Clinical/Counselling Psychologist Band 8a

NHS; Watford; On-site; GBP 57,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health organization in Watford is looking for a Band 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to support individuals in crisis. The role focuses on providing psychological assessments and interventions, promoting trauma-informed care, and leading a team in a supportive environment. Candidates should have a doctoral level qualification in Psychology and HCPC registration. Involvement in community settings is crucial. Competitive salary up to £64,880 per year, pro rata, inclusive of HCAS.

Qualifications

• Experience working in inpatient or crisis services is preferred.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed approaches.
• Ability to work in community settings.

Responsibilities

• Provide psychological assessment and interventions for service users in crisis.
• Support development of Trauma Informed Approaches.
• Deliver clinical supervision to Assistant Psychologist.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Crisis intervention

Empathy

Leadership

Education

Doctoral level qualification in Psychology

HCPC registration

Job description

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

Clinical/Counselling Psychologist Band 8a

The closing date is 29 September 2025

HPFT have a long history of delivering outstanding care, and we are taking our CRHTT to the next level, supporting skill development with the wider workforce and embedding Trauma Informed Approaches within the Crisis Teams.

We meet the needs of individuals living in Hertfordshire experiencing a mental health crisis, providing an MDT approach to understand their difficulties and formulating and implementing brief interventions to support the crisis to resolve.

We are looking for a caring and committed HCPC registered Band 8a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist who enjoys working flexibly as part of an MDT to support psychological ways of thinking. Experience of working within acute, crisis or specialist services would be beneficial, but not essential. Willingness to work in community settings is vital.

If you have the skills, are energetic, imaginative and, above all, care passionately about working with individuals and their families towards recovery, then we want to hear from you!

The role is based in the South-West CRHTT, Colne House, Watford. Psychology is highly valued and sought after in this team. You will form part of a vibrant, passionate, and supportive psychology crisis service that consists of APs, B7 Therapists, 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologists and an 8b Psychology Lead. This broad spread of roles gives real opportunity for progression within the service.

We don't want you to miss out so - Apply now!

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will:

• Provide a specialist psychology service to service users who are currently in a mental health crisis and are being supported by the South-West Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team.
• Provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation and interventions, in both individual and group formats.
• Provide clinical supervision to the Assistant Psychologist embedded within the team along with advice and consultation to colleagues, and to other non-professional carers, on psychological aspects of assessment, formulation, care and treatment.
• Provide compassionate care that is based on empathy, kindness, respect and dignity, and underpinned by principles of recovery and knowledge of trauma informed ways of working.
• Support the development and roll out of Trauma Informed Approaches across HPFT crisis services as we change the question people ask from "What\'s wrong with you?" to "What\'s happened to you?"
• Provide a leadership role within the service to support psychologically informed practice across the team.

About us

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is an outstanding organisation with ambitions to match. We are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from the Care Quality Commission, and our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services in the country.

Our family of over 4000 members of staff provide health and social care for over 400,000 people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. We also deliver a range of nationally commissioned specialist services including Tier 4 services for children and young people, perinatal services, plus medium and low secure learning disabilities services.

The care we provide makes a fantastic difference to the lives of our service users, their families and carers - everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout:

Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional.

Would you like to be part of the HPFT family? Would you like work with us to ensure our service users live the fullest lives possible they can? Would you like to be supported in your career to be the best that you can be? If so, then apply!

Job responsibilities

To work with service users who are in a mental health crisis, to seek to understand and resolve the crisis through psychological means, to support the discharge of those service users back to mainstream services as quickly and safely as possible.

To provide specialist psychological assessments of service users referred to Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Services based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care.

To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, and employing methods of proven efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

To be responsible for implementing a range of evidence-based psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

To provide specialist psychological supervision, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulations, diagnoses and treatment plans.

To ensure that all members of the treating team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of clients of the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory with a focus on Trauma Informed Approaches.

For a comprehensive list of responsibilities and duties, please kindly refer to the Job Description and Person Specification by downloading the JD and PS attachment in the advert.

If you are an internal applicant there is the option for secondment, all applicants must have the endorsement/support of their line manager prior to application.

Person Specification

KNOWLEDGE, TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE

• Relevant professional qualification i.e. Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Practitioner Psychologist Clinical
• Professional qualification doctoral level or equivalent, which should include knowledge and application of research methodology
• Experience of working in inpatient or crisis services

AREAS OF EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE

• Experience of psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings
• Experience of working with 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 off highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
• Knowledge of and some experience of cognitive and neuropsychological assessment
• Knowledge of physical illness and its impact on psychological health
• Experience of service quality monitoring e.g. clinical audit, evaluative research etc.

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.

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

£57,888 to £64,880 a year, per annum, pro rata (inclusive of 5% HCAS)