Principal Clinical Psychologist and Mentalization-Based Treatment Lead

NHS; Dunstable; On-site; GBP 62,000 - 73,000; Full time

Job summary

An opportunity has arisen for a Principal Clinical Psychologist within the East London Foundation Trust's Bedfordshire and Luton Complex Needs Service. The role involves leading a Mentalization-Based Treatment programme and working with a multi-disciplinary team to support individuals with complex emotional needs. The successful candidate will be committed to service development and training for mental health professionals.

Qualifications

• Substantial experience with complex emotional needs and personality disorders.
• Experience in delivering MBT to individuals with severe self-harming behaviors.

Responsibilities

• Lead the MBT group-based programme and provide supervision.
• Work within a multi-disciplinary team to deliver specialist psychological services.

Skills

Mentalization-Based Treatment

Leadership

Clinical Supervision

Trauma-Informed Care

Education

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist

MBT Practitioner training

Job description

Job summary

An opportunity has arisen within East London Foundation Trust's (ELFT) Bedfordshire and Luton Complex Needs Service for a Principal Clinical Psychologist with specialist skills in the ongoing development, delivery and supervision of Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) for people with complex emotional needs (diagnosable as 'personality disorder'). The successful applicant will lead the MBT group-based programme which sits alongside the DBT programme, and will report to the Clinical Lead for Complex Needs Service. They will be committed to co-producing and monitoring the quality of service developments, growing the lived experience workforce, and providing advice, consultation and supervision to core mental health teams. An important part of this role will involve developing the knowledge and skills of professionals and colleagues within ELFT, partnership agencies, voluntary community groups and social enterprises, embedding trauma-informed and psychosocial approaches in service delivery with the aim of promoting the recovery and social inclusion of service users with complex emotional needs, including those transitioning from acute inpatient care and specialist out of area placements back to local community settings.

Main duties of the job

The successful applicant will work as part of a specialist and multi-disciplinary Complex Needs Service that includes a Medical Psychotherapist, Clinical Psychologists, Psychological Therapists (with core social work and occupational therapy professional registrations), a Lived Experience KUF Development Lead, Assistant Psychologists, and Peer Support Workers. The team is based at Mountbatten House, Dunstable and operates as a hub, in-reaching to community mental health services in Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton to provide specialist advice, training, consultation and supervision to other professionals and colleagues. The team also offers assessments and evidence-based interventions (MBT and DBT) to a small caseload of service users who have the most complex emotional needs and engage in severe self-harming and suicidal behaviour.

The post holder will be based with the team at Mountbatten house, Dunstable and will be required to offer consultation, supervision, assessment and intervention. This will require travel to CMHT bases, inpatient units and other sites across Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton, as well as occasional travel to East London .

The post is being offered on a full-time or part-time basis, with a minimum of 22.5 hours a week (0.6 wte). The days and hours will be negotiated by the Clinical Lead and the successful candidate.

About us

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Details Date posted

09 May 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£62,215 to £72,293 a year Per Annum, Pro Rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

363-BED6774925-B

Job locations

Mountbatten House,

56 High Street,

Dunstable, Bedfordshire

LU6 3HD

Job description Job responsibilities

The full Job Description and Person Specification for this post can be found in the attached documentation.

The post holder will work across Bedfordshire and Luton to develop and provide direct and indirect highly specialist clinical psychology and psychotherapeutic services for adults with complex emotional needs (associated with a diagnosis of personality disorder) and their families and carers. Please refer to job descriptions for more details.

Job description Job responsibilities

The full Job Description and Person Specification for this post can be found in the attached documentation.

The post holder will work across Bedfordshire and Luton to develop and provide direct and indirect highly specialist clinical psychology and psychotherapeutic services for adults with complex emotional needs (associated with a diagnosis of personality disorder) and their families and carers. Please refer to job descriptions for more details.

Person Specification Education/ Qualification/ Training Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent training as an applied practitioner
• HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist
• MBT Practitioner training accredited by the Anna Freud Centre, and willingness and capacity to train as a MBT Supervisorainees.
• Training in clinical supervision for doctoral clinical psychology trainees

Desirable

• Post-doctoral training in one or more relevant specialist areas of psychological practice.
• Leadership Training
• Quality Improvement Training
• MBT Supervisor Training

Experience Essential

• Substantial experience of working as a qualified Practitioner Psychologist with people with complex emotional needs associated with a diagnosis of personality disorder in a range of settings.
• Substantial experience of conducting trauma-informed assessments, risk assessments and collaborative safety planning in a community mental health care setting.
• Substantial experience of assessment, formulation and treatment of people with complex emotional needs/'personality disorder'.
• Experience in delivering MBT to people with complex emotional needs, diagnosable as 'personality disorder', who present with severe and repeated suicidal and self-harming behaviour.
• Substantial experience of working with those who support people with complex emotional needs (staff, carers, friends and family).
• Experience of liaison and joint work with other statutory and voluntary agencies, including crisis management.
• Experience of working with mental health teams and team leads in a range of settings to provide highly specialist psychological consultation, advice, and support.
• Experience of working with service users, carers, teams and organisations to identify training needs and co-produce and deliver training.
• Experience of completing audits and/or service evaluations to inform service improvements.
• Experience of supervising professional and clinical practice of qualified and unqualified staff.

