Principle Clinical Psychologist

NHS; Lancaster; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Lancaster is seeking a passionate Band 8b Clinical Psychologist to join their team. You will work within a supportive environment to enhance the mental health of children and young people. Responsibilities include providing specialized psychological services and supervising team members. Ideal candidates will have a doctoral level qualification and at least 4 years of clinical experience. The role offers opportunities for professional development and flexible working arrangements.

Benefits

In-house training opportunities

Flexible working arrangements

Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology or equivalent.
• Minimum 4 years experience as a qualified clinical psychologist.
• Skills in complex psychological assessment and management.

Responsibilities

• Provide a high-quality specialist clinical psychology service.
• Supervise and support assessments and therapies by other team members.
• Engage in research and implement policy changes within the service.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Communication skills

Research methodology

Education

Doctoral level training in clinical psychology

Job description

Job summary

Are you looking for an opportunity to work with children and young people, and their families?

Do you have a passion and enthusiasm for supporting young people to improve their mental health and reach their potential?

Are you thinking about where in the country you would like to work?Referral rates to CAMHS are rising. There is much work to be done and we need clinicians who want to make a positive difference to the lives of young people.

We are looking to recruit a Band 8b Clinical Psychologist to Lancaster and Morecambe CAMHS / Children's Psychological Service (CPS). We are a part of Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust.

We are lucky to have a number of community resources for children and adolescents in this area, with dedicated professionals and volunteers working to offer young people a chance to thrive. Direct mental health work with young people is only one part of a bigger picture of their recovery. We work with young people, and their parents / carers, to ensure that they are linked in to other opportunities within their local community.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for an enthusiastic, dynamic and creative Principle Clinical Psychologist to join our established Psychological Therapies Team (including Clinical Psychologists, CBT Therapist, Family Therapist and Trainee/Assistant Psychologists) which works within the highly experienced, supportive and forward thinking CAMHS/CPS MDT, inclusive of Psychiatrists, CAMHS Practitioners, ADHD Practitioners, Primary Mental Health Workers and, Children and Young Wellbeing Practitioners.

There will be opportunities to further develop areas of clinical interest relevant to the employed role. Our team have benefitted from a range of development opportunities including in-house training and specific therapies training and supervision (e.g., DDP, EMDR, Schema Therapy).

There will be ample opportunity for support, supervision alongside experienced colleagues both locally and across the region.

For an informal discussion please contact Dr Claire Nicholls, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, on 01524 550650.

To be responsible for ensuring the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist clinical psychology service to clients within a designated area of responsibility.

To supervise and support psychological assessment and therapy provided by other psychologists and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment.

About us

To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the designated area of responsibility.

To utilise research skills, audit, policy and service development and research and implement policy changes within the areas served by the team/service in agreement with the relevant manager.

The north of Lancashire is a beautiful, and often overlooked, part of the country. There is easy access to the countryside and the coast; the Forest of Bowland and the Lake District are both within easy driving distance. You could leave the office and be at the shore of Lake Windermere in less than an hour. Lancaster is also really well connected by train to Glasgow, Manchester and London.

Despite Lancaster being a small city it is home to two universities; two theatres; an active music scene, a large city park; many restaurants and several independent coffee shops. The people of Lancashire are friendly and welcoming. There is a clinical psychology doctoral training course based at Lancaster University which means we benefit from having local trainee clinical psychologists on placement with us.

Details Date posted

31 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£64,455 to £74,896 a year per annum pro rata (subject to confirmation)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

351-SPS1431-MS

Job locations

Harvey House

Ashton Road

Lancaster

LA1 5AZ

Job description Job responsibilities

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.

The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.

Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.

For more information please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT

Job description Job responsibilities

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.

The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.

Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.

For more information please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT

Person Specification Qualifications Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.

Desirable

• Pre-qualification training / qualifications in research methodology and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Knowledge Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Knowledge of legislation, and its implications in relation to the client group and mental health.

Experience Essential

• A minimum of 4 years experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client's psychological care and treatment both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of multidisciplinary care plan. Experience of teaching, training and supervising.
• Demonstrable experience of conducting complex audit/research and service evaluation.

Person Specification Qualifications Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.

Desirable

• Pre-qualification training / qualifications in research methodology and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Knowledge Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Knowledge of legislation, and its implications in relation to the client group and mental health.

Experience Essential

• A minimum of 4 years experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client's psychological care and treatment both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of multidisciplinary care plan. Experience of teaching, training and supervising.
• Demonstrable experience of conducting complex audit/research and service evaluation.

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.

Employer details Employer name

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Harvey House

Ashton Road

Lancaster

LA1 5AZ

Employer's website

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

Employer details Employer name

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Harvey House

Ashton Road

Lancaster

LA1 5AZ

Employer's website

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