Band 7/8A Practitioner Psychologist Preceptorship - Secure CAMHS

Job summary

A rare and exciting vacancy has arisen for a passionate and highly motivated band 7/8a Practitioner Psychologist to join our Secure CAMHS team.

The Secure CAMHS (SCAMHS) service sits within the Ardenleigh site and offers treatment for up to 11 young people, across two wards. It has received accreditations from QNIC and the National Autistic Society and a quality review in June 2024 highlighted strengths in a positive team culture, great relationships between young people and staff and comprehensive therapeutic provision.

The young people we work with have often experienced significant difficulties in their lives and presentations include trauma, mental illness, personality difficulties, neurodevelopment difficulties and harm to self and/or others. As a team psychologist, you will work alongside a range of professionals, providing safe, containing environments and interventions to help the young people understand themselves, their mental health and offending behaviour. Within the role you will have opportunities to provide individual and group interventions, supervision and management of others, and be involved in training, service development, audit and evaluation.

Main duties of the job

The service has a strong multi-disciplinary team ethos, in which psychology is well established and respected. It is committed to providing the best care for young people, and as such service user involvement and co-production are central to what we do. Recently, alongside service users and family members, the team co-wrote an article looking at a group written and delivered by young people and the experiences of having a child in a secure hospital.

As a service we are committed to supporting our staff to have a positive experience of their time at work. We acknowledge that working within the Ardenleigh site can be challenging, so you will have access to a range of wellbeing support. You will be joining a large and diverse psychological therapies team within the division, consisting of clinical and forensic psychologists, arts therapists, specialist psychological practitioners and assistant psychologists. There will be opportunities to collaborate across the division in strategic working groups. As a division we are also committed to investing in staff and you will have opportunities for training, mentoring, supervision and career development.

If you are passionate about working with young people who present with complex trauma and risk to self and others and can compassionately challenge systems and staff to be better, hold integrity and connect with the people around you, we hope that you speak to us and apply.

About us

Welcome to Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Our 4000 clinical and support staff help us to improve mental health wellbeing and meet the needs of the 70,000 people we serve each year. We provide a range of mental healthcare services across Birmingham and Solihull, as well as specialised services nationally. We also offer medical, nursing and psychology training and are proud of our international reputation for both research and innovation.

Our population is culturally diverse, characterised in places by high levels of deprivation which create an increasing demand for our services and a necessity for us to make sure everyone can access the help they need. We are a team of compassionate, inclusive and committed people working together to provide excellent care to support our community. If you are looking for a place to belong, where you can make a real difference to people's lives, join our team where our warm welcome is waiting for you.

Details

Date posted

11 December 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £62,682 a year per annum, pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

436-7639605

Job locations

Ardenleigh

Birmingham

B24 9SA

Job description

Job responsibilities

For further information about the main responsibilities please view the attached job description and person specification.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For further information about the main responsibilities please view the attached job description and person specification.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Satisfactory completion of a British Psychological Society accredited Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training course in clinical/forensic psychology completion of which includes the study of models of psychopathology, psychometric and neuropsychological assessment, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Eligibility for entry onto the Register of Chartered Psychologists

Experience

Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and individual and group based treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including primary and secondary/ specialist care and inpatient/residential, outpatient and community team settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, including forensic contexts with clients of all ages across the lifespan and of wide-ranging presenting problems that reflect the full spectrum of clinical complexity and severity.

Desirable

• Experience of working therapeutically with 'difficult to treat' clients.
• oExperience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.

Knowledge

Essential

• Skills commensurate with doctoral level training in the formulation of problems from a psychological perspective and in the implementation of highly specialist psychological therapies, interventions and management techniques that are appropriate for use with complex presenting problems. Able to deliver established/evidenced based psychological therapy to fidelity.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) including the ability to empathically, sensitively and effectively communicate clinical and condition related information to clients, their families, carers and professional colleagues (within and outside the NHS) that is extremely complicated or technical; extremely sensitive and potentially distressing to the recipient; or that is extremely contentious or challenging.
• Skills in providing consultation and advice from a psychological perspective to members of other professional and non-professional groups.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific 'difficult to treat' groups (e.g. personality disorder, challenging behaviour, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).

Personal

Essential

• Ability to interact and to build and sustain relationships with people with mental health problems and associated disabilities
• Is a 'team player' and has demonstrated ability to work and deliver to team and organisational objectives

Other

Essential

• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
• Awareness and understanding of the purpose and mechanisms of clinical governance and an ability to employ such mechanisms to maintain and improve standards of clinical practice

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Satisfactory completion of a British Psychological Society accredited Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training course in clinical/forensic psychology completion of which includes the study of models of psychopathology, psychometric and neuropsychological assessment, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Eligibility for entry onto the Register of Chartered Psychologists

Experience

Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and individual and group based treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including primary and secondary/ specialist care and inpatient/residential, outpatient and community team settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, including forensic contexts with clients of all ages across the lifespan and of wide-ranging presenting problems that reflect the full spectrum of clinical complexity and severity.

Desirable

• Experience of working therapeutically with 'difficult to treat' clients.
• oExperience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.

Knowledge

Essential

• Skills commensurate with doctoral level training in the formulation of problems from a psychological perspective and in the implementation of highly specialist psychological therapies, interventions and management techniques that are appropriate for use with complex presenting problems. Able to deliver established/evidenced based psychological therapy to fidelity.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) including the ability to empathically, sensitively and effectively communicate clinical and condition related information to clients, their families, carers and professional colleagues (within and outside the NHS) that is extremely complicated or technical; extremely sensitive and potentially distressing to the recipient; or that is extremely contentious or challenging.
• Skills in providing consultation and advice from a psychological perspective to members of other professional and non-professional groups.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific 'difficult to treat' groups (e.g. personality disorder, challenging behaviour, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).

Personal

Essential

• Ability to interact and to build and sustain relationships with people with mental health problems and associated disabilities
• Is a 'team player' and has demonstrated ability to work and deliver to team and organisational objectives

Other

Essential

• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
• Awareness and understanding of the purpose and mechanisms of clinical governance and an ability to employ such mechanisms to maintain and improve standards of clinical practice

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Additional information

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Ardenleigh

Birmingham

B24 9SA

Employer's website

https://www.bsmhft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Ardenleigh

Birmingham

B24 9SA

Employer's website

https://www.bsmhft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)