Band 8b Principal Practitioner Psychologist – Steps to Recovery

NHS; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 62,000 - 73,000; Full time

Job summary

Join the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust as a Principal Practitioner Psychologist. This role within the Steps to Recovery services offers opportunities for leadership, collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, and training contributions to enhance skills within a culturally diverse community. Candidates with HCPC registration and significant experience in psychological assessment and therapy are encouraged to apply.

Qualifications

• Significant post qualification experience in psychological assessment and treatment.
• Experience working with diverse client groups facing complex difficulties.
• Minimum 50 hours of supervision received for providing supervision to others.

Responsibilities

• Develop team-based working, consultation, and shared formulation.
• Review psychological needs and facilitate transfers of care.
• Contribute to service development and evaluation.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Psychological formulation

Supervision

Therapeutic engagement

Multicultural awareness

Education

HCPC/BPS accredited training in Clinical, Forensic, or Counselling Psychology

HCPC registration or eligibility

Additional training in accredited psychological therapy

Job description

Go back Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Band 8b Principal Practitioner Psychologist – Steps to Recovery

The closing date is 25 June 2025

Are you seeking the opportunity to develop your leadership and consultation skills? Do you enjoy being part of a team? If so, we invite you to apply for this Principal Practitioner Psychologist post in our Steps to Recovery rehabilitation services.

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust has seven Steps to Recovery units and an Intensive Community Rehabilitation Team, offering a range of mental health rehabilitation services. This post is based in a new Out of Trust placement team, which is being established to reduce the number of service users with complex psychosis in rehabilitation placements with independent providers.

The post holder will contribute to the work of the new team, building collaborative relationships with staff members and service users to support recovery and a return to local Trust services. They will also be warmly welcomed into a well-established and supportive group of psychological practitioners working across Steps to Recovery and Assertive Outreach Services.

Individuals at Band 8b or with suitable experience and eligible for this banding will be considered.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will have opportunities to develop skills in team-based working, consultation, and shared formulation to help service users achieve their rehabilitation goals. They will review the psychological needs of people in independent placements, addressing barriers to recovery and facilitating transfers of care. The post holder will also be involved in service and pathway development and in evaluation of the Out of Trust team.

Experience of working in multidisciplinary teams and with clients from culturally and socially diverse communities who have range of mental health needs is desirable, as is the motivation to support positive risk taking so service users can lead as autonomous and valued a life as possible. We also support multidisciplinary colleagues to build knowledge and skills by delivering a programme of training, supervision, and reflective practice, to which the post holder would contribute.

Our psychological service has a reputation for clinical excellence and innovation in rehabilitation and we are actively involved in service development, evaluation, and research. We have access to a comprehensive CPD programme and external training and provide strong professional supervision.

If you share our recovery-focused commitment to keep service users at the heart of what we do and would like to develop your clinical and leadership skills, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us for further information about the post or to arrange an informal visit.

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

For further information about the main responsibilities of this post please see the attached job description and person specification.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• HCPC/BPS accredited training in Clinical, Forensic, or Counselling Psychology
• HCPC registration or eligible for this
• Additional pre or post qualification training in an accredited psychological therapy or other field of applied psychology

Experience

• Significant post qualification experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with complex difficulties across multidisciplinary adult secondary or tertiary care settings
• Significant post qualification experience of working with a variety of client groups of working age with wide-ranging presenting problems
• Significant post qualification experience of receiving supervision (minimum 50 hours) so can supervise other psychologists
• Experience of working therapeutically with service users who are reluctant to engage with services, presenting with complex mental health needs and risks
• Experience of team-based risk assessment and formulation
• Experience of working in a multicultural framework

Knowledge and Skills

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, including psychometric testing
• Skills in psychological formulation, with individual clients and with teams
• Skills in implementation of highly specialist psychological therapies, interventions and management techniques appropriate for use with complex presenting problems
• Skills in providing consultation and advice from a psychological perspective to members of other professional and non-professional groups
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies with clients who are reluctant to engage with services
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies

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

Address

Trust Headquarters and Other Trust Sites/Hybrid Working

£62,215 to £72,293 a yearper annum, pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Reference number

436-7227712

Job locations

Trust Headquarters and Other Trust Sites/Hybrid Working