Innovative new tool from DHP to improve the employment process of health psychologists
The Division of Health Psychology (DHP) has published an innovative new toolkit to help organisations employ and maximise the skills of health psychologists.
14 February 2022
The recruitment resource pack is specially designed to streamline the advertising, application and employment process.
It contains 14 practical examples of job descriptions and person specifications from trainee to consultant psychologist, across a range of health-related settings.
Many of these examples have been adapted from real examples of posts advertised by the NHS, local authorities and private sector organisations in the last 12 months, with the aim of making them applicable across organisations and geographic areas.
Dr Eleanor Bull, DHP practice lead, said:
"It's exciting that health psychology is such a rapidly growing area of practice within and beyond the UK.
People often ask us how to recruit their first trainee or qualified health psychologists for their organisation, to help solve pressing issues of behaviour change and wellbeing.
Others ask how they can open existing psychologist posts in health settings out to health psychologists to bring vibrancy and diversity to their psychology teams and improve patient care.
We hope this recruitment pack offers practical examples that employers can tweak for their own setting and organisations."
Professor Angel Chater, Professor of Health Psychology and Behaviour Change at the University of Bedfordshire, and past chair of the DHP, added:
"Our ultimate goal would be for a health psychologist to be employed in every organisation whose remit covers health and wellbeing, to optimise the use of health psychology in practice.
Building capacity in psychology, behavioural science and behaviour change across public health, the NHS and health education is a national priority, now more than ever.
This recruitment pack will enable the process of getting this well-needed and desired level of expertise into the health and social care system, which can help enhance population and staff health and wellbeing and reduce health and social care costs."
Download the DHP Best Practice in Psychology Recruitment pack