Principal Clinical Psychologist

CNTW Community Interest Company; Newcastle upon Tyne; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

CNTW NHS Foundation Trust in the North East seeks a Principal Clinical Psychologist to provide clinical leadership for the ARMS service and to deliver expert psychological assessment and treatment for people at risk of psychosis, while supervising a team of therapists.

Based across Northumberland and North Tyneside, you will use CAARMS and other evidence-based methods, supervise trainees, and contribute to service development and training initiatives within the Early Intervention in Psychosis

Qualifications

• Doctoral training in clinical/counselling psychology including psychopathology and psychometrics.
• Two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan development knowledge.
• Evidence-based practice and service development experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical leadership for the ARMS service and supervise clinicians.
• Deliver specialist psychological assessment and treatment to service users and families.
• Provide supervision, consultation and training to the team.
• Work with CAARMS measures and service development within EIP.

Skills

Communication skills

Teaching & training

Clinical supervision

Supervision of trainees

Emotional self-management

Education

Doctoral level training in clinical/counselling psychology

Job description

Go back Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and wear (CNTW) NHS Foundation Trust

Principal Clinical Psychologist

The closing date is 06 November 2026

The post advertised is for a psychological therapist or clinical psychologist to provide clinical leadership in the At-Risk Mental State for psychosis service, alongside being an active clinician. The service will offer the systematic provision of multidisciplinary, and evidence-based bio-psychosocial interventions to those people who are at risk of developing psychosis. The postholder will be the key clinical decision maker on acceptance to the service, provide clinical supervision to the service and other psychological therapists in EIP and manage audit and training requirements.

The ARMS service is an exciting and important service development that aims to provide interventions as early as possible to people who are help seeking and reporting symptoms that indicate a risk of transition to psychosis. Working alongside an experienced and highly motivated early intervention in psychosis team, you will lead the ARMS service delivering the best possible practice in contemporary mental health care. Your job purpose will be to provide specialist psychological assessment and treatment to service users and their families, while working closely with other professionals. You will also support the team by providing supervision, consultation and training. You will be an accredited practitioner in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for psychosis and have skills in other emerging interventions, including working with Trauma.

Main duties of the job

The post covers the Northumberland and North Tyneside Localities and you would be based at Benton View/Greenacre Ctr, working alongside the Early Intervention in Psychosis teams. You will be required to provide care across a large geographical area. The selection process involves formal interview and you will require Disclosure and Barring Service enhanced clearance before commencement of duties.

We are seeking someone motivated, and excited by the prospect of developing a service. You will have excellent skills in assessing for symptoms of psychosis and of risk of transition to psychosis, enabling you to act as a resource to the ARMS service in complex assessments. You will be familiar with the CAARMS measure and will have shown an interest in service development.

About us

We aim to attract and retain a diverse, talented and committed workforce, who are caring and compassionate, and therefore able to meet the demands of the modern NHS now and in the future. In return we can offer a dynamic working environment in which to build a career.

Job responsibilities

Please find attached job description for full details.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical/counselling psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and Neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the HCPC and British Psychological Society.

Skills

• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinical sensitive information to clients, their family, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
• Well-developed teaching & training skills
• Well-developed skills in providing clinical supervision and consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Formal training in clinical supervision of trainee clinical psychologists and other staff.
• Skills in managing emotional impact of dealing with highly emotive and distressing situations through self-management and use of the clinical supervision process

Experience

• Substantial post qualification experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, and inpatient settings.
• Demonstrate further specialist training and experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a clinical psychologist over a minimum of 18 months or an alternative agreed by the Psychological Services Professional Lead.
• Substantial post qualification experience of delivering evidence based psychological therapy training to a range of professional groups
• Substantial experience of providing clinical supervision
• Substantial experience in working with psychosis or those who are at-risk of developing psychosis

Additional requirements

• Able to meet mobility requirements of the post

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.

Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and wear (CNTW) NHS Foundation Trust