Principal Clinical Psychologist

South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 86,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Job summary

South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust is seeking a Clinical Psychologist to lead and develop a CYP Community Eating Disorders Service. The post involves managing a caseload, providing expert psychological therapies to children and families, and supervising colleagues in psychological care.

You will contribute to evidence-based practice, adapt clinical models for emotion dysregulation and neurodiversity, and support service development with teaching, audits, and research.

Qualifications

• Qualified Clinical Psychologist with HCPC registration.
• Experience with children and young people in CAMHS.
• Experience with eating disorders.
• Experience in teaching, training and supervision.

Responsibilities

• Ensure the systematic provision of a high quality specialist psychological therapies service including clinical psychology and systemic family psychotherapy to children, young people and their families/carers within the designated clinical service area.
• Providing ongoing consultation to other Tier 3 CAMHS services within the trust specifically formulating cases where there may be an element of disordered eating within the broader context of difficulties regulating emotions.
• To work with the Leadership Team to develop service provision for young people with disordered eating alongside emotion dysregulation and / or neurodiversity.
• Supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other psychology and psychotherapy (P&P) staff and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment by agreement with the CYP Community Eating Disorders Service Professional Lead for Psychology and Psychotherapies.
• Work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service area, working with the CYP Community Eating Disorders Service Professional Lead for P&P.
• To coordinate psychological assessment, treatment and therapy resources across the teams.
• Utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research. To propose and implement policy changes within the designated clinical service area
• Practice clinically within a designated setting, and by example will uphold high standards of psychological and psychotherapeutic assessment, treatment and care.
• Be a source of advice and guidance in relation to risk management and safeguarding.
• Be responsible for the clinical governance structures that support and guide multi-disciplinary colleagues providing psychological therapies in community settings in designated service areas. These governance structures include professional and clinical supervision, PADR processes, CPD and training needs, and recording standards.
• Directly provide clinical supervision to psychology and/or psychotherapy colleagues, and professional supervision to colleagues from a range of psychology and psychotherapy disciplines. Some supervision may be provided across borough boundaries.
• Have a significant role in ensuring that the quality of child mental health work provided in the community is reflected both in clinical records and in data collected that will include the CAMHS minimum data set and CYP IAPT measures. It will be important to contribute to efforts to maximise the benefits of the electronic clinical record system that the service has adopted, and to ensure that clinicians record risk in accordance with policy and guidance.
• Provide coordinated service leadership in designated areas in conjunction with Clinical Leads and Team Managers, advising on service developments.
• Coordinate with Team Managers and Clinical Leads in managing clinical performance concerns.
• Work to promote synergy and connection between local authority, third sector and health services so as to foster joined-up care and to maximise the benefit of available mental health resources for children, young people and their carers.
• Promote service user involvement in shaping services.
• Promote equality of access to healthcare and awareness of how social difference can influence treatment outcome and service user experience.

Skills

Clinical psychologist

HCPC registration

Systemic therapy

CYP IAPT

Education

Qualified Clinical Psychologist

Practitioner Psychologist registration

CYP IAPT training

CBT-E training

Family therapy training

Job description

Site Springfield University Hospital Town London Salary £75,328 - £86,114 per annum inclusive of Inner London HCAs Salary period Yearly Closing 22/09/2026 23:59

South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We provide a full range of local mental health services to the Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth London boroughs, as well as specialist forensic mental health services, including specialised services such as national deaf adults and CAMHS inpatients and OCD.

We are committed to providing high quality integrated health and social care for local people with mental health problems in South West London and more specialist mental health services for people throughout the UK. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ however we aim to be ‘outstanding’.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values; being consistent, compassionate, collaborative, respectful and open is at the heart of everything we do. Our mission is "making life better together".

When you join us, you’ll be part of something special – an innovative and rapidly growing organisation that is helping to redefine the Mental Health, education and social care landscape in the UK.

As a Trust, we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic Clinical Psychologist (1.0WTE) to join the CYP Community Eating Disorders Service in a senior clinical role. Suitable applicants will have extensive experience in CAMHS settings and in supervision and consultation. They will have excellent knowledge and skills related to NICE concordant treatments for eating disorders and would most likely have worked in a specialist CAMHS eating disorders service at some point. However, applications will be welcomed from those who have expertise in working with young people who are on the autism spectrum or those with complex mental health presentations.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will hold a caseload, as well as contributing substantial therapeutic expertise in working with families where a young person has an eating disorder, as well as contributing to consultation with colleagues from other services. Part of the role will involve the development of multidisciplinary team members and providing supervision to staff members delivering eating disorder-focused family interventions (as agreed with the professional lead). Supported by the clinical and professional leads for the service, the post holders will play a significant role in implementing evidence-based interventions and in the development of the clinical model, particularly relating to adaptations for working with young people who may also be experiencing co-morbid difficulties with emotion dysregulation. There will also be opportunities to develop group approaches and to offer complex case reviews. An interest in teaching, service development, quality improvement, audit and research would be desirable.

Working for our organisation

Unless expressly stated in the job advert this role is not subject to sponsorship, please be advised that all offers of employment are subject to evidence of right to work in the UK.

We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. T he Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ - we aspire to be ‘outstanding’.

This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a varietybenefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Ensure the systematic provision of a high quality specialist psychological therapies service including clinical psychology and systemic family psychotherapy to children, young people and their families/carers within the designated clinical service area
• Providing ongoing consultation to other Tier 3 CAMHS services within the trust specifically formulating cases where there may be an element of disordered eating within the broader context of difficulties regulating emotions
• To work with the Leadership Team to develop service provision for young people with disordered eating alongside emotion dysregulation and / or neurodiversity.
• Supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other psychology and psychotherapy (P&P) staff and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment by agreement with the CYP Community Eating Disorders Service Professional Lead for Psychology and Psychotherapies.
• Work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service area, working with the CYP Community Eating Disorders Service Professional Lead for P&P.
• To coordinate psychological assessment, treatment and therapy resources across the teams.
• Utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research. To propose and implement policy changes within the designated clinical service area
• Practice clinically within a designated setting, and by example will uphold high standards of psychological and psychotherapeutic assessment, treatment and care.
• Be a source of advice and guidance in relation to risk management and safeguarding.
• Be responsible for the clinical governance structures that support and guide multi-disciplinary colleagues providing psychological therapies in community settings in designated service areas. These governance structures include professional and clinical supervision, PADR processes, CPD and training needs, and recording standards.
• Directly provide clinical supervision to psychology and/or psychotherapy colleagues, and professional supervision to colleagues from a range of psychology and psychotherapy disciplines. Some supervision may be provided across borough boundaries.
• Have a significant role in ensuring that the quality of child mental health work provided in the community is reflected both in clinical records and in data collected that will include the CAMHS minimum data set and CYP IAPT measures. It will be important to contribute to efforts to maximise the benefits of the electronic clinical record system that the service has adopted, and to ensure that clinicians record risk in accordance with policy and guidance.
• Provide coordinated service leadership in designated areas in conjunction with Clinical Leads and Team Managers, advising on service developments.
• Coordinate with Team Managers and Clinical Leads in managing clinical performance concerns.
• Work to promote synergy and connection between local authority, third sector and health services so as to foster joined-up care and to maximise the benefit of available mental health resources for children, young people and their carers.
• Promote service user involvement in shaping services.
• Promote equality of access to healthcare and awareness of how social difference can influence treatment outcome and service user experience.

Person specification

Training & Qualifications

• Qualified Clinical Psychologist.
• An appropriate professional registration as a Practitioner Psychologist under the Health Care Professions Council.
• Systemic therapy training as part of core training or as an additional certification.
• Post-doctoral/graduate training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice with children and young people.
• Clinical training as part of a CYP IAPT collaborative in a recognised evidenced based approach i.e. CBT, Parenting Skills or other.
• Training in family therapy for anorexia nervosa (FT-AN), family therapy for bulimia nervosa (FT-BN), and Multisystemic Family Therapy for eating disorders.
• CBT-E training.

Experience

• Substantial experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist including experience of working at a highly specialist level with children and young people with a wide range of mental and behavioural disorders.
• Experience of working with complex cases where there are either co-morbidities and / or neurodiversity.
• Substantial experience of working from a systemic perspective.
• Experience of working with eating disorders.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings
• Experience of teaching, training and professional and clinical supervision
• Experience of service development and leadership.
• Experience of representing psychology or psychotherapy within the context of multi-disciplinary care
• Experience of working with mental health needs in multiple cultural contexts.
• Experience of managing the clinical performance of staff.

At South West London St Georges Mental Health Trust we are committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Committed Employer, and welcome applications from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We are Members of Stonewall Diversity Champions and Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion.

As part of the Trust's commitment to Equalities and Diversity, the Trust supports the establishment of Staff Networks groups to promote diversity in the workplace:

• BME (Evolve) Staff Network
• DiverseAbility
• Mental Health Staff Forum
• Women's Staff Network
• LGBTQIA+

We are committed to supporting the Armed Forces Community and has signed the Armed Forces Covenant.

We provide reasonable adjustments to the interview process for any candidates with a disability.

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.

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process, including job applications, sponsorship arrangements, or employment offers. The contact details published on our official website are the Trust’s authorised contact channels and should be used for all recruitment communications, job applications, and verification of employment offers.