes that must be overseen by a registered psychologist (typically these courses are the more complex interventions and would include, for example, Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) but may not include the Thinking Skills Programme (TSP) or Controlling Anger and Learning to Manage it (CALM) programmes
Accountable for providing the short term evaluation of effectiveness of relevant psychological intervention within the establishment
Accountable for contributing towards the choice of the appropriate balance of programmes/interventions through conducting Needs Analysis
Accountable for leading on key areas of offender risk assessment
Accountable for supervising and overseeing research work
Accountable for initiating research within the establishment or co-ordinating the establishment’s contribution to national research projects
Accountable for promoting the work of the Prison Service, through preparing and disseminating research findings detailing clinical practice and outcomes
Accountable for providing consultancy support for a range of regime issues e.g. Safer Custody/Resettlement/Treatment Programmes
Accountable for the admissions, applications and referral process for prisoners applying to the relevant settings
Accountable for ensuring that psychologists have a clearly defined remit in leading on identified tasks
Manages and provides professional leadership for supervising trainee psychologists’ organisational outputs (e.g. risk reports)
Accountable for supervising pre-registered psychologists as they move toward registered and/or chartered status
Accountable for supervising trainees towards qualified status (e.g. as a coordinating supervisor), where appropriate