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Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
About
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) is one of the largest trusts in the UK, caring for people with a wide range of physical and mental health needs. We have approximately 7,000 staff who provide healthcare to a third of London's population and across wider geographical areas, including Milton Keynes, Kent, Surrey and Hampshire.
As a Foundation Trust we involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run and our future development. If you are interested in becoming a member of our Foundation Trust please visit: www.cnwl.nhs.uk
(source: Central and North West London NHS Foundation NHS Trust website)
Senior Psychologist
Accepting applications until: 18-Jun-2026 23:59
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 18-Jun-2026 23:59
Key details
Location
- Site
- HMP Woodhill
- Address
- HMP Woodhill
- Town
- Milton Keynes
- Postcode
- MK4 4DA
- Major / Minor Region
- London
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Salary
- Salary
- £57,528 - £64,750 Per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS AfC: Band 8a)
Specialty
- Main area
- Health & Justice
CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.
Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference. We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.
We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.
We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page
Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.
CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.
Job overview
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust is a Top Employer Award Winner and works in partnership to provide responsive and dependable primary care, mental health, intellectual disability and substance misuse services to the diverse and culturally rich communities we serve.
In our quest to deliver patient-focused quality care we are looking to recruit a highly motivated, innovative and enthusiastic Senior Psychologist to join our forward thinking, friendly and expanding Mental Health Team at HMP Woodhill. By joining our Prison Health Care Team, you will not only look after the healthcare needs of the prisoners, but will also have the opportunity to have a real impact on promoting health and well-being. We are keen to recruit someone with a passion for working with people in custody, and those who have experienced trauma, adversity and offending.
Working in partnership with the criminal justice system and other agencies, we provide responsive, dependable and high-quality primary care and mental health services to those in prison, to improve their health status and to encourage social inclusion.
We strive to deliver a culturally competent and responsive service that can meet the needs of our population. We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds, especially from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.
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To provide a key role in integrating clinical psychology within the wider mental health team.
To provide a comprehensive specialist clinical psychology service to service users.
To provide specialist psychological assessment and therapy as well as offering advice and consultation on service users’ psychological care to other members of the clinical team.
To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the service’s policies and procedures.
To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the Health & Justice Services Directorate.
To provide clinical supervision to other members of the team when appropriate.
To contribute to the reflective practice and critical thinking of the team on a case-by-case basis (e.g. complex case reviews) and in service improvement.
Working for our organisation
CNWL’s Health and Justice Services are led by a highly motivated team with vast experience in healthcare within secure environments. We employ a range of psychologists and psychological therapists with clinical, counselling and forensic trainings. Psychologists work within the mental health services in numerous sites, across prisons, YOIs and secure hospitals, with children and adults, men and women and across the range of security categories. Psychologists also lead four specialist Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) commissioned services and Sexual Behaviour Services in the youth estate.
Joining a large, forward-thinking Trust will bring successful candidates excellent development opportunities, an exciting career structure, and job satisfaction. Psychologists from across Health and Justice come together for professional and clinical development. High quality supervision and continuing professional development are integral to our approach and to our intent to support and retain an excellent team. Focused training which contributes to your own development and to our service development will be supported.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To carry out specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the service, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care, in order to reach a psychological formulation of the client’s difficulties.
To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
To provide specialist assessments of clients presenting with cognitive impairment due to a variety of causes or organic conditions, including pre-assessment counselling and neuropsychological and functional assessments, and to be able to adjust psychological interventions to work effectively with people presenting with complex needs due to cognitive impairment and organic disorders.
To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulations, diagnoses and treatment plans.
To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.
To undertake risk assessment, formulation and management for individual clients with complex presentations and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment, formulation and management.
To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
To promote and participate in multi-disciplinary team working, development and liaison.
To promote actively, user and carer involvement in care planning and service development.
To be up to date with both de-escalation, physical breakaway and PMVA techniques appropriate to the service environment
Applicant requirements
Person specification
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level training in clinical, forensic or counselling psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, equivalent to that accredited by the BPS.
- Evidence of post-qualification specialist training, experience and developing expertise in a specialist area of clinical practice relevant to this role
- HCPC Registered as a practitioner psychologist
Desirable criteria
- Pre- or Post-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
Essential criteria
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including 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 representing psychology within context of multidisciplinary care.
- Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
- Experience or demonstrable knowledge of working with the particular client group served by the team/service
- Knowledge of guidance and legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnosis, people with additional disabilities etc)
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
- High level knowledge and skills in neuropsychology and evidence of further practice and/or training since qualification
- Formal Training in Supervision of other psychologists.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in secure environments and/or forensic mental health.
- Experience of using a trauma informed approach
- Lived experience of mental health Issues
SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES
Essential criteria
- 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, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
- Possesses range of clinical knowledge, skills & information technology expertise relevant to post.
- Can demonstrate competence in supervision of junior qualified psychology and MDT staff and professional psychology trainees.
- 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 mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Broad knowledge of models of assessment, management, and treatment of offenders with mental health difficulties and personality disorders.
- Ability to work intensively with people who present challenges in the complexity of their problems and needs, including sexual and violent offending and self-harming and suicidal behaviours
- High level of ability to plan and organise clinical service provision to meet service demands, and to maintain high quality professional practice
- Evidence of continual development of specialist knowledge and skills through engaging in relevant study and Continuing Professional Development relevant to the forensic population
- Experience of software e.g. SPSS, Excel
Desirable criteria
- Ability to write reports for varied audiences, including courts and purchasers of services.
ATTITUDES, APTITUDES PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
Essential criteria
- Excellent interpersonal skills.
- Commitment to multidisciplinary team working
Other
Essential criteria
- Ability to work in a secure environment. Must be able to obtain and maintain prison security clearance and work in accordance with HMPS and Sodexo policies and procedures
- Ability to travel across sites
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Nicola Thomas
- Job title
- Lead Psychologist for Health & Justice
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Additional information
We are a friendly team and are really keen to find the right person for this role. We therefore encourage any prospective candidate to contact us for a discussion, with any questions and/or to book an informal visit, thank you.
You can also find more information on our services and the work we do within the Health & Justice Directorate please do take a look at our new website https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/health-and-justice
Any enquires please contact Dr Nicola Thomas: Lead Psychologist for Health & Justice [email protected]
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