Job summary
- Main area
- Psychology- CAMHS
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Fixed term: 12 months (January 2026 - January 2027)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Mon-Fri)
- Job ref
- 346-DDC-051-25-A
- Employer
- Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Full Circle
- Town
- Annfield Plain
- Salary
- £55,690 - £62,682 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 05/11/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist
NHS AfC: Band 8a
We are the Mental Health & Learning Disability NHS Trust for County Durham and Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.
From education and prevention, to crisis and specialist care —our talented and compassionate teams work in partnership with our patients, communities and partners to help the people of our region feel safe, understood, believed in and cared for.
We nurture the recovery journey of anyone in need of our help. In Our Trust, everyone has a say in how they are supported and treated because we listen to every person in our care until they feel understood. Our patients, their families and carers work together with us towards better mental health.
We’re committed to new thinking that improves the wellbeing of our region. We connect with our communities and partners to get mental health care right, in areas that really need it.
We won’t rest until everyone in our region has the mental health care they need, to lead their best possible life.
Job overview
This vacancy is for a 12 month post covering maternity leave.
A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a dynamic and motivated Clinical Psychologist to join Durham Children and Young Peoples Service in-house therapeutic team - The Full Circle, based in Annfield Plain, County Durham.
The Full Circle’s focus is to support children and young people who have experienced developmental trauma due to experiences of neglect and abuse. The team works in close partnership with children looked after, children in need, residential, fostering and adoption services and has close links with partnership agencies including Education and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services within Durham. The post holder will have the opportunity to develop both their clinical and leadership skills and be an integral member of a strong leadership team. The Full Circle team is committed to providing a trauma informed approach and supporting wider children and young people services to understand and respond to children’s trauma in the most helpful way.
Main duties of the job
The post involves offering clinical support and guidance to the team which consists of therapeutic social workers, a clinical nurse specialist and an existing consultant clinical psychologist. It also includes consultation and training to social workers and other professionals working across CYPS along with support to foster carers, parents and residential services. The post involves working with children complex needs requiring collaboration and partnership working with a range of systems. Part of this role will be to support Durham County Council's growing residential services and working in innovative and creative ways to support the most complex young people in Durham’s care.
Working for our organisation
The Full Circle are proud of their Investing in Children Membership Award™ status, which recognises and celebrates examples of imaginative and inclusive practice with children and young people.
Ofsted have also recognised how valuable Full Circle Support is "The therapeutic service provided by Full Circle is invaluable. Using evidence based research, the service is making a real difference to children who have been traumatised by adverse childhood experiences, as well as supporting their carers." (September 2019). At their more recent inspection, Ofsted said of children, young people and families, "They receive tailored and highly effective support with their emotional needs from the specialist therapeutic Full Circle team. Foster carers and adopters are well supported by social workers and Full Circle in the transition and continuing care of children placed with them." (May 2022)
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The post holder will provide a range of roles and responsibilities as detailed within the job description. This will include the delivery of highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation and interventions to children and their carers with complex needs through direct clinical work, offering clinical supervision and multiagency consultation, staff training alongside leading on service development and evaluation.
Candidates should be significantly experienced clinicians with excellent interdisciplinary working skills and interested in developing and delivering an innovative service. Experience in the field of community child and adolescent mental health including with children who are looked after is essential. Leadership skills and behaviours are integral to the recruitment process.
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further detailed information to ensure that you meet the role criteria before applying.
For more information on the role please contact in the first instance, Dr Alison Foster, Consultant Clinical Psychologist - [email protected]
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Post-graduate training (doctoral level equivalent) in clinical / counselling / forensic psychology (or its equivalent prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS.
- Post doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
- HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist
- Trained in clinical supervision and the supervision of doctoral trainees
- Trained in care co-ordination
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable criteria
- Registration with BPS
Experience
Essential criteria
- Working as a qualified applied psychologist within the designated service including a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and a range of clinical severity across a range of care settings.
- Exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care as a care coordinator within the context of a multidisciplinary team.
- Teaching, training and clinical supervision and field supervisor for doctoral theses.
- Quality and service improvement and evaluation.
Skills
Essential criteria
- Communicate highly complex and highly sensitive information effectively, to a wide range of people
- Provide effective teaching, training and clinical supervision for the multidisciplinary team.
- Work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team and undertake care co-ordination/lead practitioner responsibilities
- Utilise psychometric tests competently
- Undertake complex multiagency working and liaise with multiple systems
- Identify, provide and promote appropriate interventions / means of support for carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and challenging behaviours.
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
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Alison Foster
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 03000 264735
- Additional information
List jobs with Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust in Allied Health Professions or all sectors








