Clinical psychologist / Counselling psychologist Mental Health in London

Role: Principal Clinical Psychologist – Digital DBT-A Self-Harm Service

Equivalent to NHS AfC Band 8b

Contract: Fixed Term - with potential to renew

4 days a week (flexible working considered)

Remote / hybrid, with occasional London-based working as required

About Speek

Speek is a digital mental health platform on a mission to widen access to evidence-based care for young people who self-harm and their families. Our interventions are grounded in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) and delivered through a blended model that combines skilled clinicians with carefully governed digital and AI-enabled tools. The aim is to deliver early-intervention DBT programs for adolescents, through an adapted format designed for lower-risk young people who are on long waits or are unable to access specialist services.

We work in close partnership with the NHS and position our offer within the THRIVE framework at the Getting Help and Getting More Help tiers. We are a small, ambitious and multidisciplinary team spanning clinical psychology, DBT practice, research, product and engineering. Clinical safety, equality, diversity and inclusion, and meaningful involvement of young people and families sit at the heart of what we do.

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity to provide senior clinical and professional leadership for a digitally delivered, DBT-A service for young people who struggle with high levels of emotion dysregulation, self-harm and other self-destructive behaviours, and for their families and carers. The postholder will take a lead clinician role, providing clinical leadership, line management and clinical supervision to Band 7 and 8a psychologists and DBT practitioners, and will hold responsibility for the systematic clinical governance of psychological practice across the platform.

Main duties of the job

• Provide high-quality clinical and professional leadership in working with young people and families across a blended digital care model.
• Training and experience delivering DBT with adolescents (DBT-A).
• Experience of working with children and young people presenting with complex, high-risk emotional dysregulation and self-harm.
• Sound knowledge of safeguarding and child protection policy and procedure.
• Experience of clinical and professional supervision, service development and leadership.
• An interest in, or experience of, digital health, clinical safety and the use of AI-enabled tools in clinical care (desirable).

Working for our organisation

Joining Speek means joining an organisation that is helping to redefine how evidence-based mental health care reaches young people and families. Our values – being clinically rigorous, compassionate, collaborative, safe and open – are at the heart of everything we do, and our mission is to make life better for young people who self-harm and those who care for them.

You will be supported to develop your career and to flourish as a valued member of the clinical team, with opportunities for continuing professional development.

Responsibilities include:

• Work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service area.
• Ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality, specialist DBT-A-informed psychological therapies service to young people who self-harm and their families and carers.
• Be responsible for the clinical governance structures that support multidisciplinary colleagues delivering psychological care.
• Provide advice and guidance in relation to risk management and safeguarding.
• Directly provide, and oversee, highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation, risk assessment, safety planning and intervention.
• Supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by Band 7 and 8a psychologists, DBT practitioners and other clinical colleagues.
• Contribute clinical expertise to clinical-safety and regulatory processes.
• Support the management of clinical performance and quality improvement across the clinical team.
• Promote the involvement of young people, families and carers in shaping the service and its clinical content.
• Promote equality of access to care and awareness of how social difference can influence treatment outcomes and service-user experience.

Person specification

Training & qualifications

• Qualified Clinical/Counselling Psychologist, or Qualified Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, or Qualified Systemic Family Psychotherapist, with evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
• Completed training course in clinical supervision.
• Intensive DBT training (e.g. British Isles DBT Training or equivalent).
• Substantial post-qualification experience of working at a highly specialist level with children and young people presenting with emotion dysregulation, self-harm and other self-destructive behaviours.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment, clinical risk assessment, safety planning and DBT / DBT-A-informed intervention.
• Experience of clinical and professional supervision, teaching and training of psychologists or other professional groups.
• Experience of safeguarding and child protection practice.
• Experience of working in or with digital health, AI-enabled clinical tools, or software as a medical device.
• Experience of managing the clinical performance of staff.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).