Counselling Psychologist jobs in United Kingdom

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 08 December 2025

This is an exciting opportunity for a newly (or soon to be) qualified band 7 psychological therapist to work in the London Women’s Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) Service. This is a London Pathways Partnership (LPP) service, led by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with CNWL NHS Foundation Trust and Together for Mental Wellbeing.

MHTRs aim to reduce custodial sentences, improve wellbeing and address mental health needs associated with offending. MHTRs were introduced by the Criminal Justice Act in 2003, recognising that for many individuals who offend, mental health and substance misuse issues underpin their offending behaviour. This service aims to increase the use of MHTRs as part of a community sentence. The London Women’s MHTR Service provides a primary‑care level service and is also one of three pilot secondary care sites, testing pathways into secondary care services for individuals. The successful individual will have the opportunity to work across both services.

If you would like to know more about this exciting opportunity, please contact Dr Lorna Fallon, Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Service Lead (lorna.fallon2@nhs.net).

The post-holder will work according to national MHTR guidance and local procedures. The role will include:

• Assessment of women prior to sentencing to consider suitability for an MHTR
• Holding a caseload and providing short‑term psychological interventions for those that are sentenced to an MHTR
• Liaison with stakeholders including probation colleagues, court staff and secondary care mental health services
• Supervision of prequalified staff including trainees and assistant psychologists, and supervision of qualified staff dependent on experience
• Involvement in service research, audits and development

London Pathways Partnership (LPP) is committed to providing a comprehensive training package to all staff in order to promote continuing professional development. Recent training events have focused on structured professional judgement tools, cultural competency and resilience. The service also provides opportunities for developing specialism in particular aspects of service delivery, e.g. working with women or young people, or promoting trauma‑informed approaches.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

For further information about the advertised role, please refer to the job description & person specification included in the documents section of this advert.

• Doctoral level training in clinical, counselling or forensic psychology or its equivalent, accredited by the BPS. Training in models of developmental lifespan psychology, psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology and two or more distinct psychological therapies
• HCPC Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• OR : A recognised post graduate qualification in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy (or equivalent). o Accreditation with the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP) (via having a recognised qualification in one of the core mental health professions e.g. nursing, psychology, medicine, social work, occupational therapy or evidence of having achieved the Knowledge Skills and Attitudes (KSA) route)
• OR: A recorded/registered qualification in counselling or psychotherapy and further post accreditation qualification in a NICE recommended or evidence‑based therapy (e.g. CBT; EMDR) o Accreditation with a Professional Standards Authority recognised Accreditation Body.
• Other relevant CPD qualifications, pre‑ or post‑training. Especially training in working with people with trauma presentations, research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
• Training in more than one psychological therapy.

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
• 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. Maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
• Experience working with and delivering psychological therapy to those with a diagnosis of personality disorder and/or a history of selfharm and substance misuse and experience of working with complex trauma.
• Experience of delivering brief, primary care, CBT interventions or equivalent
• Experience of working effectively in multidisciplinary settings
• Experience of teaching and training.
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural and specialist contexts.
• Experience of working in secure settings, either prison or secure hospitals.
• Experience of working with service‑users to develop peer facilitated support or treatment initiatives.
• Experience of using a trauma informed approach.
• Experience in supervising others in the delivery of psychological therapy.

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Skills in providing training, advice and psychological information and consultation to other professional and non‑professional groups
• High level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Broad knowledge of models of assessment, management and treatment of mentally disordered and PD offenders.
• Ability to work intensively with people who present challenges in the complexity of their problems and needs, including sexual and violent offending and self‑harming and suicidal behaviours.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses).
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi‑media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
• Willingness to work flexibly to meet demands of contracts, commissioners and other stakeholders to provide high‑quality and effective care.
• Good understanding of the current context of service provision within the NHS.
• Ability to work in a secure environment, in line with HMPS policy and procedure - and to achieve and maintain enhanced security clearance
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.

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.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

£56,276 to £63,176 a year per annum incl. HCAS