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Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

About

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) provides integrated community and mental health, learning disability and social care services of the highest standard due to our continued commitment to quality and service improvement. We aim to support people of all ages to achieve the very best they can for their health and well being. To ensure that we achieve this goal we look to recruit candidates of a high calibre that share our passion for delivering excellent service user care, research and education.

Contact

Address: Elizabeth House; Fulbourn Hospital; Fulbourn; Cambridge; Cambridgeshire; CB21 5EF
Contact Number: 0800 953 7016

Find out more

Jobs Website

Open

Ref: 310-MOPAC-7084741-E Vacancy ID: 7577931

Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Accepting applications until: 10-Nov-2025 23:59

Vacancy status: Open

Accepting applications until: 10-Nov-2025 23:59

Location

Site: City Care Centre
Address: Thorpe Road
Town: Peterborough
Postcode: PE3 6DB
Major / Minor Region: Cambridgeshire

Contract type & working pattern

Contract: Permanent: Secondment would be considered
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday)

Salary

Salary: £64,455 - £74,896 per annum pro rata
Salary period: Yearly
Grade: (Band 8b)

Specialty

Main area: Psychology

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities

Clinically there is the opportunity to work with: anxiety of all different aetiologies, depression, psychosis, eating disorders, trauma survivors, emotional dysregulation, amongst other functional conditions, as well as people living with dementia.
The variety of clinical work is delivered individually, with family and other care ‘systems’, in consultation with our Trust colleagues and we deliver therapeutic groups to meet patient needs. The service also provides some remote appointments.
The service has a good history of providing further development opportunities for clinicians to evolve their skill sets through formal training and supporting individual clinician's special interests.
The qualified Clinical Psychologist (registered with the Health and Care Professions Council) will have extensive experience of working in a variety of mental health settings. In particular, they will have experience of working with older people with mental health problems, within community multi-disciplinary team.
They will provide clinical supervision and have delegated management responsibilities in the service. Interventions provided by the post holder will be on an individual or a group basis, utilising enhanced clinical skills.

Here at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) we are dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion. We deliver many of the NHS services that are provided outside of hospital and in the community such as physical, mental health and specialist services.

We are a health and social care organisation, offering a wide range of services, including:

Integrated physical and mental health services for adults and older people;
Specialist mental health and learning disability services;
Children and young people’s mental health services;
Children’s community services in Peterborough;
Social care;
Ground-breaking research

We strongly encourage applications from all sections of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people and members of our ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ communities. For further information about our positive equality, diversity and Inclusion work, please visit https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/equalityanddiversity.

CPFT is looking to build upon its pool of temporary workers with Temporary Staffing Services (TSS). You will be asked at interview if you would be willing to register with TSS. This is an excellent opportunity for those looking to take on additional hours that are flexible around your personal circumstances.

Please be advised that in line with the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List, 2020 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust currently are unable to accept applications from overseas candidates whose country of residence is classed as a ‘Red List’ country.

Applicants who require entry into the UK will be required to provide a valid police certificate from the relevant authority from each country (except the UK) where the applicant has been present for 12 months or more, 10 years before the date of visa application, while aged 18 or over.

If you are successful at interview you will be subject to pre-employment checks, including a DBS (if appropriate), references and Occupational Health. To ensure a smooth process please bring all identity documents to your interview. A list of required identity documents will be attached to your interview invitation.

All communications will be sent to you via TRAC Systems. By applying for this post you are agreeing to CPFT transferring the information contained in this application to TRAC. If you are made an offer, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Person specification

Education/Qualification

Essential criteria

Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS
Education to include specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
Registration with Health Professions Council as a Clinical or counselling psychologist.

Desirable criteria

Chartered Clinical Psychologist
Undertaken post-doctoral training in one or more relevant additional specialised areas of psychological practice.

Experience

Essential criteria

Experience of working as a qualified Specialist Clinical Psychologist within mental health setting(s).
Experience of working with a wide variety of clients, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity.
Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified CPA care coordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan.
Experience of teaching, professional and clinical supervision including at least three trainee clinical psychologists.

Desirable criteria

Experience of working as a qualified psychologist with older people with mental health problems.
Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
Experience of leadership in a clinical context

Skills & Abilities

Essential criteria

Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation, intervention and management.
Skills in individual and group work and in programme planning
Planning and organising skills for caseload management.
Skills in self-management, including time-management
Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively highly technical, and clinically sensitive information, including contentious and highly distressing information both orally and in writing. To communicate to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
Competent keyboard skills.
Able to contain and work with high levels of distress from clients. Interpersonally calm and able to defuse difficult, volatile situations.
Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours

Knowledge & Understanding

Essential criteria

Good understanding of other professionals’ theoretical perspectives of this client group.
Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and HCPC.
Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms, including regular supervision, for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.

Desirable criteria

Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies