Specialist Clinical Psychologist

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

This is an exciting opportunity to join a trauma-informed social care service within London Borough of Ealing, who are commissioning this service in partnership with West London NHS Trust. We are looking to recruit a full-time Band 7 Clinical Psychologist to join our Brighter Futures Clinical Psychology service across our Child Protection and Child in Need teams. ‘Brighter Futures’ in Ealing is a practice model across children’s services which draws upon mentalization-based approaches, attachment and trauma-informed care approaches to centralise relationships as key to supporting children and families.

The postholder will be embedded across social care teams to work with children, young people and parents/families referred to the local authority following concerns around safeguarding and those supported under Child in Need (CIN) and Child Protection (CP) processes. The post holder will be supported and supervised by a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist within the Brighter Futures service. There is also a large and supportive Child Clinical Psychology Group. We are able to provide varied opportunities for professional development and training.

Main duties of the job

The clinical psychologist will be expected to provide psychological consultation to social workers and the network around them; developing shared understanding, supporting their work with families, and offering reflective space to consider the impact of the work upon them. Social care colleagues will also be supported by the post holder to develop their reflective practice and case formulation skills through group supervision/ reflective practice groups and training. The clinical psychologist role will also provide a specialist psychological assessment, support and therapeutic intervention offer which may include parenting work, groups, and direct work with young people. There will be training available for the post holder to support them in their role.

Applicants must be keen to facilitate service transformation (in line with the Family’s First Partnership social care reforms) and be open to develop new ways of working, demonstrate flexibility and adaptability in their approach to their work and team life and be willing to practice in a collaborative way. A key aspect of this work is a committed, empathic and trauma-informed approach with children’s young people and their carers, building on strengths and resiliencies.

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’ overallby 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

Training & Qualifications

• 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 HPC.
• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity 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 working with children and adolescents and their carer networks.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Experience of working with other agencies, local authorities and voluntary sectors.
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of working with children and families under Children’s Social Care Services

Knowledge & Skills

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• 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 and skills in specialist neuro/psychological assessment and treatment with children and young people with mental health problems, emotional and/or learning disabilities.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g, children known to social care, children with behaviour that challenges, neurodiverse people with additional needs etc).
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.

As an employee of West London NHS Trust, you have a responsibility to maintain a sound understanding of, and a commitment to uphold the National Health Service values and principles set out in the NHS Constitution.

We reserve the right to close adverts prior to the closing date stated should we receive a high volume of applications.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to West London NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, you will be required to undergo a pre-employment checks which can take between 4-8 weeks . After which your information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system (ESR ).

Please ensure you include email addresses for your referees which MUST be at supervisory or managerial capacity covering the last 3 years of employment to date to avoid delay in the recruitment process.

West London NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We encourage the thoughtful use of technology as a demonstration of strong time management and a commitment to innovation. However, we encourage applicants to personalise their recruitment application to showcase their unique skills and experiences.

While AI-generated content can be a helpful tool, relying solely on generic responses instead of highlighting your own strengths and achievements may impact the success of your application. The success of an application will always be assessed against the essential and desirable criteria for the role, so it is important to ensure that your application and any supporting information clearly demonstrate how you meet these requirements.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

At West London NHS Trust, we want you to support you to build a career you can be proud of and this starts before your first day with us. Our people live our values every day as they deliver, manage and work to improve our services to patients, carers, families and other professionals.

We’re committed to making our recruitment process clear and efficient. It’s in everyone’s interest that we get the very best people on board as soon as we can.