Principal Clinical / Counselling Psychologist: Sponsorship Available

Job summary

The post holder will work under the umbrella of the Clinical Health Psychology service across the specialisms of obesity, pain management, limb reconstruction, general medicine and HIV and be responsible for thecontinuing development of the psychological provision in the services and pathways for patients of the Lutonand Dunstable hospital. This will include outpatient clinics with specific emphasis on the areas of pre-bariatric psychological assessment, supervision of clinical teams, and cognitive assessment in the HIV population. A proportion of the workload will be focused on developing the skills of the Luton and Dunstable workforce to enable the provision of stepped, psychologically informed care.

Main duties of the job

The post holder is responsible for the provision of well developed, highly specialist psychological input, particularly those vulnerable to poor health outcomes through poverty and other social inequalities, disabilities and physical health conditions.The post holder is also responsible for the management, development and leadership of staff, including those from different backgrounds and training. The post holder will take delegatedresponsibility for the recruitment, selection and retention of psychological therapists and participate in recruitment processes for other staff. In addition, the post holder will contribute to the investigations of complaints, grievances, capability and disciplinary procedures as required by senior managers.

Psychologically based provision is offered at the individual, group, couple and family level through to teams, systems and community level.The post holder will offer well developed highly specialist psychological assessments, psychological formulations and delivery of psychological interventions to the communities we serve. Service users seen by the post holder will include those who have experienced high levels of distress and highly complex mental health difficulties. Service users may present with a high level of risk to both themselves and sometimes to other people. Assessments and interventions will be primarily delivered within hospital-based settings.

Person Specification

Education / Qualification

Essential

• Post Graduate Doctoral level training in Clinical or Counselling Psychology or equivalent accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• Models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies, three or more supervised clinical placements (including lifespan developmental psychology and mental health specialisms) and research skills.
• Recognised qualification or training in psychotherapy supervision or Clinical supervision training for doctoral clinical /counselling psychology trainees or psychological therapies staff.

Desirable

• Demonstrable engagement with continuing education.

Experience

Essential

• Assessed experience of working as a qualified Clinical or Counselling or Forensic psychologist at a highly specialist level preferably in the NHS or similar public health provider.
• Experience of working as a specialist clinical psychologist in including relevant experience working in a health setting a wide variety of service user groups across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity.
• Experience of teaching, training and supervision in a multi-cultural setting, including working with interpreters with service users..

Desirable

• Staff management, development and leadership, especially in supervising staff from different backgrounds and trainings.
• Ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.

Knowledge

Essential

• The theory and practice of psychological assessment and therapies in relation to treatment of a range of mental health disorders, including SMI, complex mental health within the physical health setting.
• Trust level NHS structures including, clinical governance mechanisms and information governance, legislation in relation to mental health problems and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group.
• The use of risk assessment practice and procedures during the application of standardised assessments and outcome measures.

Desirable

• Routine Outcome measures including PROMs, PREMs and CROMs
• The value of people participation in the delivery and development of services.

Closing Date: 16 November 2026