Featured job: Clinical and Counselling Psychologists, Priory Group

'There are always lots of opportunities at the Priory Group,' says Debra Longsdale, Priory's Therapy Director for Private, Wellbeing and Digital. 'That's because we're a growing service in a competitive and changing environment. I've worked in the group for eight and a half years and there's been more investment in and genuine strategic thinking about therapy and psychology than I've ever seen.'

The Priory Group comprises seven wellbeing centres, working on an outpatient basis, as well as its eleven private hospitals. I asked Debra to tell me a bit more about the roles. 'We're looking for full-time, network and sessional psychologists. These should preferably be clinical and counselling psychologists with training in CBT, though we employ professionals with diverse approaches and expertise.

I want to stress that we offer a variety of roles, but in particular, we're looking for registered and principal psychologists working with outpatients in the wellbeing centres at step care levels two and three. Many psychologists work for one centre; others may work for several, or for a centre and a hospital. Each centre uses a mix of in-person, remote and hybrid sessions with clients so it's perfectly possible, for instance, for someone to work a couple of days in the centre and the rest of the time from home, or to do all their sessions online. These roles offer excellent experience in a wide range of conditions from anxiety and depression to addiction, eating disorders and bipolar.'

Debra stresses that Priory Group has robust managerial and governance procedures in place with risk and case meetings weekly. Systems to safeguard clients and staff and to ensure the organisation is quick to react are one of Priory's strengths. 'We're a big organisation so we're looking for people who meet schedules and who communicate well. To help make communications timely and accurate we have systems like CareNotes which helps people write up their cases and Datix which allows us to monitor incidents. Anyone who joins Priory gets a full induction, covering these sorts of systems, overall policies such as safety and safeguarding, and processes and support in their local centre.'

'I want to stress just how varied the work is and the way people approach it. Some employed staff get involved in the clinical direction of the centre – we invite innovation and creativity. Other sessional psychologists run sessions for a day a week, spending the rest of their time on NHS work. Either approach can work. But being able to see the bigger picture, good communication and a real commitment to clients is essential. In return, you'll work in a flat organisation which listens to psychological issues and which values psychologists as psychologists. Psychology genuinely is a community within Priory.'

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