Clinical & Counselling Psychologist

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust; Peterborough; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent health organization in the UK seeks a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to join the Stepped Care Therapy Team in Peterborough. This role involves delivering psychological assessments and interventions for older adults, working alongside a multidisciplinary team. Candidates should have doctoral-level training, HCPC registration, and experience in mental health services. The organization offers competitive compensation and supports ongoing professional development, making this a unique opportunity to make a significant impact in mental health care.

Benefits

Robust CPD programme

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology with BPS accreditation.
• Registration with Health and Care Professions Council required.
• Experience in psychological assessment and treatment across care settings.

Responsibilities

• Deliver comprehensive psychological assessments and evidence-based interventions.
• Provide consultation and guidance to non-psychology colleagues.
• Contribute to broader directorate initiatives within mental health services.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Clinical formulation

Communication skills

Neuropsychological assessment

Time management

Education

Doctoral level training in clinical psychology

Registration with HCPC

Post-doctoral training in specialized areas

Job description

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

The closing date is 08 February 2026

We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to join our Stepped Care Therapy Team within Older People's Mental Health Services in Peterborough. This is a fantastic opportunity to work with older adults in a secondary mental health setting, supporting their psychological wellbeing while developing a diverse range of clinical skills.

Our team includes Clinical Psychologists, a CBT Therapist, Occupational Therapists, and an Occupational Therapy Assistant. We host placements for Trainee Clinical Psychologists, primarily from the University of East Anglia. The team works closely with integrated community services, mental health practitioners, the Memory Assessment Service, and the Social Care Team. This varied role is well-suited to both newly qualified and experienced Clinical or Counselling Psychologists. Please ensure you review the essential criteria for the role and clearly demonstrate how you meet these requirements in your application.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will be responsible for delivering comprehensive psychological assessments, formulations, and evidence-based interventions, including specialist neuropsychological assessments where appropriate. The role also involves providing consultation and guidance to non-psychology colleagues and working collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams across both mental and physical health services.

There are opportunities to contribute to broader directorate initiatives, and we offer a robust CPD programme within both the Stepped Care Therapy Team and the wider mental health service. We actively support professional development, with team members undertaking additional training in areas such as CBT for personality disorders and psychosis, EMDR, and DBT skills. There is also a growing focus on enhancing the neuropsychological aspects of our service, particularly in support of memory assessments.

If you're seeking a new challenge, enjoy a varied caseload, and are passionate about making a meaningful impact in the lives of older adults with functional and organic mental health needs, we would be delighted to hear from you.

About us

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health & social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health & wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting & empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services not only via inpatient and primary care setting but also with the community. These services include Children, Adult & Older Peoples mental & physical health, Forensic & Specialist mental health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care & Liaison psychiatry, Substance misuse, Social care, Research & Development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high calibre candidates that share our vision & values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people & members of our ethnic minorities & LGBTQ+ communities.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk

Job responsibilities

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence and have use of a vehicle. You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities

The post holder will be part of the Older Peoples Stepped Care Therapies Service operating across CPFT in the area served by NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The purpose of the role is to:

• To provide evidence based psychological assessments (including neuropsychological assessments), formulations and interventions to clients of the Stepped Care Therapy Service and community Older Peoples Mental Health Teams; providing specialist psychological assessment and therapy at the same time as offering advice and consultation on clients psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other, non-professional carers, working under supervision within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the teams policies and procedures.
• To supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other practitioners and other clinical members of teams who provide psychologically based care and treatment (including Trainee Clinical Psychologists).
• To ensure accurate record keeping for the referral process and interventions for all practitioners under the post holders supervision using the agreed information systems.
• To work with the other senior clinicians to provide relevant information and data to the team and service managers and professional leads as required.
• To work within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service.
• To work with senior colleagues within the service to develop and maintain psychosocial models of care relevant to the client group.
• To provide relevant teaching, training and supervision within the service and where appropriate across the Trust.
• To attend the agreed meetings, liaising with the Professional Lead, supervisor and team manager on matters of service development.
• To suggest and implement where agreed policy changes within the Older Peoples Stepped Care Therapies Service and the mental health services relevant to the psychological needs of the client group, as agreed by other senior clinical colleagues.
• To work with senior colleagues to utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by Stepped Care Therapies Service and the mental health service, and to disseminate this information widely.

*DVLA have a reciprocal arrangements with overseas countries, for further information please visit the DVLA website

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS, or a BPS Statement of Equivalence.
• Registration with HCPC or for those pending registration, proof of application to the HCPC for registration
• Undertaken post-doctoral training in one or more relevant additional specialised areas of psychological practice (e.g. neuropsychology, DBT, CAT, solution focussed therapy, systemic / family therapy, analytical therapy).
• Undertaken training in the supervision of trainees and other therapists.
• Other relevant academic qualifications to masters or Doctoral level.

Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, and in-patient settings.
• Experience of working in mental health service with experience of holding a caseload, assessment, care planning and delivery of psychological interventions.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of working with complex and enduring mental health difficulties.
• Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical or applied psychologist.
• Experience as a Trainee or qualified practitioner in old age mental health setting.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Have a lived experience of mental health challenges.

Skills & Abilities

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration. This requires the use of highly developed analytical and judgement skills.
• Planning and organising skills for caseload management. Including self-management/time-management.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information, including contentious and highly distressing information, to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance, including regular supervision, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Motivated towards personal and professional development with a strong CPD record.
• Experience of leading and carrying out research projects and interpreting data using statistical analyses.
• Proven ability in carrying out clinical audits.
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies.
• The skills to adapt psychological therapies to clients with cognitive and sensory difficulties.

Physical Requirements

• Able to tolerate prolonged periods of sitting.
• Ability to travel independently around the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area meeting required timescales. A full driving licence and access to a vehicle is essential.

Other

• Positive approach to older people.

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.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

£47,810 to £54,710 a year
Per annum pro rata