8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist London

Are you a psychologist with an interest in inpatient mental health and a passion for bringing psychological ways of working to complex systems? If so, read on! We are looking for an enthusiastic qualified psychologist with experience of working in MDTs, to join the Newham Acute Psychology Service (NAPS). This team provides psychological services to the people who reside, work and visit Newham Centre for Mental Health (NCMH).

Why work with us? Within the NAPS team you will be encouraged to bring your ideas and creativity to develop the psychology provision in your wards and across the service. Staff development and innovation is very important to us. See below for a list of some of our current projects:

• Relational Security (i.e. See, Think, Act) and trauma-informed care implementation.
• Quality improvement projects (e.g. Meaningful engagement project).
• Sensory interventions in NCMH.

CPD opportunities:

• Leadership training and development
• Research opportunities in collaboration with NELFT and the University of East London
• Training in therapy approaches (e.g. CFT) and indirect interventions (e.g. Schwartz Rounds, Reflective Practice).
• Local networks and links with inpatient psychology across the trust offer further opportunities for learning and connection.

Main duties of the job: You will be responsible for bringing psychological approaches to two adult mental health wards (one male and one female). Our overall aim within the NAPS team is to foster a compassionate, safe and therapeutic culture for all people within the service. You would be expected to play an active part in planning, prioritising and reflecting on how best to organise your work to move towards this aim. Roles will include direct interventions with patients in group, individual and family sessions; staff support and development including team formulations, reflective spaces and training; evaluation and quality improvement (QI) across the service. There is a current focus on supporting the discharge process and interface with community services. At times this may involve seeing families in their homes.

We are looking for applicants who bring enthusiasm and creativity around inpatient working. Experience and interest in providing culturally inclusive psychological approaches in NHS services is also highly desirable as well as an ability to speak an additional local language in order to engage wider communities.

The Trust has embraced flexible working. We are interested in hybrid ways of working that are within the scope of the role including working-from-home opportunities. Job share and flexible working options are also available within this role.

We look forward to welcoming the successful candidate; their ideas, passions and aspirations into our team.

About us: Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Details:

• Date posted: 11 September 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 8a
• Salary: £63,665 to £70,887 a year per annum
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time
• Reference number: 363-NEW

Job locations: Newham Centre for Mental Health, London, E13 8SP, United Kingdom.

Job responsibilities: Please see attached documents for the person specification and job description which provide further details about this role.

Person Specification:

Knowledge and Skills

Essential:

• Post-qualification experience as a practitioner psychologist or equivalent.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the range of care settings, 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 providing teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Experience as a qualified psychologist working in multidisciplinary settings and representing a psychological perspective in teams and services.

Desirable:

• Experience of working as a psychologist in an inpatient setting.
• Experience of professional management of qualified and pre-qualified clinical psychologists.
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience in contributing to service development, redesign and improvements in secondary mental health services.

Education/Qualification

Essential:

• Doctorate in Clinical/ Counselling Psychology or equivalence and able to demonstrate eligibility for BPS HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist.

Desirable:

• Further training or qualifications in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice (e.g. Systemic approaches).
• Quality Improvement Training.
• Clinical supervision training for doctoral psychology trainees.

Personal

Essential:

• Enthusiasm and interest in models of service delivery and an ability to articulate the value added by clinical psychology services within the context of multi-disciplinary mental health services (particularly inpatient mental health).
• Able to contain and work with organisational stress and able to hold the stress of others.
• Able to manage effectively frequent exposure to highly distressing/highly emotional circumstances and exposure to traumatic circumstances.
• Respectful approach to service users, families, carers, colleagues and other professionals.
• Willing to negotiate and can handle confrontation effectively and professionally.

Other

Essential:

• Able to work to professional guidelines and Trust policy.
• Able to travel independently between work sites and to community settings for delivery of services.

Desirable:

• Ability to speak an additional local language.

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.

Employer name: East London NHS Foundation Trust

Address: Newham Centre for Mental Health, London, E13 8SP, United Kingdom.