Principal Clinical Psychologist

Job summary

We have an exciting opportunity for a suitability qualified and experienced clinician to join our expanding team. The successful candidate with have experience working with children, young people and their families and will have developed an area of specialist interest relevant to the clinical area. In particular we are keen to hear from candidates who have interest and therapeutic expertise in attachment and developmental trauma or neurodiversity.

We are a friendly and supportive team of Clinical Psychologists aiming to deliver high quality and innovative psychological solutions with service users through consultation, parent workshops, individual, systemic/family, and group work. We offer a range of psychological therapies including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Eye movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Video Interactive Guidance (VIG), Theraplay, Family Therapy.

Main duties of the job

As a senior clinician in our service you will take a lead in an area of clinical provision and develop that aspect of the service. You will be well supported in this work - our service has an excellent track record of supporting clinician's in their development; we have a robust pathway for supervision in place locally and access to a number of peer support/supervision groups across the network for more specialist therapies and interests ( EMDR, neuropsychology). We support training opportunities relevant to the service and individual CPD requirements.

You will offer supervision to more junior staff and contribute to the broader aims of leadership activity through audit/research, consultation and teaching. We have good links with the North West Clinical Training courses and encourage staff to offer core and specialist placements. All clinical psychologists have an agreed Job Plan which protects their core clinical commitments and allocated time for agreed projects.

This post is advertised as ours ( We would consider applications from clinicians looking for fewer hours. We aim to be a supportive and flexible service and working pattern can be negotiated.

About us

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

For more details on this vacancy please review the attached job description and person specification.

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

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

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.

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