Clinical Counselling Psychologist

Nelft; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 48,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to join the Waltham Forest Refugee Psychology Service, a specialist team treating PTSD, depression, anxiety and traumatic bereavement in asylum seekers and refugees. The role offers supervision, opportunities for research and collaboration with London refugee and trauma services.

You will contribute to a phase-based treatment programme, provide assessments and evidence-based therapies, and help develop leadership

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist assessments, formulations and evidence-based treatment for PTSD and Complex PTSD.
• Involved in phase-based treatment programme with both individual and group modalities.
• Supervise assistant psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists; contribute to research, audits and service evaluation.

Job description

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to join the Waltham Forest Refugee Psychology Service, a specialist service for the treatment of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and traumatic bereavement in asylum seekers and refugees. We are keen to recruit an enthusiastic and committed individual who shares our team’s passion human rights and social justice. We offer excellent development opportunities including high quality and regular supervision, opportunities for research, and close working with other specialist refugee and trauma services across the London region. We also support the development of leadership skills and aim to nurture our staff and support them to become confident supervisors, devise and implement training, and conduct research. If you would like to make a positive difference to the lives of survivors, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

Our team of experienced clinicians offer a comprehensive range of therapeutic interventions to survivors of torture, human trafficking, and other human rights violations. You will be providing specialist assessments, formulations and evidence-based treatment for PTSD and Complex PTSD. You will be involved in our phase-based treatment programme, providing both individual and group treatment, and will have the opportunity to develop your knowledge and skills in therapy modalities including trauma-focused cognitive therapy for PTSD, EMDR, Compassion-Focused Therapy and Narrative Exposure Therapy. You will also contribute to the supervision of assistant psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists, as appropriate. There will be opportunities to contribute to research, audits and service evaluation, as well as to the development and provision of training focused on working with asylum seekers and refugees, working with interpreters, and treating PTSD. You may also be involved in consultation and liaison to multidisciplinary mental health staff, and other, non-professional carers. There will be opportunities for close working with refugee and other community organisations and specialist trauma services across London.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For detailed job description and main responsibilities, please see the attached job description and person specification.

The post holder will join the specialist Care Pathway for Refugee Support and will be based in the Waltham Forest Refugee Psychology Service managed by the Care Pathway Lead. The post holder will be expected to offer specialist psychological assessment and therapy to adults with a history of forced migration, living in the borough of Waltham Forest. The post holder will also act as a key point for discussions around supporting refugees with mental health difficulties, and will be involved in some community development work with refugee organisations around mental health, and with teaching and training on relevant topics.

Working for Us

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.
They are:

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by
the best people.

Starting with NELFT (delete for internal only)

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the
allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers, and attend a number of drop‑in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes Hospital.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period.

High Cost Area Supplement – Outer London (B&D, Goodmayes, Redbridge, Havering and Waltham Forest)

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,714 to a maximum of £5,941 p.a. pro rata for part time).

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate’s own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content in applications.

Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience.

We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.