Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist - Feeling Safer Programme

inploi; Oxford; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

An esteemed mental health organization is seeking a Clinical Psychologist to join their Oxford team. This role delivers specialist psychological therapy to patients experiencing psychosis as part of a research trial. The position offers supervision opportunities and is set for an 18-month fixed-term contract. Candidates should have a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and relevant experience.

Benefits

Career progression opportunities

27 days annual leave, rising to 33

NHS Discounts

Competitive pension scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Mental Health First Aiders

Qualifications

• Experience of conducting individual therapy sessions with patients experiencing psychosis.
• Experience of clinical research.
• Experience of providing supervision.

Responsibilities

• Deliver specialist psychological therapy as part of the Feeling Safer trial.
• Supervise peer support workers and graduate mental health workers.
• Support day-to-day management of the project.

Skills

Cognitive therapy skills

Engagement of patients

Communication skills

Education

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

Job description

Job overview

We are recruiting for a Clinical Psychologist to join usand deliver specialist psychological therapy for people with psychosis through our programme:Feeling Safer.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a centre of excellence in the development and delivery of psychological interventions for psychosis: the Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis clinical research group. It is a thriving and supportive clinical research group, based in the University and Oxford Health, that aims to carry out work to the highest standards for patients.

You'll deliver specialist psychological therapy as part of the Feeling Safer project – a large multi-site randomised controlled trial testing a 6-month supported online programme for the treatment of persecutory delusions. You'll work clinically across a number of NHS trusts – facilitating a specialist remote clinic. There will be supervision, teaching, and publication opportunities.

If you have a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) and an in-depth understanding of the theoretical and empirical foundations of cognitive approaches to mental health difficulties and excellent cognitive therapy skills, we'd love to hear from you!

Main duties of the job

This is an exciting new clinical psychologist post to deliver specialist psychological therapy to people experiencing psychosis. The interventions will be provided in the context of randomised controlled clinical trials - including an evaluation of a new six-month guided online programme for the treatment of persecutory delusions: Feeling Safer. Users can access Feeling Safer whenever they choose via smartphone/computer with support from a range of mental health workers. We hope this will substantially improve outcomes for people with persecutory delusions.

You will help facilitate this specialist remote clinic. You’ll deliver the intervention, supervise peer support workers and graduate mental health workers in treatment delivery, supervise research assistants, and work with local services at each of the collaborating NHS trusts. There will also be teaching, research supervision, and publication opportunities.

The primary base for this role will be at the Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis (O-CAP) team in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford. Please note if you are based outside of the UK you will need to hold HCPC registration in order to be considered for this role.

This is an 18 month fixed term contract linked to research funding and can be offered as a secondment opportunity.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.

As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive:“Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing.

These include:
• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis (O-CAP) team based in the Department of Experimental Psychology. We are a large clinical research team working to understand why mental health problems happen and how they can be best treated psychologically. The key focus is on improving outcomes for patients with psychosis. It is a thriving and supportive clinical research group that aims to carry out work to the highest standards for patients.

The focus of this post is delivering specialist psychological therapy for persecutory delusions in the context of a major new clinical trial. There are also supervision, teaching, and publication opportunities.

The position will suit a clinical psychologist keen to apply cognitive theory and therapeutic techniques to improve treatment outcomes. This is a fixed term 18month post in the first instance, but there are likely to be opportunities to extend. We are keen to develop the post-holder in a clinical academic career. The post-holder will be supervised by Prof Daniel Freeman and Dr Felicity Waite, and we welcome discussions with potential candidates.

• Lead the delivery of a specialist, remote psychological therapies clinic for patients with psychosis, as part of the delivery of the Feeling Safer trial.
• Deliver highly specialist psychological therapy to treat persecutory delusions as part of a large clinical trial: Feeling Safer. The postholder will maintain a caseload of approximately 15 patients seen remotely.
• Help support the day-to-day management of the project at the local site, ensuring milestones are achieved and the work is carried out to the highest standards.
• Contribute to the supervision of assistant psychologists/ graduate mental health workers and peer support workers in the delivery of psychological interventions.
• Contribute to the supervision of research assistants in the recruitment and assessment of trial participants.
• Work closely with the clinical teams in the collaborating NHS mental health trusts. This will include delivering new treatments to patients in these trusts as part of the clinical research and supervising and training others in the delivery of treatments.
• Provide regular reports on the progress of the study. This will include providing information needed by the funder.
• Work closely with other members of the O-CAP research group, helping to ensure the success of studies conducted within the group.

Please see the job description and person specification attached to this advert for more information on the job role.

Publications relating to this role:

Freeman, D., Isham, L., … Waite, F. (2025). A 6-month supported online program for the treatment of persecutory delusions: Feeling Safer. Psychological Medicine, 55, e179.

Freeman, D., Emsley, R., Rosebrock, L., … Waite, F. (2025). Efficacy of a 6-month supported online programme (Feeling Safer) for the treatment of persecutory delusions: protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open;15:e104580.

Person specification Qualifications Essential criteria

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or equivalent). Qualification required by time of taking up the post – therefore applications are welcomed from those in the final year of doctoral clinical psychology training.
• Registered with HCPC

Experience Essential criteria

• Experience of conducting individual therapy sessions with patients who are experiencing difficulties related to psychosis.
• Excellent cognitive therapy skills - to enable treatment delivery and treatment development.
• Experience of clinical research.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course, presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse, and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature.
• Experience that supports working with and addressing issues of diversity within local communities.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of providing supervision.
• Experience of clinical trials.
• Experience of working with individuals with lived experience in the development of psychological research or practice.
• Experience of authorship of publications.

Knowledge Essential criteria

• Knowledge of the theory, evidence base, and practice of specialised psychological assessments and interventions for people with psychosis
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities.
• Knowledge of clinical trials
• In-depth understanding of the theoretical and empirical foundations of cognitive approaches to mental health disorders.

Skills Essential criteria

• Excellent skills in engagement of patients in psychological intervention.
• Ability to communicate sensitively and skilfully (oral and written).
• Ability to supervise psychology graduate research assistants.

Desirable criteria

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.

Documents to Download

Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist - job description (PDF, 264.6KB)

Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist - person spec (PDF, 264.6KB)

Guidance Notes for Candidates Applying for a job at OHFT (PDF, 424.6KB)

Recruiter Contact Details

Name: Dr Felicity Waite

Title: Consultant Clinical Psychologist

Email: [e-mail]

Telephone: [phone]