Principal Clinical Psychologist

Greater Manchester Menthal Health NHS Foundation Trust; Wigan; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health foundation is seeking a qualified psychologist to join their dynamic team in Wigan. This role offers the opportunity to provide psychological support and interventions to adults with complex mental health needs, utilizing your expertise in a collaborative multi-disciplinary environment. Candidates should hold a doctorate in psychology and possess substantial experience in specialist mental health settings. The position comes with a competitive salary and numerous employee benefits.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Excellent pension

Cycle to work scheme

Salary sacrifice car scheme

Wellbeing programme

Blue Light Card Discounts

Qualifications

• Current registration as a practitioner psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council.
• Post qualification training in psychological therapies.
• Experience with mental health problems in a secondary care setting.

Responsibilities

• Perform assessments and develop psychological formulations.
• Provide clinical supervision to other health professionals.
• Deliver psychological interventions in multidisciplinary team settings.

Skills

Communication skills

Psychological support

Leadership skills

Multi-disciplinary team collaboration

Crisis management

Education

Post-graduate doctorate in clinical or counselling psychology

Job description

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification

Staff benefits:

• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years
• Excellent pension
• Cycle to work scheme
• Salary sacrifice car scheme
• Wellbeing programme
• Blue Light Card Discounts

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Post-graduate doctorate in clinical or counselling psychology, (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996), and current registration as a practitioner psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council.
• Post qualification training and accreditation in OR eligibility and willingness to work towards accreditation in (where available) one of the following approaches CBT-P, EMDR, CAT, MBT, BFT.
• Completion of relevant modules of Accredited Doctoral Clinical Psychology Course: Introduction to Supervision Courses (approx. 30 hours) or equivalent, or professional equivalent e.g. CAT supervisor training

Desirable criteria

• Completion of further post qualification training within psychological therapies (e.g. CAT, CBT, EMDR,, MBT etc.)

Experience

Essential criteria

• specialist assessment and treatment of complex and often co-occurring mental health problems in working age adults in a secondary care setting.
• Experience of developing psychological formulations to inform care for service users and teams involved in multiple systems of care i.e., systemic formulation of complex need.
• Demonstrable substantial experience of working and leading within complex care systems.
• Demonstrable post-qualification experience of working with complex health problems, including problems associated with complex relational and emotional needs, and severe depression, anxiety, co-morbid substance misuse and trauma.
• Demonstrable experience of working with people experiencing a suicidal and/or safeguarding crisis.
• Demonstrable experience of working within adult multidisciplinary/agency mental health teams.
• Demonstrable experience of clinical leadership within a previous role.
• Demonstrable experience of providing clinical supervision to psychologists, psychological therapists or other core health professions and non-therapists.
• Demonstrable experience of providing teaching/ training upon clinical interventions.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of audit and service evaluation within psychological therapy services
• Experience of applying within a multi-cultural framework
• Research experience within an area relevant to work.
• Ability to demonstrate further specialist clinical experience and training.
• Experience of leading and/or developing teams.
• Demonstrable experience of the application of psychological therapy in diverse cultural and ethnic contexts.
• Demonstrable experience of managing demand for psychological services via a stepped-care framework

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Understanding of the national and regional legislation, guidance and policy directives in relation to the development and delivery of psychological therapies within inpatient services.
• Evidence of post-qualification CPD as recommended and/or accredited by the BPS, or other professional body.
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written, enabling the communication of complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information with clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues within the NHS and other agencies.
• Up to date knowledge of the needs of people with severe and enduring mental health problems, and of psychological approaches to recovery.
• Familiarity with computing technology, including keyboard skills, and use of word-processing, e-mail, and internet software

Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to work with service users, carers and families to engage with their needs and provide them with appropriate psychological support and intervention.
• Skills in providing psychological consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
• Well developed, effective communication skills, both orally and in writing, enabling complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to be shared with clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues within the NHS and other agencies.
• Ability to prioritise work, operate a waiting list, meet short deadlines and an unpredictable work pattern that requires regular revision of plans.
• Ability to work at a high level of professional autonomy and responsibility, in a collaborative multi-disciplinary environment and also as a lone worker in circumstances where there may be exposure to verbal and sometimes physical aggression
• 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 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

Desirable criteria

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials, suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
• Ability to demonstrate an area of special interest/skill in therapeutic intervention

Important Information about working for GMMH:

All positions within the Trust are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, for further information on the checks required please visit the NHS Employers website www.nhsemployers.org

The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.

Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.

The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we'd love to hear from you.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications

A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application. The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one's achievements, success and challenges.

We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.

Sponsorship

We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government's website - click here.

If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.

The Home Office introduces new changes from 09/04/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it here.

Do you have experience outside the NHS?

We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.

We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment. Please contact our Recruitment Team for more information.

**Please note, this vacancy may be closed at any time if sufficient applications have been received**

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

• Job Description and Person Specification (PDF, 288.4KB)
• Important Candidate information (PDF, 2.5MB)