Desirable

• Experience of supervising the delivery of interventions for people with complex emotional needs associated with personality disorder across a range of settings.
• Experience or recruiting and managing staff.
• Experience of developing and delivering specialist training programmes.

Knowledge and Skills Essential

• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of Mentalization-Based Treatment for people with complex emotional needs/'personality disorder'.
• Demonstrable leadership and change management skills, including the ability to understand the wider implications of actions.
• Demonstrable and well developed skills in outcome evaluation, audit, research and/or clinical governance.
• Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate service developments.
• Competence in use of IT equipment and software packages

Personal Essential

• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and be able to identify, provide and promote appropriate support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
• Ability to concentrate intensely for a substantial proportion of working time, during assessment and delivery of psychological therapy, teaching/supervision sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc.
• Ability to actively self-reflect and use clinical and professional supervision to facilitate personal and professional development.
• Ability to contain the stress of colleagues and other relevant persons.
• Ability to de-escalate, contain and effectively manage high levels of expressed emotion and conflict.
• Ability to adopt a respectful, caring and inclusive approach to service users, families, carers, colleagues and other professionals.

Other Essential

• Willingness and mobility to travel to various sites across Bedfordshire and Luton.

Desirable

• Driving license, access to a vehicle and insurance for business travel.

Person Specification Education/ Qualification/ Training Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent training as an applied practitioner
• HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist
• MBT Practitioner training accredited by the Anna Freud Centre, and willingness and capacity to train as a MBT Supervisorainees.
• Training in clinical supervision for doctoral clinical psychology trainees

Desirable

• Post-doctoral training in one or more relevant specialist areas of psychological practice.
• Leadership Training
• Quality Improvement Training
• MBT Supervisor Training

Experience Essential

• Substantial experience of working as a qualified Practitioner Psychologist with people with complex emotional needs associated with a diagnosis of personality disorder in a range of settings.
• Substantial experience of conducting trauma-informed assessments, risk assessments and collaborative safety planning in a community mental health care setting.
• Substantial experience of assessment, formulation and treatment of people with complex emotional needs/'personality disorder'.
• Experience in delivering MBT to people with complex emotional needs, diagnosable as 'personality disorder', who present with severe and repeated suicidal and self-harming behaviour.
• Substantial experience of working with those who support people with complex emotional needs (staff, carers, friends and family).
• Experience of liaison and joint work with other statutory and voluntary agencies, including crisis management.
• Experience of working with mental health teams and team leads in a range of settings to provide highly specialist psychological consultation, advice, and support.
• Experience of working with service users, carers, teams and organisations to identify training needs and co-produce and deliver training.
• Experience of completing audits and/or service evaluations to inform service improvements.
• Experience of supervising professional and clinical practice of qualified and unqualified staff.

Desirable

• Experience of supervising the delivery of interventions for people with complex emotional needs associated with personality disorder across a range of settings.
• Experience or recruiting and managing staff.
• Experience of developing and delivering specialist training programmes.

Knowledge and Skills Essential

• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of Mentalization-Based Treatment for people with complex emotional needs/'personality disorder'.
• Demonstrable leadership and change management skills, including the ability to understand the wider implications of actions.
• Demonstrable and well developed skills in outcome evaluation, audit, research and/or clinical governance.
• Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate service developments.
• Competence in use of IT equipment and software packages

Personal Essential

• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and be able to identify, provide and promote appropriate support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
• Ability to concentrate intensely for a substantial proportion of working time, during assessment and delivery of psychological therapy, teaching/supervision sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc.
• Ability to actively self-reflect and use clinical and professional supervision to facilitate personal and professional development.
• Ability to contain the stress of colleagues and other relevant persons.
• Ability to de-escalate, contain and effectively manage high levels of expressed emotion and conflict.
• Ability to adopt a respectful, caring and inclusive approach to service users, families, carers, colleagues and other professionals.

Other Essential

• Willingness and mobility to travel to various sites across Bedfordshire and Luton.

Desirable

• Driving license, access to a vehicle and insurance for business travel.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Additional information 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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details Employer name

East London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Mountbatten House,

56 High Street,

Dunstable, Bedfordshire

LU6 3HD

Employer's website

https://www.elft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details Employer name

East London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Mountbatten House,

56 High Street,

Dunstable, Bedfordshire

LU6 3HD

Employer's website

https://www.elft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)