Consultant Clinical/Forensic/Counselling Psychologist

NHS; Preston; On-site; GBP 76,000 - 89,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent healthcare organization is seeking an experienced Consultant Clinical Psychologist to lead the Psychology team in the Forensic Community Service based in Preston. Key responsibilities include providing psychological leadership and ensuring continuity in clinical supervision across services. Candidates should have a doctoral degree in psychology, HCPC registration, and a substantial professional background in the field. This role offers a salary range of £76,965 to £88,682 per annum pro rata.

Qualifications

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical/forensic/counselling psychology.
• HCPC registered as a practitioner psychologist.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Responsibilities

• Provide psychological leadership and clinical supervision for forensic services.
• Work closely with inpatient service counterparts.
• Ensure continuity in psychological input across transitions.

Skills

Psychological leadership

Analytic skills

Communication skills

Education

Post-graduate doctoral level training in psychology

HCPC registration

Job description

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust – Consultant Clinical/Forensic/Counselling Psychologist

The closing date is 28 October 2025.

We are excited to announce a fantastic opportunity for an 8c Consultant Clinical Psychologist to be the Lead for Psychology in the Forensic Community Service (FCS) based at Guild Park.

FCS consists of a range of teams and services. Psychology provides input into the Forensic Community Mental Health Team (FCMHT), the Forensic Outreach Service (FOS), the Forensic Autism Service (FAS), the Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) service, and the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway.

Main duties of the job

An experienced candidate is required to provide psychological leadership and clinical supervision into the FCS, and to work closely with their counterpart in the inpatient service at Guild Lodge to ensure continuity in the application of psychological input across the transition.

The successful applicant will work alongside well‑established teams with a high standard of psychological service.

About us

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.

The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well‑being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.

Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working; we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.

Job responsibilities

For more details on this vacancy please review the attached job description and person specification.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Post‑graduate doctoral level training in clinical/forensic/counselling psychology (or equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, specifically including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• HCPC registered as a practitioner psychologist (clinical/forensic/counselling).
• Eligibility for consultant clinical/forensic/counselling psychologist appointment approval from external BPS assessor.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.

Experience

• Substantial post qualification experience including experience within the designated specialty/type of service.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups across the whole life course, in various settings including outpatient, community, primary care inpatient, and residential care settings. Also including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and threats of physical abuse.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibilities for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care‑coordinator and also within the context of a multi‑disciplinary care plan.
• Experience of providing a range of complex psychological assessment and interventions using information derived from a variety of sources and requiring highly developed analytic and interpretative skills.

Knowledge

• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical/forensic/counselling psychology, including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• A high level ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS.

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.

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

£76,965 to £88,682 a year per annum pro rata