Principal Clinical/ Counselling Psychologist

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust; St Albans; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health trust in St Albans is seeking an experienced Clinical Psychologist to oversee psychological services for clients with early episode psychosis. Responsibilities include supervising assessments and therapies, ensuring high-quality service delivery, and supporting staff training. Candidates should have a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and registration as a Practitioner Psychologist, along with substantial experience in psychological care. This role offers opportunities for research and policy development.

Benefits

Training and development opportunities

Supportive work culture

Qualifications

• Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Substantial post‑registration experience in psychological assessment and treatment.
• Experience in neuropsychological assessment.

Responsibilities

• Ensure provision of a high-quality specialist Psychological Service for psychosis.
• Support the development of integrated assessments and interventions.
• Supervise psychological assessments and therapy provided by team members.

Skills

Clinical assessment

Psychological intervention

Research skills

Communication skills

Education

Postgraduate Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology

Good honours degree in psychology

Job description

Overview

Alongside supervision and therapeutic work, you will be involved in service development and exciting research projects. You will work alongside the Consultant Clinical Lead for Psychological Services for Psychosis and with other service leads to ensure delivery of high quality interventions across the PATH service. This is a leadership position, with managerial and supervisory responsibilities.

The main responsibilities of the role include: ensuring the systematic provision of a high‑quality specialist Psychological Service across the county to clients presenting with the first and early episode psychosis; supporting the development of an integrated approach to psychological assessment and interventions for people presenting with the first episode of psychosis across PATH teams; ensuring training and post‑training support for all relevant staff members is in accordance with the best current National Standards for Governance; supervising and supporting the psychological assessments and therapy provided by other psychologists, psychological therapists and other clinical members of the team; working autonomously within professional guidelines and exercising responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within Secondary Care; utilising research skills for audit, policy and service development and research; proposing and implementing policy changes within the area served by the team/service.

All staff should comply with the Trust’s Anti‑Discriminatory Statement, Employee Charter, Trust Policies and Procedures, Code of Conduct and Equality and Diversity.

Responsibilities

• Ensuring the systematic provision of a high‑quality specialist Psychological Service across the county to clients presenting with the first and early episode psychosis.
• Supporting the development of an integrated approach to psychological assessment and interventions for people presenting with the first episode of psychosis across PATH teams.
• Ensuring training and post‑training support for all relevant staff members is in accordance with the best current National Standards for Governance.
• Supervising and supporting the psychological assessments and therapy provided by other psychologists, psychological therapists and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment.
• Working autonomously within professional guidelines and exercising responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within Secondary Care.
• Utilising research skills for audit, policy and service development and research.
• Proposing and implementing policy changes within the area served by the team/service.

Essential Qualifications and Experience

• Postgraduate Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) accredited by the BPS.
• Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Good honours degree in psychology. Eligibility for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS).
• Substantial post‑registration experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment with clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature.
• Experience in neuropsychological assessment.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client’s psychological care and treatment.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non‑professional groups.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and HPC.
• Demonstrated specialist clinical experience of training, through a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist clinical psychologist over at least 18 months.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision, including supervision of clinical psychology trainee(s).
• Experience working within a multi‑disciplinary therapy service.
• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology, including highly developed knowledge of models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis.
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management with clients with complex problems.
• Well developed communication skills, both oral and written, for conveying highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues.
• Ability to plan own workload and coordinate with other relevant staff in the delivery of clinical service.
• Full UK driving licence (subject to Disability Discrimination Legislation).
• Knowledge of relevant legislation and its implications for clinical practice in relation to individuals experiencing psychosis and psychotic‑type disorder.
• Experience of having published in either peer‑reviewed academic or professional journals and/or books.

Desirable Criteria

• Post‑doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
• Related academic qualifications to master's or doctorate level, and experience of working with patients presenting with moderate to severe mental health problems, including medically unexplained symptoms, physical health problems, and personality difficulties.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client’s psychological care and treatment at a highly specialist level.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Well developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups.
• Good presentation and teaching skills and ability to use multi‑media materials for formal presentations to large groups.
• Familiarity with computing technology, including keyboard skills, and use of word‑processing, e‑mail, and internet software.
• Skilled in appropriate and up‑to‑date disengagement techniques.
• Ability to demonstrate an interest in working with adults experiencing the first episode of psychosis.
• Ability to work face‑to‑face with patients in potentially hostile settings without other team members being nearby.
• Ability to work and communicate highly sensitive, contentious information effectively in a highly emotive or hostile atmosphere, and to overcome barriers to acceptance/ psychological resistance to potentially threatening information.
• Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations.
• Ability to prioritise work, operate a waiting list, meet short deadlines, and handle an unpredictable work pattern which requires regular revision of plans.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Ability to move equipment (including case files, self‑help materials, audio‑visual equipment) between office base and other work settings.
• Ability to sit in a constrained position for client therapy and for computer work.
• Ability to manage periods of prolonged concentration in client sessions and during computing tasks.
• Ability to work towards goals agreed at Individual Appraisal with the Service Manager.
• Able to sustain the intense concentration necessary for client assessment and formulation, group and individual therapy sessions, interviews.
• Regular requirement to deal with distressing or emotionally charged situations.

Work Visa

Candidates who require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the United Kingdom can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for this position by assessing their circumstances against the criteria specified on the Check if you need a UK visa - GOV.UK website. We would encourage all applicants to review the criteria carefully to understand their eligibility for sponsorship.

Professional Registration

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

About HPFT

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of “Outstanding” from the Care Quality Commission. Our family of over 4,500 members of staff provide health and social care for people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. Everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout. HPFT is rated by the Care Quality Commission as an Outstanding provider of mental health and learning disability services. In 2021, we won the prestigious Health Service Journal award for Mental Health Trust of the Year, with the judges saying they were “blown away” by our people’s achievements and that everything they saw “sings and hums”. This year, our staff rated us the 4th best mental health and learning disability trust to work for out of all 52 trusts in the country. Our staff tell us that they are proud to be part of the HPFT team, proud of the standard of care we provide and proud that service users are our top priority. Our people tell us they feel supported through great development, wellbeing and work‑life balance offer and a highly compassionate, values‑driven culture. We are equally proud of our staff, who live our values of being welcoming, kind, positive, respectful and professional.