Practitioner Psychologist

Integrated Care System; Bowburn; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare service provider in Bowburn is seeking an experienced Psychologist to shape the psychological workforce in the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service. You'll lead the development of mental health provisions, driving change through innovative and evidence-based interventions. If you have a Doctorate in clinical psychology and a passion for helping individuals overcome addiction and trauma, we invite you to apply. This position offers a chance to make a lasting impact in a compassionate and supportive environment.

Benefits

Supportive team environment

Opportunities for continuous professional development

Qualifications

• Proficient in assessment and formulation of psychological treatments.
• Expertise in delivering trauma-informed care.
• Experience with multidisciplinary team collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Leading assessment and intervention for complex psychological cases.
• Delivering evidence-based care for substance misuse and mental health.
• Providing clinical supervision and training to team members.

Skills

Assessment and formulation of complex cases

Evidence-based interventions

Leadership and supervision

Psychological safety advocacy

Teaching and training expertise

Education

Doctorate in clinical psychology

Degree in Psychology

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

As part of our expanding National Psychological Services Team, you'll have the flexibility and support to develop and tailor our services to meet the evolving needs of the people we work with. If you're looking for a role where your voice matters and your work truly makes a difference, we'd love to hear from you. Be part of something extraordinary. Join a passionate frontline team working with people who've faced some of life's toughest challenges, including problem substance use and trauma, and help them rewrite their stories. You'll be part of a local team driven by compassion, purpose, and a shared belief that everyone deserves to feel safe and build a life of meaning for themselves and their families. If you're ready to make a real, lasting impact, this is where your work truly matters.

We're building a dedicated psychological workforce within County Durham Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service rated Outstanding by the CQC, and we're looking for a passionate Psychologist to help shape it from the ground up. You'll lead the development of mental health provision across the service, driving forward the co-occurring complexities team and shaping the growth of our psychological workforce. This includes providing expert case consultation and supervision, while supporting and guiding trainee Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioners as they build their clinical skills.

Main duties of the job

You will make a difference by:

• Driving meaningful change by leading on the assessment, formulation, and intervention of complex cases, including delivering highly specialist psychological assessments and trauma-informed interventions for individuals and their wider support networks.
• Delivering cutting-edge care through evidence-based, trauma-responsive interventions that address both problem substance use and co-occurring mental health challenges.
• Inspiring and supporting teams by facilitating reflective practice groups, collaborative team formulations, and psychologically informed approaches that elevate both clinical and non-clinical practice.
• Innovating and co-creating by designing, piloting, and co-facilitating engaging training sessions, therapeutic groups, and reflective practice workshops.
• Guiding excellence by offering expert clinical supervision to a skilled, multidisciplinary team, fostering growth, resilience, and quality care.
• Leading with purpose by providing local clinical leadership and hands-on supervision for staff, trainees, and volunteers, under the guidance of a Consultant Clinical Psychologist.
• Shaping a thriving team culture by championing psychological safety, shared learning, and mutual support.
• Taking the lead on key areas of service delivery, actively contributing to audits, evaluations, and the continuous evolution of high-impact care.

About us

Our high-quality, evidence-based services are designed around the needs of the people we serve.

We know that people and their problems don't fit into neatly labelled boxes. And that finding help can be hard when life gets messy.

Too many people hit dead ends when they need open doors and answers.

Join a passionate frontline team working with people who've faced some of life's toughest challenges, including problem substance use and trauma, and help them rewrite their stories. You'll be part of a local team driven by compassion, purpose, and a shared belief that everyone deserves to feel safe and build a life of meaning for themselves and their families. If you're ready to make a real, lasting impact, this is where your work truly matters.

Job responsibilities

Workplace Values

Our values underpin everything we do, from how we work together to how we design and deliver services. All our work to fulfill this vision is strengthened by our values: kindness, courage, and respect.

• Kindness: be generous, caring, and compassionate.
• Courage: be bold, trust, and commit.
• Respect: everyone deserves dignity.

Lead a psychologically informed approach to interventions to support individuals throughout their treatment journey and to support the development and growth of a greater psychological approach to the treatment of substance misuse for Waythrough.

• To promote, adhere to, and live our workplace values of being honest, committed, and inventive.
• Provide specialist psychological assessment of service users referred for treatment of addiction, linking together the complex domains of substance use, social challenges, and physical and mental health problems.
• Collaboratively formulate and implement plans of specialist psychological treatment or management of service users' psychological problems, based on a multi-factorial understanding and current evidence-based best practice.
• Undertake a range of evidence-based psychological therapeutic and rehabilitation interventions, drawing on various psychological models and modalities (individual, family, and group), tailored to the needs of the individual and their context. Provide ongoing evaluation of outcomes.
• Exercise autonomous professional judgment and responsibility for the psychological management of service users on your own caseload.
• Work within your scope of practice and refer to specialist services if required.
• Provide a psychological perspective in multi-professional assessments, using formulation to communicate understanding of client needs to other involved services.
• Undertake psychologically based risk assessments and risk management for relevant service users, providing advice on psychological aspects of risk to the team.
• Take the lead in developing and overseeing the delivery of evidence-based psychological and psychosocial interventions, ensuring MDT colleagues have the training, competencies, and supervision to deliver these to the required standard.
• Support the MDT to deliver trauma-informed care, including formal training and ongoing support to apply this approach.
• Teach and support other professionals and trainees in a psychology-led approach, in collaboration with clinicians and trainers.
• If appropriate, supervise, appraise, and participate in managing Assistant Psychologists, following professional guidelines.
• Offer training and placements to Psychology training programs on working with substance use.
• Offer clinical supervision and advice to team members on evidence-based psychosocial interventions for people using substances and their families.
• Evaluate the delivery and impact of psychosocial interventions.
• Work with the Clinical Department and operational colleagues to develop a psychological approach to substance misuse treatment organization-wide.
• Ensure all standards required by the CQC are met and maintained.
• Participate in CPD, supervision, and training to maintain registration and competencies.
• Develop therapy-specific competencies and stay updated with professional developments.
• Work in accordance with relevant legislation, policies, procedures, and guidelines, including Waythrough's clinical governance framework.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Degree in Psychology, accredited by BPS for GBR or equivalent.
• Doctorate in clinical psychology approved by HCPC (or equivalent) and accredited by BPS.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office programs.
• Ability to research, analyze, and manage complex clinical information from various sources.
• Ability to integrate complex clinical information into formulations using psychological perspectives.
• Experience or interest in substance misuse and addiction work.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation related to the service user group.
• Experience in coaching, teaching, and mentoring a multidisciplinary team.
• Experience in performance management.
• Ability to generate and implement initiatives.
• Awareness of the social context of drug misuse and wider implications.
• Knowledge of national strategies impacting drug and alcohol services.
• Experience in clinical research and audits.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975, requiring a DBS check for any previous convictions.