Specialist Applied Psychologist

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust; North East; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS mental health trust is seeking a Highly Specialist Applied Psychologist to provide autism-informed mental health care across its services. The role requires significant experience in supporting autistic clients, strong competencies in evidence-based therapies, and a passion for service innovation. Applicants must hold post-graduate training in psychology, be HCPC registered, and showcase commitment to professional development. This full-time role offers opportunities for training and research collaboration, emphasizing the importance of multidisciplinary support and effective health care delivery.

Qualifications

• Post-graduate training accredited by the BPS.
• HCPC registered; trained in supervision.
• Evidence of professional development in autism.

Responsibilities

• Provide autism consultation and training across TEWV.
• Supervise an Assistant Psychologist.
• Contribute to service evaluation and innovative practice.

Skills

Experience with autistic children and adults

Competencies in evidence-based psychological therapy

Multi-disciplinary collaboration

Clinical supervision

Service development

Education

Post-graduate training in clinical/counseling psychology

HCPC registration as Practitioner Psychologist

Training in autism

Job description

Highly Specialist Applied Psychologist

The closing date is 09 February 2026

This post offers an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and innovative psychologist who is passionate about the delivery of autism informed mental health care to work across the whole of the TEWV footprint supporting all colleagues to provide the best service possible for autistic children, young people and adults.

The Trustwide Autism Service consists of a supportive multidisciplinary team whose role is to offer specialist autism consultation, supervision and training for all TEWV staff across all specialities and corporate services.

We are seeking to appoint an Applied Psychologist who is passionate about delivering autism informed mental health services. The vacancy is open to an existing Band 8A psychologist or a Band 7 psychologist wishing to progress in their career.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will have a key role in providing autism consultation, training and supervision across all clinicians and within corporate services but will have a particular remit to support delivery of autism informed governed psychological therapies and the development of autism informed formulations.

In addition,the post holder will offer reflective practice opportunities and consultation for the rest of the Trustwide Autism Service, as well as the supervision of an Assistant Psychologist.

There is a huge opportunity to contribute to service evaluation and development with the chance to innovate and to develop new initiatives that promote autism informed care within the Trust. Involvement in research is encouraged including supervision of doctoral level theses and collaborating with universities and other NHS organisations to promote research in the development of innovative practice in the field of autism.

Applicants should have significant experience in providing mental health services for autistic adults and/or children and competencies in an evidence based psychological therapy. They will also be able to work comfortably and effectively in a non-direct way,supporting TEWV colleagues across all specialities to work in an autism informed way and to embed reasonable adjustments for autistic children and adults in their work. The successful applicant will be enthusiastic, motivated and demonstrate a commitment to delivering excellent health care and evidence-based practice.

About us

There are excellent opportunities for peer support/supervision with the team as well as for CPD activities. The Trustwide Autism Service has a commitment to ensuring that we keep up to date with research and developments within the field and there is an expectation that all team members participate in this.

Our service has strong links with the Doctoral Clinical and Counselling Psychology Programmes at Teesside University. The post holder will be involved in offering trainee placements and University teaching will be encouraged and supported to offer research supervision.

This post is full time. Please note that the role is Trustwide and there is a key requirement to travel across the whole of the TEWV footprint in line with demand for our input across all services and localities.

Psychological professions staff will be expected to display the Trust values at all times, working as part of the collective leadership team with shared accountability and responsibility for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of patient care is delivered in a patient centred manner. They will also contribute to ensuring the culture of our services is built upon the Trust Values and the trust's strategy - Our Journey To change (OJTC).

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further detailed information to ensure that you meet the role criteria before applying.

Psychologists & Psychological Therapists provide key leadership roles within the Trust. To support this we have developed leadership profiles for each psychology band and the profile card associated with this post is attached on NHS Jobs. You can find more information about the NHS Leadership Academys Healthcare Leadership Model and the profiles at their website.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Post-graduate training (doctoral level equivalent) in clinical / counselling / forensic psychology (or its equivalent prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS.
• HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Trained in clinical supervision (within agreed timescale).
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Evidence of training in autism (awareness and/or diagnostic).
• Post-graduate qualification showing evidence of supervised practice in an evidence-based psychological therapeutic model.

Experience

• Working as a qualified applied psychologist within the designated service including a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and a range of clinical severity across a range of care settings.
• Multi-disciplinary team working experience.
• Experience of supporting the work of other clinicians indirectly.
• Experience of supervising other clinicians.
• Experience of service development.
• Experience of service evaluation and audit.
• Experience of teaching/training.
• Experience of delivering one or more GPTs.
• Experience of developing training packages.

Knowledge

• Doctoral level knowledge of evidence-based practice relevant to the role.
• Risk assessment and risk management.
• Clinical governance.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to this client group and mental health (autism).
• Audit and research methodology.

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.

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust