Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist in Coventry

We are seeking an experienced and compassionate Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to lead psychological care for people with psychosis within our Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) in Coventry. This is a rewarding role supporting adults living with complex and often long‑lasting experiences such as voices, visions, trauma, depression, and social withdrawal and exclusion. You will provide specialist intervention, lead on psychologically informed practice, and help shape the development of an enhanced psychosis pathway.

We offer a supportive, values‑driven environment with strong leadership and a commitment to high‑quality, recovery‑focused care. You will have access to excellent training opportunities including CBT for Psychosis (CBTp), Family Interventions (BFT), EMDR, a comprehensive in‑house psychological skills programme and the excellent Bespoke MH training platform. This role is ideal for a psychologist who is motivated by compassionate care, service development, workforce supervision, and delivering evidence‑based practice for psychosis.

Main duties of the job:

• Provide specialist psychological assessment and intervention for adults with complex difficulties related to psychosis.
• Lead and shape the psychological offer within the CMHT, ensuring high‑quality, recovery‑focused, person‑centred care.
• Work collaboratively with senior colleagues to support service development across community mental health pathways.
• Promote values that reduce stigma, enhance social inclusion, and support meaningful recovery.
• Offer clinical leadership, supervision, consultation, and training to psychology trainees, Clinical Associates in Psychology, and wider MDT staff using formulation‑led approaches.
• Contribute to the service's strong research culture through participation in quality improvement, evaluation, or research initiatives.
• Work flexibly across the locality, with the ability to travel between locations during the working day.
• Ensure safe practice through effective risk assessment and management.

About us:

At Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT), we deliver a wide range of physical, mental health, learning disability and autism services, and are proud to serve communities across Coventry, Warwickshire and beyond. We put ‘people at our heart’; this ethos is at the centre of everything we do and how we do it. We care for our staff and colleagues as much as they care for others and offer a wide range of benefits and development opportunities.

These include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement which increases during your time with us.
• Excellent learning and development opportunities, including apprenticeship frameworks, in‑house psychological skills development service, distance learning, internal training, coaching and mentoring, and much more.
• Salary sacrifice schemes for lease car/vehicle, Cycle to Work, home and electronics, gym membership and more.
• Discounts with a range of retailers, restaurants and entertainment venues through our Employee Assistance Programme and NHS discount schemes.
• Wellbeing support, including an in‑house counselling service, external helpline and more.
• Staff networks and support groups.

We're always on the lookout for people who share our passion for improving the lives and wellbeing of people in our community, as well as our values of compassion, collaboration, excellence, integrity, and respect.

Job responsibilities:

Qualifications / Registration:

• HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical or Counselling).
• Training or commitment to undertake training in CBT for Psychosis (highly desirable).

Experience:

• Pre or post‑qualification experience working with people with psychosis.
• Experience delivering psychological interventions for complex mental health needs.
• Experience providing supervision and contributing to MDT working.

Skills / Knowledge:

• Strong formulation skills and ability to work with complexity.
• Effective risk assessment and management abilities.
• Knowledge/interest in CBTp, ACT, CFT or EMDR.
• Ability to work flexibly and travel between sites.

Other requirements:

• Must join the DBS Update Service upon appointment.

Please note: It is a mandatory requirement for all newly appointed staff to be registered with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Update Service.

Person Specification:

Qualifications:

• Post‑graduate doctoral level / post‑qualification training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or outside the UK] as approved by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Post‑doctoral / post‑qualification training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
• Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Knowledge and skills:

• High level knowledge and experience of evidence‑based psychological therapies for people with psychosis.
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and 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.
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi‑media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.

Other:

• Requirement to travel throughout the Trust.

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.