Band 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Integrated Care System; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A mental health service provider in Birmingham seeks a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to deliver specialized psychological assessments and treatment within the Eating Disorders Service. You will work within a multidisciplinary team, offering support and developing guidelines for psychological practices. Ideal candidates will have Doctorate-level training and supervise less experienced colleagues, contributing to a supportive and innovative service culture.

Qualifications

• Experience as a qualified clinical or counselling psychologist.
• Experience of therapeutic work with difficult clients.
• Post-qualification training in specialist areas of psychological practice.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality specialist psychological service to clients.
• Supervise psychological assessment and interventions.
• Utilize skills for audit, policy, service development and research.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Interpersonal and communication skills

Consultation skills

Knowledge of psychological therapies

Education

Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training in clinical psychology

Job description

Go back Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Band 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

The closing date is 31 August 2025

You are invited to apply to a Clinical / Counselling Psychologist post in the Eating Disorders Service. The post-holder will work as an integrated member of the multidisciplinary team, providing specialist psychological assessment and treatment to service users within the In-patient and Day Treatment sectors of the Eating Disorders Service. The post-holder will also be expected to facilitate a psychologically informed environment in these areas via consultancy, supervision, teaching and training of the multidisciplinary teams. The post-holder will be closely supported by a senior Clinical Psychologist.

You will join a friendly and supportive Psychological Professions Service that offers excellent opportunities for research, personal development and special interests, that is committed to providing training and supervision opportunities for its staff and that supports networking, exchange of good practice and peer support amongst Psychological Professionals and members of other disciplines across the Trust. We have an exceptionally strong and productive tradition of R & D, very well-established links with Birmingham University and other academic institutions.

Main duties of the job

To ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist psychological service to clients in the In-patient and Day-patient Services of the Eating Disorders Service. To supervise and support psychological assessment and interventions provided by psychological professionals and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service. To utilise skills for audit, policy, service development and research. To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the service.

About us

Welcome to Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Our 4000 clinical and support staff help us to improve mental health wellbeing and meet the needs of the 70,000 people we serve each year. We provide a range of mental healthcare services across Birmingham and Solihull, as well as specialised services nationally. We also offer medical, nursing and psychology training and are proud of our international reputation for both research and innovation.

Our population is culturally diverse, characterised in places by high levels of deprivation which create an increasing demand for our services and a necessity for us to make sure everyone can access the help they need. We are a team of compassionate, inclusive and committed people working together to provide excellent care to support our community. If you are looking for a place to belong, where you can make a real difference to people's lives, join our team where our warm welcome is waiting for you.

Job responsibilities

Please see attached job description for further information about main duties and responsibilities for this role.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Satisfactory completion of a British Psychological Society accredited Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training course in clinical psychology (the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996; or Doctorate in Counselling Psychology), the completion of which includes the study of models of psychopathology, psychometric and neuropsychological assessment, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Post-qualification training in one or more highly specialist areas of psychological practice / therapy.

Experience

• Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical or counselling psychologist post-qualification.
• Experience of highly specialist psychological assessment and individual and group-based treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including primary and secondary/ specialist care and inpatient/residential, outpatient and community team settings.
• Relevant post-qualification experience, and training in supervision, enabling the post holder to independently supervise less experienced qualified and unqualified psychologists or other psychological professionals.
• Experience of working therapeutically with 'difficult to treat' clients.

Knowledge

• Theoretical and practical knowledge of the field of psychological intervention consistent with professional training and further post qualification study, training and supervised experience during the substantial experience as a qualified psychologist.
• Interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) including the ability to empathically, sensitively and effectively communicate clinical and condition related information to clients, their families, carers and professional colleagues (within and outside the NHS) that is extremely complicated or technical; extremely sensitive and potentially distressing to the recipient; or that is extremely contentious or challenging.
• Skills in providing consultation and advice from a psychological perspective to members of other professional and non-professional groups.
• Knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Awareness and understanding of the differential needs of people from diverse populations in relation to age, gender, race, sexual orientation and identity, etc
• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific 'difficult to treat' groups (e.g. personality disorder, challenging behaviour, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).

Personal

• Ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism, and to reflect on and manage own emotions and those of others, when faced by highly distressing material, problems and circumstances (e.g. when dealing with family breakdown, sexual abuse) on a frequent basis; and challenging behaviour, including frequent verbal abuse and occasional threatened physical abuse.
• Ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

£55,690 to £62,682 a yearper annum, pro rata