Clinical and/or Forensic Psychologist

You will have a unique opportunity to be part of a team of multidisciplinary colleagues committed to delivering excellence and pursuing innovation in providing care to young people in secure and/or non-secure care. Your role would be to deliver highly specialist assessments and interventions to young people and their families, to support secure and residential care staff to implement a multi-theoretical model of care to assist the staff to recognise and respond to needs and difficulties that are common to this group of young people, to provide training and consultation, to provide clinical supervision, to take part in service audit and evaluation, and to ensure robust clinical governance of practice.

The service utilises the ‘ABC Framework’ for formulating young people’s developmental, psychological (attachment and trauma) mental health and risk needs (Johnstone, 2020). The ABC Framework draws from the main developmental, mental health and therapeutic theories for understanding and supporting vulnerable young people. The ABC Framework also incorporates a structured risk assessment (the START-AV; Viljoen, et al, 2012) that ensures that multiple risk outcomes, vulnerabilities, and strengths are systematically assessed. Thus, the ABC Framework ensures a multi-theoretical and multi-disciplinary analysis and understanding of the young person, which in turn, informs the type of interventions – direct and indirect – that are required to optimise the care and risk management provided.

You will work across the campus in both secure and residential:

St Mary’s Kenmure (SMK) is a secure care centre which provides a safe, secure and therapeutic environment for the care and education of young people who are referred to us. Secure Care aims to provide intensive support, care, including health interventions and education to keep young people safe, meet their presenting needs and address risks, improve wellbeing and work collaboratively towards positive outcomes. The length of stay can vary depending on need.

Dochas House is a modern non-secure, residential care facility on the St Mary’s Kenmure campus. It feels like a family home with private bedrooms and large airy and relaxed living spaces. Young people will have complex needs of a nature and intensity that they require highly intensive and specialist therapeutic interventions.

Each young person is entitled to and will receive a high standard of care from a team of experienced and qualified staff who strive to meet their needs and ensure their health and safety. We also offer a wide range of academic and vocational subjects to allow our young people to learn and develop during their stay, along with a variety of recreational facilities including a seven aside football pitch, gymnasium, fitness suite and a swimming pool.

The St Mary’s campus is located in the North of Glasgow in Bishopbriggs. It is in commutable distance for Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling. Further information about St Mary’s can be found online at www.stmaryskenmure.org.uk

If you are passionate, enthusiastic and invested in working with vulnerable and disadvantaged young people and their families and you want to do all you can to optimise their well-being and life chances, this position will provide you with the opportunity to drive forward and innovate the models of care and provisions necessary to ensure best practice service delivery.

If you feel that this is the challenge you have been waiting for and you want to join a team of professional and caring people, please complete the attached application form and return it to recruitment@stmaryskenmure.org.uk or by mail to Christine Alexander, St Mary’s Kenmure, St Mary’s Road, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, G64 2EH. If you would like more information about the role, please contact Prof. Lorraine Johnstone at ljohnstone@stmaryskenmure.org.uk

Please note the closing dates for applications is 26 April 2024.

Part-time/flexible working arrangements are available by negotiation.