Senior Clinical Psychologist/Psychological Therapist

NHS; Sunderland; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization is seeking a Senior Clinical Psychologist to join their Adult Inpatients Service at Hopewood Park, Sunderland. The role involves providing expert psychological assessments and interventions, supporting multidisciplinary teams, and engaging with complex patient needs. Candidates should hold a doctoral level qualification in clinical psychology and be registered with HCPC. Experience in psychometric evaluation and clinical supervision is desirable. The position offers competitive salary and a supportive environment for professional development.

Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including accredited psychological therapies.
• HCPC registered practitioner psychologist.
• Experience in clinical supervision and assessment.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychological assessment and interventions.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams.
• Support staff through supervision and reflective practice.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Effective communication

Clinical supervision

Cognitive assessment

Education

Doctoral level training in clinical psychology

HCPC registered practitioner psychologist

Honours Degree in Psychology

Postgraduate qualifications in psychological assessment

Job description

Overview

Go back Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and wear (CNTW) NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 09 October 2025

The post is a 0.5 WTE Senior Clinical Psychologist/Psychological Therapist for Longview Ward, the female acute ward at Hopewood Park. The post will be part of the wider MDT working with service users on Longview Ward.

We are delighted to be offering a Band 8a Clinical Psychology post within our Adult Inpatients Service based at Hopewood Park Hospital, Sunderland and are looking for enthusiastic Clinical Psychologists or Psychological Therapists to provide specialist psychological input on our wards. Previous experience of working in an inpatient setting either pre/during or post clinical psychology training is desirable but not essential.

There are three acute adult inpatient wards at Hopewood Park, two male and one female. Each has the provision of a 0.5 WTE (18.75 hours) Psychologist, supported by a 0.5 WTE Higher Assistant Psychologist. There is an 8c Consultant Psychologist post across all the 3 acute wards.

Adult Mental Health Inpatient Services provide multi-disciplinary care using a biopsychosocial model for service users over the age of 18. The acute service provides care for service users with acute mental health needs who require assessment and treatment in hospital. Service users admitted to hospital are often highly complex and have a range of experiences and difficulties including neurodiversity, psychosis, personality difficulties and learning difficulties, risk to self and others, forensic issues and behaviours that challenge.

Main duties of the job

The post involves providing expertise in applying specialist psychological assessment, including cognitive assessments, collaborative formulation and interventions with service users and working with multi-disciplinary teams to embed formulation and trauma informed care. This includes individual and group based work and involvement of families and carers. It will involve supporting multidisciplinary staff working with service users through supervision, team formulation, contributing to understanding complex risk, developing behaviour support plans and providing reflective practice sessions and training to the teams. The role may also involve research, service evaluation and audit. You will be supported to develop your skills in these areas and in addition all of the wards have Higher Assistant Psychologist time and this provides opportunities for the development of skills in supervision.

About us

We aim to attract and retain a diverse, talented and committed workforce, who are caring and compassionate, and therefore able to meet the demands of the modern NHS now and in the future. In return we can offer a dynamic working environment in which to build a career.

We are so delighted you are considering coming to work with us at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW).

We know the power of looking into an organisation, one you might want to work in, or one where you are going to get help, and being able to say, \"I\'ve seen somewhere I can fit in and be myself.\" We\'re on a journey to make the Trust an inclusive employer, representative of the community we serve and we want more of our community to consider applying for jobs with us.

Job responsibilities

Please find attached job description for full details.

Person Specification

Education and Qualification

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and Neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the HCPC and British Psychological Society.
• HCPC registered practitioner psychologist
• An Honours Degree in Psychology recognised for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society, or RMN, or equivalent degree level qualification in mental health and Post-graduate qualifications in psychological assessment and psychological therapy (e.g. Doctorate in Counselling Psychology, Postgraduate diploma in CBT, IAPT High Intensity CBT diploma). HCPC registered practitioner psychologist or equivalent e.g. BABCP registered CBT practitioner. Or Member of an appropriate professional body
• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
• Additional qualification in at least one therapeutic model, evidence-based for use with this client group

Knowledge and Experience

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups relevant to the client group
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinical sensitive information to clients, their family, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex multivariable data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
• Formal training in clinical supervision of trainee clinical psychologists and other staff.
• Substantial post qualification experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, and inpatient settings.
• Demonstrate further specialist training and experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a clinical psychologist over a minimum of 18 months or an alternative agreed by the Associate Psychological Services Director.
• Experience of providing clinical supervision.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.

Skills and Competencies

• Skills in managing emotional impact of dealing with highly emotive and distressing situations through selfmanagement and use of the clinical supervision process.
• Specialist skills in evidence based psychological interventions.
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management.
• Skills in providing clinical supervision and consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.

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.

Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and wear (CNTW) NHS Foundation Trust

£55,690 to £62,682 a year pro rata per annum