Principal Clinical Psychologist

Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent NHS healthcare provider in Birmingham seeks a Principal Clinical Psychologist for maternity cover within the Integrated Residential Outreach Care team. This role involves providing specialist psychological assessments and interventions for young individuals facing mental health challenges, while also working collaboratively with diverse professionals. Candidates should possess strong leadership skills, relevant qualifications, and a passion for improving mental health services for children and adolescents. Flexibility in work arrangements is available.

Benefits

Flexible working

Home or remote working options

Qualifications

• Expert in dealing with children, adolescents, and young adults with mental health needs.
• Experience in leadership and supervision within a therapeutic context.
• Trained in clinical supervision and the supervision of doctoral trainees.

Responsibilities

• Provide highly specialist psychological assessments and interventions.
• Support service planning and development across different phases.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary and non-clinical leaders.

Skills

Expert in assessment and treatment of complex trauma and attachment

Excellent organisational and time management skills

Exceptional communication and presentation skills

Education

Qualified Clinical/Forensic/Counselling Psychologist eligible for chartered status

Leadership and management training

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Principal Clinical Psychologist

Go back Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 04 January 2026

Are you looking for a new role that offers you a challenge, the space to think differently and an opportunity to grow? We are looking for a Principal clinical/forensic/counselling psychologist to join the Integrated Residential Outreach Care (IROC) team on a fixed term contract for maternity cover. We also welcome applications from experienced senior psychologists who would like to develop their leadership and management skills. Secondments to this role can also be considered.

We are a psychology led, multi-disciplinary team that supports young people aged 13 -18 as part of the West Midlands CAMHS Provider Collaborative (WMCPC). The team includes psychology, nursing, occupational therapy, administrators and is expanding.

We work with young people at the risk of Tier 4 admission. We work systemically with residential homes, social care, families, CAMHS and schools.

The team has a range of expertise in trauma, therapeutic parenting, systemic and group work, DBT and more.

This role allows for the opportunity to think and work creatively and autonomously to develop clinical leadership and supervision, relationships with stakeholders, operational processes and embed systemic practices into the culture of the service. There will also be opportunities to lead in the evaluation of the IROC project as it progresses and expands over the course of the pilot.

Main duties of the job

Provide highly specialist psychological assessments and interventions to clients and their families as well as offering indirect clinical services such as advice and consultation to colleagues and other professionals ensuring a high-quality clinical provision across the service.

Support the clinical lead in the planning, development and implementation of the IROC service across the phases which will include identifying need and participating in development planning.

Be responsible for identified key service development issues in keeping with the strategic plans for the service.

Propose and implement policy and service development changes within the service

Liaise with key stakeholders within and across neighbouring trusts/local authorities to meet the need of the service user population

Work collaboratively with multi-disciplinary and non-clinical leaders to deliver effective, evidence-based psychological service provision to children, young people and their families.

Support staff supervision, and facilitation of client related work undertaken by other team members.

Be involved in the development and delivery of a range of training to staff and other stakeholders/professionals as required.

Support the development of research and evaluation processes attached to the IROC service.

Work autonomously as lead within professional guidelines and exercise delegated responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service.

About us

Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust is the first of its type in the UK. Our Trust was formed in February 2017 to drive forward our commitment to provide the highest quality, world-class physical and mental health care for our women, children and families. Uniting our hospitals means more seamless care; more investment to make greater advances in our specialist treatment and world-leading neo-natal and fetal work. Importantly, it also gives us a greater voice in shaping the future of family-centred care.

Birmingham Children's Hospital is a UK leading specialist paediatric centre with an international reputation in several areas.

Birmingham Women's Hospital is one of two dedicated women's hospitals in the UK, with the busiest single site maternity unit, delivering more than 8,200 babies a year offering a full range of gynaecological, maternity and neonatal care.

Our Trust is committed to creating the best place to work. We believe in promoting and enhancing inclusion, diversity and equality and encourage applications from all areas of the community, who meet the criteria for the role, regardless of age, gender identity, disability, race, religion or sexual orientation.

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification to view the full details for this opportunity at Birmingham Womens and Childrens NHS Foundation Trust.

When completing your application, please ensure you have evidenced how you meet the job description and person specification to include transferable experience, qualifications, skills along with professional registration details (if applicable).

Occasionally we receive a large number of applications for our roles and when that happens we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment.

Person Specification

Analytical and Judgement Skills

• Expert in assessment and treatment of complex trauma and attachment

Professional/Managerial/Specialist Knowledge

• Skills in managing teams, professional groups and can demonstrate experience and knowledge of being responsible for budgets.
• Interest in developing services for children and young people in care.
• Well-motivated to be part of a 0-25 mental health service. Enthusiasm for working with this client group and their families
• Skills and knowledge of using Microsoft office for use with audits, research, and presentations

Personal Skills/Abilities and Attributes

• Excellent organisational and time management skills, ability to plan and prioritise own workload.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written)

Other Requirements

• Ability to travel across the region for work purposes.
• Valid Driver's License and Car owner (or have daily access to a car) for work purposes
• Demonstrate an understanding of the practices of equality and inclusion in the delivery of this role.

Qualifications

• Qualified Clinical/Forensic/Counselling Psychologist eligible for chartered status. Skills in meeting the needs of children, adolescents, and young adults with mental health needs.
• Post qualification training in specific psychological therapies and interventions with children, young people and young adults with mental health difficulties or a combination of specialist short courses or an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice assessed by an experiences clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma.
• Leadership and management training and experience.
• Registered with the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist and evidence of CPD as required by the HCPC.
• Trained in clinical supervision and the supervision of doctoral trainees
• Significant experience and understanding of children in care processes and protocols
• Previous experience of working therapeutically with children in care within residential/community settings.
• Registration with BPS

Knowledge & Nature of Experience

• Significant experience and training in team management, leadership, and supervision of staff within therapeutic contexts.
• Experience of contributing to planning and evaluation of services
• Significant knowledge and experience of working with children, adolescents, and their families with mental health needs across a range of services and settings
• Experience of providing specialist psychological assessment and treatment for clients across the full range of mental health settings to include outpatient, community, day services and in-patient settings.
• Significant experience and skills working and consulting with professionals from children's social care, youth offending, education, police services, residential care units
• Previous experience and understanding of children in care safeguarding and statutory processes and protocols
• Significant experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with 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 exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
• Highly developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers, and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
• Skilled to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
• Skilled to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Previous experience of working therapeutically with children in care within residential/community settings
• Significant experience of teaching, training, staff support and research.
• Significant experience of administrating and interpreting a range of structured professional judgement tools, actuarial and psychometric measures specific to children and young people.
• Experience of assessing, treating, and manging the risk of children, young people and/or young adults in the community.
• Experience of working in a CAMHS tier 4 or inpatient setting

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Full-time,Flexible working,Home or remote working