Job summary
- Main area
- Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 222-LS-CAMHS-778
- Employer
- West London NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- West Middlesex Hospital
- Town
- Isleworth
- Salary
- £57,528 - £64,750 per annum, plus HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 28/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist
Band 8a
West London NHS Trust provides a full range of mental health, community and physical healthcare services for children, adults and older people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.
We also provide some specialist services that are commissioned regionally, such as our medium secure services; and nationally, such as the Cassel Hospital for people with complex and severe personality disorder and our high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital.
Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist with experience of working with young people and their families to work in our well-regarded service as part of our Cross Borough CAMHS teams. The role is split between the Crisis Outreach Resource for Autism Team (CORA) for 0.6 WTE and CAMHS Alliance Team for 0.4 WTE.
CORA works closely with other services and teams to improve the experience of Autistic young people in crisis. The work is varied and includes direct work with young people, family and carers, liaison with Tier 4 and specialist services, consultation and training with community teams and services, and service innovation and design.
The Alliance Team provides crisis assessments and follow-ups to children and young people presenting at local A&E, as well as brief interventions and outreach work to children and young people presenting with acute psychological and mental health problems where intensive support is required to prevent admission to hospital.
Main duties of the job
This role combines clinical work, consultation and training, alongside opportunities to support team development. At this time, we are particularly looking for a candidate to lead on the community-based offer in the CORA team. The postholder will also have opportunities to provide supervision and support to trainees and junior staff.
The role would be suited to someone who is passionate about delivering a high-quality psychology service with young people and families, as well as an interest in supervision, and working with multidisciplinary and multi-agency colleagues on some of the challenges facing mental health services for children and young people.
You will receive regular supervision and line management from the Principal Clinical Psychologist. There is also a strong network of CAMHS psychologists who work closely together across the trust. There are excellent opportunities for professional development.
Working for our organisation
West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.
Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for 2024-25 is over £500m.
The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.
The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached
The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.
Person specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society, or equivalent if trained overseas.
- Eligible to work as a Practitioner Psychologist as approved by the Health Care Professions Council.
- Training in supervision
Desirable criteria
- Training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of children, adolescents and their families across a range of care settings, (e.g. outpatient, community, primary care, in patient settings).
- Experience of working with children, adolescents and their families which will have involved maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
- Experience working as a specialist clinical psychologist in CAMHS.
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
Desirable criteria
- Experience working with children, adolescents (and their families) with learning disability and/or neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g. ASD, ADHD, etc) in a CAMH setting.
- Experience working with children, adolescents (and their families) with a suspected or diagnosed eating disorder.
- Experience working with children, adolescents (and their families) who present in crisis and have provided therapeutic input to prevent inpatient admission.
- Experience of working with other agencies and providing consultation.
- Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
- Experience of working with children/young people with special educational needs and challenging behaviour or mental health difficulties and their families.
Knowledge and Skills
Essential criteria
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment and intervention with children, young people and their families.
- 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 providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to children/families, mental health and children’s social care.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS/HCPC (dependent on grade).
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge and skills in specialist psychological assessment and treatment of specific groups e.g. those in crisis, have a suspected or diagnosed eating disorder and/or neurodevelopmental difficulties, or specialist skills in working with children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
- Knowledge of application of therapeutic models to children who have special educational needs.
Other
Essential criteria
- 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.
- Commitment to provide support to children, their families/carers and linked professionals and maintain high levels of aspiration for the population referred to the service.
- Willingness to work flexibly when necessary.
- Commitment to working flexibly and collaboratively with team colleagues and to support innovative ways of working.
- To approach clients with empathy and adaptability and to be open to development of new approaches to work with clients.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Rob Brindley
- Job title
- CAMHS Head of Psychology
- Email address
- [email protected]
List jobs with West London NHS Trust in Allied Health Professions or all sectors