Principal Clinical Psychologist

NHS; Salford; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare provider is seeking a Principal Clinical Psychologist to support NHS staff experiencing emotional distress. The ideal candidate will provide psychological assessments and interventions, engage in staff training, and participate in clinical supervision. Qualified applicants should have a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and experience with mental health issues. The role offers flexibility, a supportive environment, and opportunities for professional development.

Benefits

Competitive benefits package

Flexible working opportunities

Protected hours for health and wellbeing activities

Qualifications

• Experience working with individuals with mental health difficulties.
• Interest in providing individual therapy for complex emotional distress.
• Training in research methodology and applied psychological interventions.

Responsibilities

• Provide psychological assessment and intervention to NHS staff.
• Support clinicians through reflective practice and training.
• Develop and lead initiatives for staff wellbeing.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Individual therapy

Systemic practice

Creative problem-solving

Clinical supervision

Education

Doctorate Qualification in Clinical Psychology

Accredited therapist

Job description

Overview

Go back Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

Principal Clinical Psychologist

The closing date is 14 October 2025

This is an exciting opportunity to join the dynamic and thriving Staff Psychology Support Service which supports NCA staff across Salford, Bury, Oldham and Rochdale.

We are looking for a highly motivated Principal Clinical Psychologist who has a strong interest in supporting NHS staff members and teams who are experiencing emotional distress due within their working lives. The successful applicant will be a Senior Clinical Leader helping to provide dynamic, timely, effective, evidence based therapies and team interventions (training, reflective practice, consultation, psychological debriefs). They will have the appropriate experience to work autonomously and flexibly, across the Trust footprint in response to organisational demands. This includes providing specialist psychological support affected by critical incidents or traumatic events at work. The Psychologist will be experienced in providing comprehensive psychological assessment and intervention using multiple models. The focus of this post is individual and systemic interventions. The post holder is expected to be research active and to contribute to the development of systemic practice for the team.

We are looking for a Psychologist with enthusiasm and an appreciation of the challenges and rewards of working within a culturally diverse NHS workforce, who has an interest providing individual therapy for individuals with complex emotional distress as well as systemic practice and community psychology.

Main duties of the job

We are a group of highly committed and supportive clinicians who work across the trust footprint and are supported by an excellent administrative and managerial team within the Department of Neuropsychology. The person will benefit from the supervision structure and peer support of the department and the additional CPD opportunities afforded here.

For this specific post, we are looking for an independent, proactive and creative individual who has a keen interest in staff support intervention, clinical supervision, systemic work, including reflective practice and training and developing services. This post has been developed to help better support NCA staff who are experiencing complex emotional distress and mental health difficulties. A key role of the post is to provide psychological assessment, formulation and intervention to staff members and teams. We welcome applications from individuals with additional training in systemic practice. Taking a lead in audit, research, service development initiatives and teaching and training will be encouraged and supported.

About us

The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) provides hospital and integrated health and social care services to over one million people living across Greater Manchester. Our 20,000 colleagues care for people in hospital and in the community, working across Bury, Rochdale, Oldham and Salford, to save and improve lives.

As a large NHS trust we are committed to enhancing the health of our local population by delivering consistently high standards of care and working closely with local authorities and key partners. We believe in our power and potential to make a difference and we7re always looking for people who demonstrate our three core values - care, appreciate and inspire - to join our team.

In return, we can offer you a job role with purpose and flexibility. The size and scale of the NCA means we can provide more challenge and opportunities so your career can always be moving in the right direction. By joining us you can also access a competitive benefits package, including, a fantastic annual leave allowance, flexible working opportunities and protected hours for health and wellbeing activities, helping you to achieve more personal downtime and a better work-life balance.

Job responsibilities

To read more information about the advertised role, and the main job duties/responsibilities please open the Job Description and Person Specification located under the supporting documents heading. You can also read more information about working at the Northern Care Alliance within the attached Candidate Information Pack or by visiting our careers website: www.careers.northerncarealliance.nhs.uk

Person Specification

Experience

• Experience of working with individuals with common and severe mental health difficulties

Qualifications

• Clin PSY D - Doctorate Qualification in clinical psychology
• Accredited therapist
• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychological interventions.

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.

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Northern Care Alliance, Salford Royal Hospital