Band 8b Principal Psychological Practitioner

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 67,000 - 77,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Leadership development programme

CPD opportunities (NHS)

Job summary

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting a Band 8b Principal Psychological Practitioner. The post spans Newbridge House and the Zinnia Centre, providing strategic psychological leadership across acute inpatient services for women with complex mental health needs.

Role includes senior clinical practice, leadership, supervision, and participation in development, quality improvement, and research; with access to bespoke leadership development and CPD opportunities.

Qualifications

• HCPC registration required and eligible for GB psychologis registration.
• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology (BPS accredited).
• GBR and post-doctoral specialist training completed.
• Post-qualification experience as clinical psychologist at senior levels.
• Experience of assessment, formulation and intervention across care settings.
• Ability to supervise trainees and staff within multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide highly specialist assessment, formulation and intervention.
• Deliver consultation to multidisciplinary teams.
• Lead trauma-informed and psychologically informed practice.
• Supervise Assistant Psychologists and other psychology staff.
• Contribute to service development, audit and quality improvement.

Education

HCPC registration

BPS accredited Doctoral level training (Clinical Psychology)

Graduate Basis for Registration (GBR)

Post-doctoral training in specialist areas

Experience as qualified clinical psychologist (Band 8a level)

Experience in psychological assessment & intervention across settings

Tools

Supervisory skills

Job description

Band 8b Principal Psychological Practitioner

Band 8b

Main area Adults of Working Age. Acute Inpatients. Grade Band 8b Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 436-8203148

Site Newbridge House Town Birmingham Salary £66,582 - £77,368 per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 30/09/2026 23:59

Please note that this post may close earlier than the indicated closing date if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced, innovative and ambitious Clinical Psychologist to join the Acute and Urgent Care Division as a Band 8b Principal Clinical Psychologist working across Newbridge House and the Zinnia Centre.

This role provides strategic psychological leadership across both sites and combines senior clinicalpractice, leadership, consultation, supervision, service development, workforce development,quality improvement and strategic influence.

The post sits within the wider Acute and Urgent Care Psychological Professions leadershipstructure and offers access to: A bespoke Acute and Urgent Care Leadership DevelopmentProgramme for Principal Psychological Practitioners. NHS England-supported CPD opportunities.
Leadership and management development opportunities. Participation in Trust-wide PsychologicalProfessions networks.

Why Join BSMHFT?
The Trust is pioneering locality-based working across all pathways, champions a life-course approach to mental health care, and is embedding the principles of the Culture of Care programme.

Vision:
Excellent Care. Empowered People. Thriving Communities.

Main duties of the job

Newbridge House is a specialist acute inpatient service for women experiencing severe andcomplex mental health difficulties.
Zinnia Centre provides acute inpatient assessment and treatment and includes both male and female inpatient wards.

The psychology workforce includes: One full-time Assistant Psychologist at Newbridge House. One full-time Assistant Psychologist at the Zinnia Centre. Both Assistant Psychologists deliver low-intensity psychological interventions and psychologically informed skills groups for service
users across the wards.

The Division is committed to embedding trauma-informed and trauma-responsive approaches throughout its services. Dedicated investment includes: Funding for accredited EMDR training. Access to specialist EMDR supervision and consultation. NHS England-supported CPD opportunities. Protected opportunities for service development, quality improvement and research.

Provide highly specialist assessment, formulation and intervention. Deliver consultation to multidisciplinary teams. Lead trauma-informed and psychologically informed practice. Supervise Assistant Psychologists and other psychology staff. Contribute to service development, audit and quality improvement.

Working for our organisation

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.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information about the main responsibilities please view the attached job description and person specification.

Person specification

Qualifications and Experience

• Registered with the HCPC
• Eligibility for entry onto the Register of Chartered Psychologists
• Satisfactory completion of a British Psychological Society accredited Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training course in clinical psychology
• The Graduate Basis for Registration (further to completion of an honours degree in psychology accredited by the British Psychological Society, or, in the case of courses that are not accredited or where the first degree is not in psychology, by completion of the Society's Qualifying examination, or completion of a Society accredited Conversion Course)
• Post-doctoral training in one or more highly specialist areas of psychological practice
• Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical/counselling psychologist post qualification, with extensive experience at the Senior (Band 8a) level.
• 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
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, with clients of all ages across the lifespan and of wide-ranging presenting problems that reflect the full spectrum of clinical complexity and severity
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
• Relevant post-qualification experience, and formal training in supervision, enabling the post holder to independently supervise clinical psychology trainees in accordance with relevant criteria adopted by local University Clinical Psychology Training Course criteria
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for the psychological care and treatment of referred clients, and of working within a multidisciplinary context wherein carries responsibility for the psychological aspects of a multidisciplinary care plan.
• Experience of representing psychology within a multidisciplinary context

Our Trust is committed to treating individuals fairly and ensuring they have the same opportunities to fulfil their potential, even if this means doing things differently for different people sometimes. We are working hard to ensure our workforce reflects the diversity within Birmingham and Solihull and that our services meet the needs of all diverse service users and carers.

The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. As part of our safe recruitment practice pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. As part of the selection process you may be required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, however all cases of criminal record history are dealt with on a case by case basis.

Please note, if applicable for your role you will be required to cover the cost of your DBS certificate. This will be deducted from your salary over 3 months. You will also be required to sign up to the DBS Update Service before commencement with the Trust. The Trust will reimburse this. You will be contractually obliged to maintain your subscription.

All successful applicants will be required to complete the Trust's induction programme. The Fundamental (Statutory and Mandatory) training will be in an e-learning format. You will be required to complete training modules online (approx. 9-14 hours depending on post) by the end of your second week with us.

Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the United Kingdom (UK) are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. However, please ensure that you check if this role meets the eligibility criteria for sponsorship. Non UK /Republic of Ireland candidates wishing to apply can self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship here Browse: Work in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . The minimum salary threshold for a Health and Social Care is £25,000 and for the Skilled Worker route is £38,700. If the starting salary for this role is below this, we will not be able to provide sponsorship.

Relocation expenses may be reimbursed subject to eligibility. The policy provides for reimbursement up to £8,000.

Please note - if you are applying for a role within Police custody, due to Police Vetting requirements you must have been a UK resident for the last years.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.