Clinical/Forensic/Counselling Psychologist
At a glance
- Band
- Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Pattern
- Part-time
- Posted
- 11/09/2026
- Closes
- 24/09/2026
Sponsorship verdict
This contract type is not eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship.
NHS Trusts cannot issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for part-time, bank, locum, zero-hours, job-share or short fixed-term (under 12 months) contracts under current Home Office rules. This applies even when the wider Trust holds a Skilled Worker licence.
Role summary
This role supports the delivery of mental health care within prison settings, focusing on New Models of Care. The post holder will provide specialist psychological assessment and therapy to patients, offering advice and consultation to colleagues. Key responsibilities include working autonomously within professional guidelines and contributing to service development through research skills. The role also involves supervising unqualified psychology staff and supporting senior staff.
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, health psychology or counselling psychology
- HCPC registration
Desirable criteria
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
- EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE
- Experience of working within a forensic setting/service (ideally prison environment) either in a B7 role, or as a trainee. Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across a range of care settings, which can include outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient 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 emotive and distressing problems and where there is a history of violence. Experience of teaching, training and providing supervision.
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across a range of care settings, which can include outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient 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 emotive and distressing problems and where there is a history of violence.
- Experience of teaching, training and providing supervision.
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts. Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
- SKILLS AND ABILITIES
- 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.
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Able to contain, explore and formulate an understanding of high levels of distress both directly with patients and indirectly via supervision or case reviews with other staff.
- Skill in the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in working with mentally disordered offenders.
- Trained in the ADOS/ADI-R
- Formal training in supervision.
- EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, health psychology or counselling psychology
- HCPC registration
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
- EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE
- Experience of working within a forensic setting/service (ideally prison environment) either in a B7 role, or as a trainee. Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across a range of care settings, which can include outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient 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 emotive and distressing problems and where there is a history of violence. Experience of teaching, training and providing supervision.
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across a range of care settings, which can include outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient 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 emotive and distressing problems and where there is a history of violence.
- Experience of teaching, training and providing supervision.
- Experience of the application of psychology in d
Useful to know
Agenda for Change 2024/25 pays Band 7 at £46,148 – £52,809 a year, across England.
This advert: £58,133 – £65,261 — outside the standard scale; check for HCAS/London weighting.
Posted 1d ago · Closes in 13d
Plenty of time to prepare a strong application.
Full advert · preview
North London NHS Foundation Trust
Clinical/Forensic/Counselling Psychologist
The closing date is 24 September 2026
Job summary
The post holder will be required to support the delivery of care currently in the form of New Models of Care, enabling the service to meet the London Wide service specification standards for Prison Healthcare.
The post holder will support the therapies team to ensure they work to an agreed operational policy and offer integrated triage, assessment and intervention to individuals within our prison settings who are presenting with mental health problems in line with the New Models of Care.
To provide a qualified specialist psychology service to patients under the care of the Mental Health team and Therapies Service within the Prison. The role includes providing specialist psychological assessment and therapy, at the same time as offering advice and consultation on clients' psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues, working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures. To provide supervision to unqualified psychology staff and to support senior staff to further develop the service. To utilise research skills for audit, policy, service development and research within the area served by the team/service.
Main duties of the job
Provide specialist psychological assessment
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