Principal Clinical Psychologist - Mental Health Liaison Lead

Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust; England; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A dedicated healthcare provider in the UK seeks a Principal Clinical Psychologist to lead a multi‑professional team in enhancing psychological care. The role calls for clinical leadership, direct client work, and service development, focusing on trauma-informed practices. Candidates must possess a doctoral level training in clinical psychology, relevant HCPC registration, and experience in multidisciplinary settings. This position welcomes flexible work arrangements to improve service delivery in mental health.

Benefits

Support for continuing professional development

Inclusive recruitment practices

Opportunities for research and training

Qualifications

• Must have significant, relevant experience as per the job description and person specification.
• Must be HCPC‑registered Clinical Psychologists.
• Experience working in multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical and professional leadership to develop a high-quality psychology service.
• Champion relational and person-centred ways of working.
• Provide training and support to other professionals and teams.

Skills

Complex psychological assessment

Leadership training

Supervising trainee Clinical Psychologists

Well-developed communicative skills

Education

Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology

HCPC registration

BPS chartered status

Job description

Principal Clinical Psychologist – Mental Health Liaison Lead

The post is offered as a permanent 8b position within the West Cheshire Mental Health Liaison Service (MHLS). Band‑8a candidates are welcome who have a keen desire to work in this area and are looking to develop their clinical leadership skills and move into a more senior grade in time with the support of a development plan.

The role incorporates direct client work, team systemic work and service development and is part of a wider workforce plan in Acute Psychology that demonstrates CWP’s commitment to improving the psychological and trauma‑informed care for patients, families and staff in the acute pathway.

You will work with a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, locality leadership team(s) and specialty clinical network to enhance and evaluate the psychological care offer within the Acute Pathway (First Response Service) provided by a multi‑professional workforce. Providing training, consultancy, supervision and support to multi‑professional staff, teams and managers will be essential, as will taking a strategic and pragmatic approach to service evaluation, audit and research as part of ongoing quality improvement.

Shortlisting will take place on Tue 24 Feb. Interviews are scheduled at Redesmere on Tue 10 Mar.

Main duties of the job

As the Principal Clinical Psychologist Locality Lead you will provide clinical and professional leadership to develop and maintain a high‑quality, evidence‑based psychology service for patients accessing MHLS. You will champion relational and person‑centred ways of working, based on humanity and compassion across the Acute pathway; you will lead the embedding of this ethos in the team.

There will be opportunities to join internal and external professional and clinical networks, undertake research and provide training and support to the next generation of psychology and mental health practitioners. Strong connections exist to the three main DClinPsy regional training programmes (Liverpool, Lancaster and Manchester).

You will join the CWP Senior Psychologists Group, which supports leadership, clinical and professional development of Psychologists. Clinical and professional supervision will be provided and ongoing continuing professional development supported.

Flexible, part‑time and job‑sharing requests are welcome. We encourage applications from suitably qualified and experienced people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

All applicants must be HCPC‑registered Clinical Psychologists with significant, relevant experience as per the job description and person specification.

About CWP

Cheshire and Wirral Partnership (CWP) provides health and care services for a population of over one million people, including mental health, learning disability, community physical health and all‑age disability care, as well as the provision of three GP surgeries in Cheshire. We employ around 4,500 staff across 73 sites and have services across Wirral, Cheshire, Trafford, Warrington, Bolton, Halton, Liverpool and Stockport.

Our aim is to improve the lives of everyone in our communities, adopting a compassionate, person‑centred approach to everything we do. We are rated as Outstanding for Caring by the Care Quality Commission, with a Good rating overall.

As a Disability Confident Employer, Rainbow Badge Scheme member, Veteran Aware organisation and proud holder of the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award, CWP is committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible and developing a culture that values differences. All new starters will commence on one fixed start date each month, in line with our Prepare to Care (P2C) induction programme. P2C offers up to 3 weeks training to support you to meet induction and initial training requirements of the role.

Job responsibilities

Please download a copy of the full job description in the documents section below for complete details of the main responsibilities.

At CWP, our recruitment processes are based on competence and values. We use a values‑based approach in our interviews, exploring what you do, how and why you do it, and how this aligns with the Trust’s values.

Before applying, review the Trust’s values and consider how they align with your own. Your supporting information should reflect this understanding and provide examples from your work or personal life that demonstrate these behaviours.

For guidance on application, contact our recruitment team via email at [e-mail] or call 01244 393100. If you have a disability that meets the Equality Act definition and meet the essential criteria, answer YES to the question: “Do you wish to be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme?” The trust offers a Guaranteed Interview Scheme to armed forces community applicants who meet the criteria, encouraging applications from reservists or cadet force adult volunteers.

Applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check; costs are deducted from salary following appointment. Enrolment for the DBS Update Service is encouraged; a small annual fee of £16 applies.

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team CWP very soon!

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Post‑graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) accredited by the BPS
• Post‑doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
• HCPC registration
• BPS chartered status and/or membership of ACPUK

Knowledge and Expertise

• Highly specialist skills in undertaking complex psychological and cognitive/neuro‑psychological assessment, intervention and evaluation requiring sustained concentration
• Well‑developed communicative skills, orally and in writing, conveying highly technical, clinically sensitive information to clients, families, carers and professional colleagues within and outside the NHS
• Formally trained and expert in supervising trainee Clinical Psychologists
• Well‑developed knowledge of the theory and practice of applied psychology and specialised psychological therapies for people with complex difficulties (e.g. severe mental health problems, personality disorder, dual diagnoses, additional disabilities, etc.)
• Leadership training and/or awareness of different leadership models and systems thinking

Experience

• Substantial experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist
• Experience of providing consultation, training, support and supervision/reflective practice to other professionals and non‑professionals
• Experience of working in multidisciplinary teams
• Involvement in local