Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Job summary

Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Are you passionate about transforming mental health services to meet local need? Do you have a track record of community capacity building and leading co-productions with community partners? Do you want to join a dynamic, experienced and forward thinking psychology leadership team in Newham that makes a real difference to people's lives? If so, we want to hear from you.

We are looking to appoint an enthusiastic Clinical or Counselling Psychologist with relevant post-qualification experience of working in Community Mental Health Teams to undertake a leadership role in our community transformation work. The post holder would be working with service managers, psychological therapies workforce and primary care networks as well as local community organisations and people participation leads to take forward the vision for broader mental health transformation as well as the move to a more community psychology focus in delivery of psychological interventions within community settings.

Main duties of the job

The role requires a skilled clinician who can work both directly as well as indirectly to provide a range of clinical services and to manage and support psychology staff including senior psychologists, Clinical Associate Psychologists, Assistant Psychologists and other psychological professionals. You should have experience of working with service users with complex mental health including dual diagnosis and/or Autistic Spectrum Disorder presentations. Additionally, you will be familiar with the needs of local community of Newham and challenges of working with wider social determinants of health.

You would be joining a dynamic psychological professionals' department within secondary care in Newham which offers a variety of evidence based interventions, as well as values practice based evidence, adapted therapies and co-production. You will have access to clinical supervision and professional management support from the Consultant Psychological Lead, and operational management support from a Senior Manager in community services

About us

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking fo people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Details

Date posted

25 November 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£70,396 to £80,837 a year per annum Inc HCAs

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

363-NEW7556115

Job locations

CIMHS South/CRT South

117 Balaam St

London

E13 8AF

Job description

Job responsibilities

For full details of the role, please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For full details of the role, please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification.

Person Specification

Education/Qualification/Training

Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology
• HCPC registration
• Clinical supervision training of doctoral trainees

Desirable

• Management/Leadership training
• Additional relevant training (Community Psychology, Narrative Therapy, Family Therapy, EMDR, Schema Therapy)

Experience

Essential

• Experience of work in a multi-cultural setting, including working with interpreters.
• Experience of developing relationships with a range of community stakeholders towards the co-development of service provision
• Assessed experience of working as a qualified Clinical or Counselling psychologist at a highly specialist level, or assessed experience of working as a qualified psychotherapist, preferably in the NHS or similar public health provider.
• Experience of working in community mental health services and multidisciplinary settings
• Highly developed communication skills at overcoming barriers to understanding and acceptance.
• Skills in providing advice and consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Working knowledge of the practices and approaches of other key disciplines, professions and agencies involved in the care and management network, including medical, employment, social, educational and criminal justice systems.
• Supervision of MDT staff in Recovery Model approaches
• The use of QI or other improvement methodology in clinical settings
• The operational delivery of integrated care pathways
• The application of the Care Act (2015), Mental Capacity Act (2007), Mental Health Act (2007)

Knowledge

Essential

• the principles and practice of clinical governance, clinical audit and research methodology
• Sufficient knowledge of other modalities to engage appropriately with colleagues and their work with service users
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Current mental health legislation and initiatives, including NHS policies and procedures and Health & Safety issues
• a range of psychological therapies
• Community Psychology models and approaches
• psychological assessment and treatment
• Knowledge of local communities in Newham

Other

Essential

• Ability to travel independently across sites as required Ability to identify and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviours. Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours. Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings. Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and able to hold the stress of others. Ability to remain in constrained positions for substantial proportion of working time. Ability to concentrate intensively for substantial periods of time during patient contact, teaching/supervision sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc. Ability to produce high quality professional results to specified deadlines and other time constraints. Ability to manage effectively frequent exposure to highly distressing/emotional circumstances. Ability to manage effectively verbal aggression and abuse from patients, carers etc, and the risk of physical aggression. Ability to work creatively, co-operatively, reliably and consistently as an independent practitioner, as a mentor and supervisor, and in multi-disciplinary and team settings. Demonstrably respectful approach to patients, carers, colleagues, other professionals and professional contacts. Willingness to negotiate and ability to handle confrontation effectively and professionally.

Desirable

• Ability to speak an additional local community language (eg Somali, Sylheti/Bengali, Hindi, Urdu) Budget Management

Person Specification

Education/Qualification/Training

Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology
• HCPC registration
• Clinical supervision training of doctoral trainees

Desirable

• Management/Leadership training
• Additional relevant training (Community Psychology, Narrative Therapy, Family Therapy, EMDR, Schema Therapy)

Experience

Essential

• Experience of work in a multi-cultural setting, including working with interpreters.
• Experience of developing relationships with a range of community stakeholders towards the co-development of service provision
• Assessed experience of working as a qualified Clinical or Counselling psychologist at a highly specialist level, or assessed experience of working as a qualified psychotherapist, preferably in the NHS or similar public health provider.
• Experience of working in community mental health services and multidisciplinary settings
• Highly developed communication skills at overcoming barriers to understanding and acceptance.
• Skills in providing advice and consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Working knowledge of the practices and approaches of other key disciplines, professions and agencies involved in the care and management network, including medical, employment, social, educational and criminal justice systems.
• Supervision of MDT staff in Recovery Model approaches
• The use of QI or other improvement methodology in clinical settings
• The operational delivery of integrated care pathways
• The application of the Care Act (2015), Mental Capacity Act (2007), Mental Health Act (2007)

Knowledge

Essential

• the principles and practice of clinical governance, clinical audit and research methodology
• Sufficient knowledge of other modalities to engage appropriately with colleagues and their work with service users
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Current mental health legislation and initiatives, including NHS policies and procedures and Health & Safety issues
• a range of psychological therapies
• Community Psychology models and approaches
• psychological assessment and treatment
• Knowledge of local communities in Newham

Other

Essential

• Ability to travel independently across sites as required Ability to identify and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviours. Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours. Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings. Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and able to hold the stress of others. Ability to remain in constrained positions for substantial proportion of working time. Ability to concentrate intensively for substantial periods of time during patient contact, teaching/supervision sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc. Ability to produce high quality professional results to specified deadlines and other time constraints. Ability to manage effectively frequent exposure to highly distressing/emotional circumstances. Ability to manage effectively verbal aggression and abuse from patients, carers etc, and the risk of physical aggression. Ability to work creatively, co-operatively, reliably and consistently as an independent practitioner, as a mentor and supervisor, and in multi-disciplinary and team settings. Demonstrably respectful approach to patients, carers, colleagues, other professionals and professional contacts. Willingness to negotiate and ability to handle confrontation effectively and professionally.

Desirable

• Ability to speak an additional local community language (eg Somali, Sylheti/Bengali, Hindi, Urdu) Budget Management

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

East London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

CIMHS South/CRT South

117 Balaam St

London

E13 8AF

Employer's website

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

Employer details

Employer name

East London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

CIMHS South/CRT South

117 Balaam St

London

E13 8AF

Employer's website

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