Specialist / Highly Specialist Applied Psychologist

NHS; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization seeks two Applied Psychologists to join a multidisciplinary team supporting adopted children and their families in the North East of England. This role focuses on providing psychological assessments and interventions for children aged 4 to 11 affected by trauma and attachment issues. Candidates should have a doctoral qualification in psychology and experience working with children in a clinical setting. This is a fixed-term position until March 2026, with potential for permanence pending funding review.

Qualifications

• Experience working with children and families is essential.
• Ability to work within multidisciplinary teams.
• Knowledge of risk assessment and management.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychological assessments and interventions.
• Support children experiencing adoption challenges.
• Engage with multi-agency partnerships for holistic care.

Skills

Communication

Teamwork

Psychometric testing

Education

Doctoral level training in psychology

HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist

Supervised practice in evidence-based therapy

Job description

We are seeking to appoint two enthusiastic and suitably experienced Applied Psychologists to work within an innovative multidisciplinary and multiagency service with close links to the Regional Adoption Agencies across the North East of England, supporting adopted children and their families.

These posts are initially fixed term until March 2026, however, a funding review is due in autumn 2025 which we anticipate will lead to these posts becoming permanently funded.

Main duties of the job

The posts will involve working in the community within the newly developed multidisciplinary team to provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation and interventions to children and their families seeking adoption support.

The team works with children aged between 4 and 11 years who request adoption support regarding behaviours which may be indicative of neurodiversity and/or attachment and trauma, and which have resulted in emerging difficulties in education, peer relations and the adoptive home and which, without intervention, are likely to escalate in severity and complexity.

About us

There is a strong Psychology network across the Trust and within the CAMHS directorate.

Psychologists & Psychological Therapists provide key leadership roles within the Trust.

Job responsibilities

We are looking for a highly motivated and reflective applied psychologists who have both passion for, and experience of working with, young people and their families.

Experience of working with children and families is important, as well as the ability to work effectively within the multi-disciplinary team and with our multi-agency partner organisations.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Post-graduate training (doctoral level equivalent) in clinical / counselling / forensic psychology (or its equivalent prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS
• HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist
• Post-graduate qualification showing evidence of supervised practice in an evidence-based psychological therapeutic model

Experience

• Working as a qualified applied psychologist including a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and a range of clinical severity across a range of care settings.
• Teaching, training and clinical supervision and field supervisor for doctoral theses.
• Experience working with children with complex developmental trauma and/or attachment difficulties

Knowledge

• Evidence- based practice relevant to the role
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
• Risk assessment and risk management

Skills

• Communicate highly complex and highly sensitive information effectively, to a wide range of people
• Work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team and undertake care co-ordination/lead practitioner responsibilities
• Utilise psychometric tests competently

We are an Equal Opportunities Employer and we welcome applications from all sections of the community, particularly from underrepresented groups.