Senior Clinical / Counselling Psychologist or Preceptorship: Sponsorship Available

Job summary

The Trafford Inpatient Psychology Team has a new and exciting opportunity for a qualified clinical or counselling psychologist. This will be at preceptorship or senior level, dependent upon experience.

Working within two acute mental health wards and a psychiatric intensive care unit for adults of working age, the post holder will be an integral part of the inpatient multidisciplinary team.

We are looking for a person who is enthusiastic about working with patients when they are at their greatest need.

The post holder will support the delivery of psychologically focussed, compassionate and trauma-informed care.

The role will involve direct and indirect work. This will include assessments, formulations and brief psychological interventions with patients, whilst also working with ward teams to develop team formulations and reflective practice.

If working at 8a, the role will involve supervising assistant psychology staff, trainee psychologists and other non-psychology staff in delivering psychosocial interventions.

Main duties of the job

Some of the main duties of the role are to:

Work as an integral part of the inpatient multidisciplinary team to support the delivery of psychological and psychologically informed ways of working.

Develop team formulations to inform care planning on the ward.

Using a range of assessment tools and sources of information complete complex assessments to inform care and support discharge.Link with other services across the care pathways as needed.

Carry a small caseload deliver short, evidence-based psychological intervention, group or individual

Support the wellbeing of staff by running reflective practice sessions and supporting local debriefs after incidents

Line manage and supervise assistant psychologist to deliver structured psychological groups, wellbeing groups and structured one to ones.

Work with ward managers and psychology staff to support psychologically-informed inpatient services.

Person Specification

Education / Qualifications

Essential

• Professional qualification in Clinical or Counselling Psychology at doctoral level (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS. HCPC registration as a qualified Practitioner Psychologist.

Desirable

• Training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological relevance (e.g. staff training, research methodology, and / or other fields of applied psychology)

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the life span and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across a wide range of care settings including community, outpatient and inpatient. This includes 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 working as a psychologist, demonstrating competencies relevant to the position required for Band 8a. Or for the preceptorship post, demonstrable experiences and enthusiasm in working towards the competencies required for an 8a post.
• Experience of providing supervision and training
• Previous experience of delivering structured psychological interventions to clients with severe and complex mental health problems. Experience in risk assessment, formulation and management particularly important.
• Experience in the application of cognitive-behavioural approaches to people with severe and enduring mental health problems.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan.
• Experience of working within a multidisciplinary team.

Desirable

• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Experience of working with families.
• Personal experience of mental health problems.
• Experience of running groups

Knowledge

Essential

• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of psychology.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to clients with complex, severe and enduring mental health problems including Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act.
• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorders, dual diagnoses etc).
• Evidence of CPD as recommended by BPS & KSF

Desirable

• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists

Skills and Abilities

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, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Ability to organise time effectively.
• Ability to use own initiative and to work under supervision where appropriate.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professionals and non-professional groups.
• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team and to liaise effectively with other professionals.
• Ability to provide rapid psychological assessment and brief psychological interventions. Especially in the management of risk.
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• 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 behaviour.
• Ability to demonstrate GMMH Trust values within the workplace.
• There is an occasional requirement to travel across the wide footprint of the Trust to attend meetings and events relevant to the role.

Closing Date: 8 September 2026