Highly Specialist Applied Psychologist

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust; Peterborough; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare provider in Peterborough is seeking an experienced psychologist for its community Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (FCAMHS). The role involves delivering Mentalization-Based Therapy and conducting psychological assessments for children with complex needs. Responsibilities include supervising research assistants, ensuring adherence to clinical standards, and communicating effectively with families and professionals. Applicants should be prepared to travel independently and meet specified criteria, including holding a UK driving license.

Qualifications

• Experience with psychological assessments of children/young people.
• Ability to work with multi-disciplinary teams.
• Knowledge of Good Clinical Practice standards and research protocols.

Responsibilities

• Develop local engagement with an RCT MBT trial.
• Recruit participants for the RCT.
• Monitor and adhere to the research trial protocol.
• Provide and supervise psychological interventions.
• Communicate sensitive information to children and involved professionals.

Skills

Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT)

Psychological assessments

Teamwork

Consultation with families

Autonomous clinical responsibility

Complex psychological data interpretation

Education

Doctorate in Psychology

Job description

Overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen to recruit a psychologist on secondment to join our community Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (FCAMHS). The FCAMHS community team base is in Peterborough and there is also a second base in Cambridge. The service is regional covering the East of England region (Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire).

This dynamic service will work in partnership with wider agencies to ensure integrated care provision across health, social care, education and youth justice to optimise the outcomes for children/young people who present with high risk and/or concerning behaviours and where mental health and/or neurodevelopmental concerns are suspected. The job will involve a mixture of advice and consultation and direct assessment work.

The post holder will be responsible for the everyday delivery of our Mentalization-Based Therapy research pathway. Working closely with a research assistant, the postholder will ensure the delivery of the research is in‑line with Good Clinical Practice standards and adherent to the research protocol. They will supervise the assistant and report to the service Clinical Lead, and National team.

The post holder will be part of a multi-disciplinary team and will have the support of a Senior Leadership Team that includes a Consultant Psychologist and Consultant Psychiatrist. The postholder will have the opportunity to be part of psychology networks across the Trust and a specialist forensic peer supervision group. The post holder can offer Trainee Psychologist placements.

The post holder will provide a highly specialist psychology service to children/young people and their families/carers. The post holder will provide specialist psychological assessments for children/young people with highly complex presentations and psychological consultation to other professionals involved in their care. The postholder will also be expected to undertake service development projects and research as agreed with the Psychological Therapies Lead and Senior Leadership Team.

Responsibilities

1. To develop the local engagement with a large-scale RCT MBT trial.
2. To support the recruitment of participants to be involved in the RCT.
3. To train in and deliver MBT as part of the RCT therapies delivery team.
4. To monitor, document and adhere to the research trial protocol, alongside supporting others to do so.
5. To provide specialist psychological assessments of children who are referred to the service, based on appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources, including psychometric tests, self‑report measures, rating scales, structured observations and semi‑structured interviews, with children/young people, family members/carers and others involved.
6. To provide appropriate bio‑psycho‑social formulations, consultation and advice based upon analyses of the range of available complex psychological information concerning children/young people who are referred to the service and their particular risks.
7. To exercise autonomous clinical responsibility on occasion for implementing a range of psychological interventions with children/young people, their families/carers, adjusting, interpreting and reformulating the psychological models as appropriate on the basis of feedback, monitoring and follow‑up.
8. To complete specialist structured risk assessments, drawing on highly specialist knowledge of forensic factors.
9. To supervise, on occasion where appropriate, the delivery of highly complex psychological interventions as part of multi‑disciplinary care planning.
10. To communicate highly confidential and personal information obtained through assessment, formulation, therapy and interventions, to the child themselves, other involved professionals, their relatives/carers and referring agents. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, making judgements concerning what information to report and how and when to convey it, in the best interests of the child.

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.

As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under‑represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

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.

This advert closes on Wednesday 14 Jan 2026.