Senior Clinical or Counselling Psychologist / Psychological Therapist

Greater Manchester Menthal Health NHS Foundation Trust; Salford; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in the UK is seeking a skilled Clinical Psychologist to join their team. This role involves providing psychological support to adults with complex mental health needs and requires a Doctoral level qualification in Clinical Psychology or equivalent. Candidates should have experience with severe mental health issues and demonstrate effective communication and assessment skills. Competitive benefits include generous annual leave and professional development opportunities.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Excellent pension

Cycle to work scheme

Wellbeing programme

Qualifications

• Registered with HCPC or BABCP.
• Experience with complex mental health issues.
• Knowledge of NICE supported therapeutic modalities.

Responsibilities

• Provide psychological care for clients.
• Engage in teaching and consultancy with professionals.
• Supervise psychology trainees and staff.

Skills

Skills in complex psychological assessment

Effective communication

Ability to cope in distressing situations

Education

Doctoral level qualification in Clinical Psychology

Completion of supervisors training

Job description

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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification

Employee 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
• fuelGenie Fuel Cards (for applicable roles)

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Doctoral level (or equivalent) qualification in Clinical Psychology Or Equivalent core professional qualification in another health profession and demonstrable evidence of continuing professional development and post qualification training in psychological therapy, with a minimum of a PG dip in Cognitive Therapy from a certified course. Eligible to register with the HCPC, or in the case of psychological therapist's, current accreditation with the BABCP, and appropriate professional body.
• Completion of supervisors training or eligible and plan to complete once in post e.g. completion of relevant modules of Accredited Doctoral Clinical Psychology Course: Introduction to Supervision Courses (approx. 30 hours) and/or successful supported supervision of 1 or more trainees/students
• Current registration with the HCPC, or in the case of psychological therapists, current accreditation with the BABCP/appropriate professional body.

Desirable criteria

• Additional postgraduate advanced training in one or more relevant therapy approaches e.g. Cognitive Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Solution Focussed Therapy, Cognitive Analytical Therapy.
• Qualification in leadership or management.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Demonstrative experience of working as a qualified applied psychologist / psychological therapist with adults with severe and potentially enduring mental health problems and specifically people with distressing psychosis and people with complex relational and emotional needs (i.e. people who are frequently given a diagnosis of personality disorder/s).
• Demonstrative post-qualification experience of working with people with complex health problems, including problems associated with complex emotional and relational needs, psychosis, severe depression, anxiety, co‑morbidity substance misuse, and complex trauma.
• Demonstrative experience of applying psychological theory to clinical practice in relation to NICE supported therapeutic modalities e.g. CBT, CAT, EMDR
• Demonstrable experience of working within and contributing to multi‑disciplinary settings/teams and or Integrated Multi agency Teams
• Demonstrable experience of working within and contributing to multi‑disciplinary settings/teams.
• Demonstrable experience of working with people experiencing a suicidal crisis.
• Demonstrable experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client's psychological care.
• Experience of contributing to the supervision of psychology trainee(s) and/or more junior psychology staff and other core health professionals
• Demonstrable experience of providing teaching/training, and consultancy to other health professionals.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working within secondary care mental health services.
• Experience of working within a multi‑cultural and diverse framework
• Demonstrable experience of the application of psychological therapy in diverse cultural and ethnic contexts, especially with the use of interpreters.
• Research experience within an area relevant to work within an adult mental health service.
• Demonstrate further specialist clinical experience and training
• Experience of being in a leadership role.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Understanding of a trauma informed approach to distress and the value and purpose of therapeutic relationships as a tool for intervention
• Up to date knowledge of the needs of adults with complex and potentially enduring mental health problems, such as complex relational needs; complex trauma, psychosis.
• Current best practice with regards to Risk Assessment & Management
• Familiarity with computing technology, including keyboard skills, and use of word‑processing, e‑mail, and internet software

Desirable criteria

• Understanding of the national and regional legislation, guidance and policy directives in relation to the development and delivery of psychological therapies within community services.
• Evidence of post‑qualification CPD: e.g. completion of courses in CAT, EMDR, CBT, psychodynamic or equivalent therapies for complex cases
• Experience of the application of psychological theories within different cultural contexts

Skills and Abilities

Essential criteria

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
• 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 cope in, and deal with highly distressing emotional circumstances
• Ability to reflect and use clinical supervision appropriately
• High level ability to provide and promote appropriate support to staff
• Ability to plan and prioritise own workload with a willingness to be flexible in managing own time to respond to service needs
• 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 consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
• 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 here there may be exposure to verbal and sometimes physical aggression

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
• Experience of service development projects, both planning and implementation

Other Requirements

Essential 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 identify, and employ as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
• Ability to travel to a range of locations in a timely and efficient manner.

Desirable criteria

• There is a frequent requirement to travel mainly within the Salford area and an occasional requirement to travel across the wider footprint of the Trust to attend meetings and events relevant to the role. Therefore car driver required (except where a supported driver arrangement can be provided under the Disability Discrimination Act)
• Ability to work towards goals agreed at Individual Appraisal
• Ability to work to professional guidelines
• Able to work in UK

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 22/07/2025 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 (PDF, 168.4KB)
• Person Specification (PDF, 216.6KB)
• Important Candidate information (PDF, 2.5MB)