Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

CNWL; Greater London; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 71,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation package

Flexible working options

Bank assignments

Job summary

CNWL NHS Foundation Trust seeks an experienced psychologist to join the Brent & Harrow Perinatal Mental Health Service. The post focuses on highly specialist assessments and evidence-based interventions for women in the perinatal period, integrating care across community and hospital settings.

The role involves MDT collaboration, formulation, and risk management, delivering individual and group-based care, and supporting trainees and junior staff within a recovery-oriented model.

Qualifications

• Good Honours degree in Psychology (2.1 or above) with eligibility for Graduate membership of BPS.
• Post-graduate doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology (HCPC registered).
• Registered with HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist and eligible for chartered status.
• Experience delivering perinatal mental health care and related services.
• Training in EMDR or trauma-focused CBT is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Provide highly specialist psychological assessments for women referred to PMHS.
• Formulate and implement plans for formal psychological treatment across care settings.
• Develop and deliver treatment protocols for severe perinatal disorders and infant relationships.
• Coordinate with maternity, Talking Therapies, mental health, and children's social care services.
• Offer supervision and guidance to trainees and Band 7 psychologists.

Skills

Clinical psychology

Perinatal mental health

Risk assessment

MDT collaboration

Supervision

Communication

Education

Bachelor Honours in Psychology (2.1)

Post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology

HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist

Chartered with BPS

Experience with perinatal presentations

Job description

Search here to find a new job, a new career, an opportunity to up skill or to simply change your career direction. Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.

There’s a place for you at CNWL. We’re passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient’s own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do. Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people. We’re always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee we’re hoping to find our future leaders and we’ll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career. With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more – whatever stage of your career you're at, there's always a place for you at CNWL.

Warning alert

Fraud alert: Please be cautious if you are asked for a fee at any stage in the recruitment process. CNWL does not charge fees for job applications, recruitment processes, sponsorship arrangements or employment offers. Always check with the recruitment contact or team if you are asked.

Main area Perinatal Grade NHS AfC: Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday 9-5) Job ref 333-J-BR-0875

Site Northwick Park Hospital, Mental Health Unit Town Harrow Salary £63,665 - £70,887 per annum inc HCAS (pro rata if P/T) Salary period Yearly Closing 06/10/2026 23:59

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.

Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference. We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.

We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page

Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.

CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Job overview

The post-holder will work as a member of the multidisciplinary team within the Brent & Harrow Perinatal Mental Health Service, providing specialist psychological assessment and evidence-based interventions for women experiencing a range of mental health, social and emotional difficulties during the perinatal period. Interventions will be adapted to the needs of women and their infants and will include individual and group-based work within the community.

The post-holder will contribute psychological perspectives to assessment, formulation, care planning and risk management, and provide specialist advice and consultation to MDT colleagues and the wider professional network. They will also provide appropriate support and signposting to families and carers.

Working autonomously within professional guidelines and service policies, the post-holder will participate in team meetings, case discussions and reflective practice, and contribute to the development of effective, recovery-oriented models of care.

The post-holder will work closely with relevant local services, including maternity, Talking Therapies, mental health and children’s social care services, to support coordinated and seamless care pathways.

They will contribute to service development, audit and research relevant to perinatal mental health, and provide shared clinical supervision to trainee and Band 7 psychologists and other professionals.

Main duties of the job

To provide highly specialist psychological assessments of women referred to the PMHS and meeting criteria for specialist perinatal psychological interventions. The specialist assessment will be based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex 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 client’s care. The assessments will also include a formal evaluation of the parent infant relationship within the family/social network.

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

To be responsible for developing and delivering evidence-based treatment protocol for severe and complex psychological disorders occurring in the perinatal period (e.g. severe maternal OCD, depression, anxiety, medically unexplained symptoms) and, when appropriate, for parent-infant relationship disturbances (e.g. Video Interactive Guidance). Adjusting and refining psychological formulations, drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

Working for our organisation

Our vision

Wellbeing for life: We work in partnership with all who use our services to improve health and wellbeing. Together we look at ways of improving an individual’s quality of life, throughhigh qualityhealthcare and personal support.

Our values

Compassion: Our staff will be led by compassion and embody the values of care outlined in our Staff Charter.

Respect: We will respect and value the diversity of our patients, serviceusersand staff, to create a respectful and inclusive environment, whichrecognisesthe uniqueness ofeach individual.

Empowerment: We will involve,informand empower our patients, service users,carersand their families to take an active role in the management of their illness and adopt recovery principles.We will ensure our staff receiveappropriate directionand support, to enable them to develop and grow.

Partnership: We will work closely with our many partners to ensure that our combined efforts are focused on achieving the best possible outcomes for the people we serve.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both: Theoretical and therapeutic models.

Highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation and intervention communicating with the referral agents and others involved with the care on a regular basis.

To develop and provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan in accordance with NICE guidelines and evidence-based practice.

To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care, to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.

To act as a Lead Professional, including for cases when initial comprehensive assessments are carried out by the post holder, ensuring the provision of a care package appropriate for the client’s needs, co-ordinating the work of others involved with care, arranging client’s care reviews as required and communicating effectively with the client, her family and all others involved in care; and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions.

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management in line with Trust and inter-agency policies and procedures with the aim of overall risk reduction.

To ensure that practice operates within the adult and children safeguarding frameworks.

To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

To provide expertise, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the treatment team.

To provide comprehensive psychological reports and to carry out psychological testing as required by the service or the courts.

To attend and contribute to appropriate MDT meetings within the Perinatal service.

To assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups, if the service model has capacity for this.

Person specification

TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS

• Good Honours degree in Psychology (2.1 or above) giving eligibility for Graduate membership of BPS.
• Post-graduate doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or those in lateral transfer) as accredited by the BPS and giving eligibility for membership of the Health Care Professionals Council (HCPC).
• The post holder must be registered with HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist
• The post holder must be eligible for chartered status with the BPS.
• In addition to routine CPD and supervision, has demonstrated a clear commitment to developing a specialist area of expertise through significant training, personal study, experience, and/or research, as evidenced by CPD log, appraised during IPR/PDR process.
• Experience of working with adults with complex mental health problems.
• Experience of working with perinatal presentations.
• Experience of working with families impacted by mental health
• Experience of working with trauma, loss and grief
• Trained in EMDR/ trauma focused CBT.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS

• Very high level of interpersonal and communication skills enabling written and oral presentation and receipt of complex and sensitive information, to facilitate acceptance, and relate effectively in an emotive and hostile environment.
• Assessment and therapeutic skills related to complex and severe Mental Health Problems.
• Ability to provide consultation to other non-psychology colleagues, and teaching and training skills.
• Skills developed through formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
• Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received substantial supervision whilst working as a clinical psychologist. (This would equate to 50 hours of clinical supervision over a minimum of 18 months.)
• Ability to make judgements in complex clinical situations through assessment, analysis and interpretation of information and deciding on appropriate action from a range of options.
• Ability to plan and organise tasks, activities, or programmes and adapt these to changing needs and circumstances.
• Ability to prioritise complex work demands

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI can be used as a support tool, not a replacement for the applicant’s own work.Applications must remain personal, accurate, and reflective of the candidate’s real experience.AI-generated content must not misrepresent skills, qualifications, or experience.Over reliance on AI-generated content is discouraged and may diminish the applicant's chances of success.

We monitor applications for any behaviour that could create an unfair advantage, and we check all references carefully. You are likely to be tested on your experience at interview, so be honest and make sure all the information in your application is correct. Please note that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prohibited during the interview process.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

• Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.
• Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system
• Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period.
• If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.