Clinical / Counselling Psychologist in Ilford

We are seeking a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist, or a Psychological Practitioner with a core profession, to provide maternity cover to join our Acute and Inpatient & Home Treatment Psychology Service. The post is within the Home Treatment Team pathway. This is a fixed‑term, 0.6 FTE post until October 2026. The role is advertised at Band 8a, though Band 7 applicants are encouraged to apply. The job plan will be adjusted in line with Band 7 competencies.

Main duties of the job:

• The Acute and Rehab psychology service is an exciting and dynamic team of psychological professionals working in crisis settings – home treatment crisis teams, psychiatric inpatient wards and a range of other settings.
• The successful applicant would join our well respected and exciting Acute Psychology Service.
• We are passionate about tackling social inequalities and making therapy accessible to everyone.
• Our work focuses on supporting people from marginalised communities who may not usually have the chance to access therapy, creating welcoming, inclusive spaces where they feel seen and supported.
• The team are at the forefront of national developments in inpatient and acute working.
• We are actively involved in research and keen to recruit people who share that vision of contributing to best practice, national guidelines and an evidence base.
• We are committed to supporting staff development through our in‑house CPD package, and where funding allows, we aim to open up further training opportunities in models like Systemic Family Therapy, EMDR, FLP, and CBT for psychosis.

About us:

Our Values 2025 - 2030: Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co‑produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT. They are: We are kind. We are respectful. We work together with our communities. These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Probationary Period: This post will be subject to a probationary period.

Starting with Us: NELFT places great importance on new starters being properly welcomed into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks, including mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process, new starters will also have the opportunity to meet the executive team, senior managers, and attend several drop‑in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing, and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes, Essex.

High Cost Area Supplement - Outer London: This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,313 to a maximum of £5,436 p.a. pro rata for part time).

High Cost Area Supplement - Fringe: This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 5% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £1,192 to a maximum of £2,011 p.a. pro rata for part time).

Job responsibilities:

• You would be part of the wider Acute Psychology Service.
• The post holder will undertake assessment and brief psychological interventions for the most complex presentations who have presented in crisis to develop safety and stabilisation skills.
• The post holder will contribute to safe therapeutic discharge plans in order to enhance recovery and prevent relapse.
• The Home Treatment Teams (HTT) offer crisis assessment, crisis intervention and brief therapeutic interventions to service users experiencing a significant crisis in their mental health and psychological well being.
• The HTTs receive a wide breadth of referrals which provides opportunities to work with a variety of presentations using different therapeutic approaches.
• The role of the Psychological practitioner in the HTTs includes providing and encouraging the use of psychological formulations to inform overall care planning, offering assessments and brief psychological interventions to service users, developing the psychological skill set of the multidisciplinary team through provision of training / teaching / supervision / consultation and reflective practice, and liaising with other teams / services to support discharge plans / onward referrals.

Service development and evaluation / audit: We are looking for enthusiastic, committed and skilled clinicians who can work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team, to provide a range of clinical services. The individual will have excellent opportunities to gain experience of multilevel and integrated service provision and to further develop skills of complex case assessment, formulation and the application of evidence based psychological interventions, both individually and in groups.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application. Please get in touch for more information if you are interested in the vacancy.

Person Specification:

• Qualifications: Has a core psychological profession, relevant additional training.
• Experience: Worked in crisis settings, worked with MDTs.

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.