Clinical/Counselling Psychologist, Neonatal Care

NHS; Coventry; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent health service provider is seeking a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to deliver neonatal psychological services across Coventry and Warwickshire. The role involves providing specialist assessments and therapy to parents, advising multidisciplinary teams, and supporting the well-being of staff and families. With a focus on holistic care and professional development, this fixed-term position offers opportunities to shape service delivery in a supportive, collaborative environment.

Responsibilities

• Provide highly specialist psychological assessments and therapy for parents of infants in neonatal units.
• Promote adaptation and adjustment through evidence-based interventions.
• Contribute to multi-disciplinary health teams for comprehensive clinical care.
• Provide psychological advice and supervision to other professionals.

Skills

Highly specialist psychological assessments

Evidence-based psychological interventions

Risk assessment and management

Autonomous professional practice

Trauma-sensitive service provision

Education

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent

Job description

Go back University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

Clinical/Counselling Psychologist, Neonatal Care

The closing date is 13 November 2025

The post-holder will be responsible for delivering neonatal psychological services across Coventry and Warwickshire. They will have key relationships with staff in the Neonatal Units across the Local Maternity and Neonatal System (UHCW, George Eliot Hospital And Warwick Hospital), Coventry and Warwickshire Perinatal Mental Health Service, West Midlands Perinatal Operational Delivery Network, unit level relationships including Nursing, Medical, and AHPs, and the broader community of practice of Neonatal Psychologists within the West Midlands.

The post holder will work collaboratively with families under neonatal care in an holistic way, offering the most appropriate support, signposting and referral to additional support services as required.

The post holder will provide confidential professional support to staff, in relation to the impact of the work in the neonatal units. They will liaise and signpost to appropriate staff/services where they are available.

The postholder will also offer consultation on patient\'s psychological care to colleagues. They will work closely with the Neonatal Counsellor involved with these services. They will at times need to provide clinical supervision to other psychological professionals.

The post holder will work autonomously within professional guidelines, exercising full clinical responsibility, and implementing changes where necessary. To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research.

Main duties of the job

This is an opportunity to join an enthusiastic team who are committed to providing a high-quality service. This is a new post and provides opportunities for service development work, which will be guided by best practice standards and frameworks, as well as an internal clinical supervisor.

This service sits within a developing neonatal and paediatric psychology service, with opportunities for support from a wider health psychology provision across different departments in the 3 Trusts where these services are provided. All psychologists regularly link up and are proactive in having this contact and supporting each other. There are also links with the regional universities for academic and research purposes. In addition, there are close links with community and third sector services, as well as regional and national specialty specific meetings. The postholder would also be a part of a thriving community of neonatal psychological professionals with regular networking and CPD events, including frequent peer supervision opportunities provided through the West Midlands Perinatal Operational Delivery Network.

Successful applicants will be required to provide an immunisation and vaccination report, from either their current UK occupational health provider or their UK GP.

About us

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, rated as good by the Care Quality Commission, is one of the largest teaching Trusts in the UK.

We are extremely proud of our employees across our hospital sites, with high quality patient care at the heart of everything we do.

Boasting some of the most modern facilities in Western Europe, the Trust is renowned for being at the forefront of research and innovation as part of its blossoming reputation as a worldwide leader in healthcare.

We are proud to be recognised as a Pathway to Excellence designated organisation - please click the link for further details about this prestigious award. Pathway To Excellence - University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire (uhcw.nhs.uk)

By joining our exciting journey, you will form part of a passionate, talented team and will be able to access a wide range of learning and development opportunities. There has never been a better time to join our team.

The Trust is committed to building an organisation that makes full use of the talents, skills, experience, and different perspectives available in our diverse society. We want everyone to feel they are respected, valued, can achieve their potential and receive the most appropriate and relevant care. We will create an environment where the equality and human rights principles of fairness, respect, equality, dignity and autonomy are promoted and are part of the organisation\'s core values.

Job responsibilities

The Psychological Services in this area is expanding. We have recently been chosen to pilot a model for psychological services across the LMNS. This means that you will have the opportunity to work with other psychologists to develop this model of care and evaluate it locally. It is an exciting time to join a truly multidisciplinary team, working closely with a team of allied health professionals to meet the psychosocial needs of infants, parents, carers and to support all staff in being able to do this safely and effectively, whilst ensuring staff well-being. Your main responsibilities will be:

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessments and therapy for parents of infants in the neonatal units using highly complex psychological data gained from a wide variety of sources
• To be responsible for evidence based psychological interventions with families and carers of infants accessing the service and specifically to promote adaptation and adjustment. To ensure the systematic provision of psychological services, including the responsibility to prioritise work appropriately
• To use psychological assessments, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with parents and family members. To follow up and to re-assess when considered appropriate, using approved statistical methods to make valid comparisons. To communicate both orally, and in written reports, the content of these investigations and resulting formulations to support the work of multidisciplinary colleagues.
• To work as an independent and autonomous professional within BPS and HCPC guidelines and the policies and procedures of the service, taking full responsibility for own work
• To contribute to the effective working of the multi-disciplinary health teams to deliver comprehensive clinical care to families and infants, ensuring that psychological wellbeing is central to the planning and delivery of health care
• To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance, consultation and supervision to other professionals contributing directly to patients formulation, diagnosis, treatment plans and management of clients. This includes provision of advice and support to facilitate the effective use of psychological treatment by other members of staff where appropriate. In addition, to provide a trauma sensitive service to staff including access to psychological debriefs when required and appropriate
• To ensure that members of staff have access to psychologically based framework for understanding through the provision of advice, supervision, consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory, for example through teaching. This will include attendance at MDTs, psychosocial meetings and service development meetings as appropriate. This will involve the development of shared formulations
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual patients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management
• To contribute to risk assessments regarding the impact of vicarious trauma on staff
• To contribute to the development of services in the locality, reviewing service outcomes, designing and participating in audit, research and clinical governance initiatives and working cooperatively with colleagues to achieve service goals and maximise service effectiveness. This will involve communication with a wide range of clinical and managerial colleagues, within and outside of the Trust.

For further details please see the attached job description.

Person Specification

Qualifications

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Experience

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Knowledge

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Skills

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Commitment to Trust Values and Behaviours

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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.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

£55,690 to £62,682 a year pro rata per annum

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Full-time,Part-time,Job share,Flexible working