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Job summary

Main area
Adult Mental Health
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8a
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
285-8814A-MH
Employer
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Steps To Health
Town
Wolverhampton
Salary
£57,528 - £64,750 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
14/10/2026 23:59

Employer heading

Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust logo

Senior Applied Psychologist

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is growing and changing. We provide specialist mental health, learning disability and community services across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. We’re looking for people who care about others, take responsibility, treat people with respect and have the confidence to speak up and shape what comes next.

We’re focused on the future, with a clear Trust Strategy and our Best for the Black Country programme driving improvement across our services and communities.

What we do

·       Adult and older adult mental health

·       Children and young people’s mental health

·       Specialist learning disability services

·       Community healthcare for children, young people and families in Dudley

Why join now

We’ve got real momentum. Clear priorities and our Best for the Black Country work mean things are moving in the right way, fast.

Our culture is built around being compassionate, accountable, respectful and empowering each other - you’ll see this in how teams support patients and colleagues every day.
You’ll be looked after. Flexible working, family-friendly policies, supportive teams, proper wellbeing support and opportunities to learn and develop.

There’s room to grow. A wide range of services, space to try ideas and a voice that’s heard.

It’s a great place to live. Diverse communities, good transport links, strong schools and green space, with a lower cost of living than many city regions.

What it’s like to work here

You’ll join friendly, skilled teams who look out for each other. We plan together, share pressures and celebrate wins. You’ll be encouraged to take ownership, speak up and learn from experience. New starters get a warm welcome and clear induction; early careers colleagues have preceptorship and buddying; experienced staff can lead, teach and innovate.

Who we are

We’re 4,000+ colleagues from many backgrounds, committed to improving health and wellbeing for our communities and for each other. If you’re interested in the role but don’t meet every requirement, please apply — we value potential, different perspectives and people who want to grow.

As part of our commitment to fairness, transparency, and personal integrity, we ask all applicants to ensure that their job applications reflect their own experiences, skills, and motivations. While AI tools can support spelling, grammar, or formatting, we expect that the content of your application—especially personal statements and responses to role-specific questions—is written by you. This helps us get to know the real you and ensures that our recruitment process remains equitable and meaningful for everyone.

Armed Forces Community

Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant. We welcome applications from veterans, reservists, service leavers, military spouses and members of the wider Armed Forces community. We recognise the valuable skills, experience and attributes developed through military service and are committed to supporting the Armed Forces community in their careers.

Job overview

This role is a 1.0 Full Time post within the Adult Mental Health division of BCHFT.  As the largest clinical Division in the Trust, the MH Division houses community, urgent care, specialist and Physical Health Psychology.

Our community services have been transforming, in line with the NHS Long Term Plan, and you would be joining us at the point where our CMHTs are formed and fully functioning and psychology is well integrated into the MDT, giving lots of opportunity to be involved in supporting the development of psychological thinking across the MDT. 

The successful applicant will join the local based team consisting of clinical and counselling psychologists, CBT psychotherapists, DBT practitioners and trainee clinical/counselling psychologists.  

The post holders will be supported and accountable to the team/service manager, and be professionally and clinically supervised within the psychology team.

The successful applicant will be keen to apply their knowledge and skills in a new setting and will be flexible and adaptable in their approaches to psychological work. Excellent team working skills and an ability to accommodate differing professional models is essential. The post holder will develop complex formulations working with individuals with complex presentations, offer supervision, consultancy,  and training. 

Main duties of the job

As a Senior Applied Psychologist you will work alongside the rest of the psychology team and the Consultant Clinical Psychologist to deliver the psychological provision for the Wolverhampton North CMHT, adopting a trauma informed approach. 

You will hold a caseload of clients presenting with secondary care level needs, including complex presentations and often risk. Alongside your direct caseload you will offer consultation, supervision, reflective practice and support to the wider MDT and input and support with the development of team formulations, team risk formulation and improving general psychological thinking and understanding across the MDT. 

We are closely linked to local universities and provide placements for trainees, therefore their may be opportunities for supervising psychological trainees as well as Aston Psychology Degree Students on their placement year.  

Members of our wider psychology team have a range of therapeutic interests ranging from DBT, EMDR, psychodynamic, ACT, CFT and CBT. There is expertise in consultancy, supervision and training within the psychological professions in the Trust.

Working for our organisation

In BCHFT we are keen to promote cohesiveness and wellbeing in our psychology staff group. There are a number of Trust initiatives that support this, ranging from an annual event that brings all psychological professionals together to 'enhance our connectedness', to regular  opportunities to engage, learn and share good practice through 'special interest groups'. 

We value our staff groups and, as a leadership team, work hard to ensure that people feel valued for both their effort and delivered outcomes, and that this is reflected in regular feedback. We are pleased to be able to offer CPD to our staff through establishment of a dedicated budget, and we also utilise all Regional or National opportunities for training when they arise. Current training initiatives within community services include the National PT-SMHP framework, which has allowed several of our staff to undertake post graduate diploma training in NICE based therapies.

Please see full job description to understand our:-

  • Trust Values
  • Confidentiality & Data Protection
  • Data Quality
  • No Smoking policy
  • Health & Safety 
  • Clinical Governance
  • Infection Prevention & Control
  • Adult & children Safeguarding
  • Professional Managerial Codes of Practice 
  • Policies & Procedures
  • Pandemic & Other Emergencies

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

  • Accountable for own professional practice in the delivery of highly specialist psychological care to adults with highly complex mental health difficulties which may include risk and challenges.
  • To be compassionate in meeting the needs of clients, their carers and families.
  • To promote at all times a positive image of mental health difficulties.
  • To promote at all times a positive image of the service and the wider Trust.
  • Exercise supervisory responsibility for other psychological therapists
  • Provide leadership in multi-disciplinary training and development
  • Provide leadership in service audit and development
  • Provide leadership in service evaluation and research
  • Ensure that a psychological perspective is brought to the wider MDT including service design and change

Person specification

Person Spec

Essential criteria
  • Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied Psychology (or its equivalent) as accredited by the BPS including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology
  • Post-qualification training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
  • HCPC registration as An Applied Psychologist with Chartered Status
  • Experience in clinical supervision
  • Evidence of continuing professional development
  • Working as a qualified applied psychologist, working with a variety of client groups, and a range of clinical severity across a range of care settings
  • Experience of teaching, training, consultancy and clinical supervision
  • Experience of quality and service improvement and evaluation
  • Knowledge of Evidence-based practice relevant to the role, risk assessment and risk management, Clinical governance, Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health, Audit and research methodology
  • Able to communicate highly sensitive information to a wide range of people, work effectively as part of a multi-disciplinary team, liaise with multiple agencies, demonstrate effective multimedia skills
  • Able to work in accordance with the Trust Values and Behaviours
Desirable criteria
  • BABCP Accreditation
  • Experience of joint working with statutory, voluntary and private sector agencies
  • Formal Training in Clinical Supervision

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoNo smoking policyAge positiveDisability confident leaderCare quality commission - GoodArmed Forces Covenant Bronze Award

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Dr Amy Kirby
Job title
Consultant Psychologist
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01902 443640
Additional information

Please contact via email if you wish to discuss this post and i will arrange a time to return your call. 

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