Job Summary
Serving people with learning disabilities in the London Borough of Harrow, within the Harrow Community Learning Disabilities Service.
This is an integrated health and social care multidisciplinary service.
The service also works collaboratively with other local health and social care provider services who work with adults with learning disabilities, who also access mainstream services to ensure that outcomes are met.
The post holder will provide specialist clinical service to adults with learning disability and their families/carers including specialist assessments and implement specialist psychological interventions.
The post holder will facilitate a key role in contributing to the continuing development of the overall psychology service within the team.
The postholder will manage their individual defined caseload including complex cases independently, evidencing problem solving and clinical reasoning skills in line with evidence based and client-centred principles.
You will be involved in clinical research and development of the varied pathways as deemed appropriate.
Main duties of the job
1. Ensure a high standard of psychological clinical care for the clients and families within Harrow with diagnosis of LD
2. Play a key role in the advanced assessment and treatment of clients who may also have acute, chronic or complex presentation and determine clinical diagnosis and intervention required
3. Ability to assess clients’ needs and signpost to other services as appropriate and work as an autonomous practitioner
4. Communicate effectively within the health and social care multi-agencies settings regarding client care and treatment plans
5. Communicate with other MDT members within the team and wider SMT regarding policies,service development and management plans
6. Undertake a significant clinical caseload working under supervision in collaboration with other agencies and health and social care professionals
7. Ensure there is robust clinical supervisory structures for more junior psychologists including in training.
Person Specification
Education and Qualification
Essential
- Postgraduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS
- Clinical supervision training for Doctoral trainees and qualified Clinical Psychologists after 2 years qualified
- Eligibility for graduate membership of BPS
- HCPC registration
Desirable
- Relevant specialist training or qualifications e.g. CBT, systemic therapies, neuropsychology, etc.
Experience
Essential
- Relevant experience in the assessment and diagnosis within Learning Disabilities
- Significant experience of working clinically as a qualified Clinical or Counselling Psychologist with adults with a diagnosis of Learning Disabilities
- Deliver at least two evidence-based psychological therapy adapted for people with learning disabilities (e.g., CBT, ACT, PBS)
- Experience of risk assessment and risk management, including safeguarding adults and MAPPA interfaces where relevant
- Integrate multiple models into complex formulations
- Knowledge of trauma-informed practice and neurodiverse-informed care
- Providing supervision and consultation to Clinical/Counselling Psychologists both qualified and in training and to Assistant Psychologists and other professionals
- Broad experience of delivering teaching and training
- Undertaking research, service evaluations and ongoing audit activity in addition to advising and supervising others’ research and audit activities
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Use a high level of interpersonal and communication skills to convey and receive highly complex/sensitive information effectively, requiring empathy and reassurance in highly emotive, sometimes hostile atmospheres
- Undertake comprehensive psychological assessments, interpret highly complex material, construct psychological formulations, develop specialised individualised intervention plans, and monitor and evaluate the intervention appropriately
- Communicate highly technical, sensitive material verbally and in writing to clients, their families, carers, and other professionals within and outside the NHS
- Tolerate direct exposure to highly distressing/emotionally demanding situations and interactions
- Work collaboratively in multidisciplinary settings
- Make clinical and service-related judgements involving complex facts requiring analysis, interpretation and comparison of several options
- Critically evaluate, disseminate and apply research evidence relating to clinical effectiveness and service development
- Knowledge of positive behaviour support (PBS) frameworks and implementation in community settings
- Formulate solutions, plan and organise a range of clinical or service-related activities and programmes which impact across services / agencies
- Act based on own interpretation of clinical/ professional / organisational / occupational policies which impact the Learning Disabilities team and other services, seeking advice as necessary
- Responsibility for the development of specific service initiatives within the Learning Disabilities Team
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.
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).
Closing Date: 26 May 2026
