Job summary
- Main area
- Psychology
- Grade
- Band 8c
- Contract
- 12 months (Fixed term or secondment)
- Hours
- Part time
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 246-WSN8275618
- Employer
- Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Chatterton House
- Town
- Kings Lynn
- Salary
- £79,504 - £91,609 gross per annum pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 28/09/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Consultant Clinical Psychologist Intensive and Assertive Outreach
Band 8c
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience.
Please note due to the nature of our roles and patient demographic, you will be required to undertake physical intervention training and remain trained, as required by your role.
Job overview
This is an exciting role for a psychologist who would like to lead on innovative and strategic initiatives to improve our pathways for people with severe and relapsing mental illness who struggle to consistently engage with services and are likely to be known to multiple agencies. The bulk of the role will be to guide the team in their approach and developing model, supervise and develop the 8b psychologist, and work systemically across our other pathways to ensure that people don’t fall through the gaps between services.
This post would suit someone who has a passion for health equity and for working with our most vulnerable and socially excluded patient groups.
This role would suit someone who has worked substantially in community services, with complex needs and serious mental illness. Experience of providing senior clinical leadership (at 8b level or above) and leading on outcome reporting, performance reporting and service innovations would be highly desirable.
Main duties of the job
· As 0.3 WTE Consultant Clinical Psychologist within the Intensive and Assertive Outreach Team, you will provide strategic psychological leadership to a highly skilled multidisciplinary service working with individuals experiencing severe and relapsing mental illness who often present with high levels of complexity, risk and difficulties engaging with traditional mental health services.
The role combines clinical leadership, service development, consultation and supervision, with a particular focus on strengthening psychologically informed approaches across pathways and systems of care.
This role offers an exciting opportunity to shape the future direction of an innovative service, ensuring that some of the most vulnerable people within our mental health system receive coordinated, compassionate and effective psychological care.
Working for our organisation
As an employer Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust are particularly committed to enabling our staff to do the very best they can through support and training, as well as opportunities for progression. We are confident, therefore, that the right candidate will have a real chance to make a positive impact to the lives of young people in Norfolk.
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Key responsibilities will include:
- Providing clinical and professional leadership to support the continued development of psychologically informed and evidence-based practice within the Intensive and Assertive Outreach Team.
- Offering specialist psychological consultation, formulation and advice for individuals with complex mental health difficulties, high-risk presentations and multi-agency involvement.
- Supporting and supervising the team's Band 8b Clinical Psychologist, contributing to their professional development and enabling the delivery of high-quality psychological provision across the service.
- Leading on the development and implementation of innovative psychological approaches, service models and care pathways for people who struggle to engage with conventional mental health services.
- Working systemically across community, inpatient and specialist services to improve transitions of care and reduce the risk of individuals falling between services and organisational boundaries.
- Developing strong collaborative relationships with internal and external partners, including community mental health teams, inpatient services, social care, housing, voluntary sector organisations and other relevant agencies.
- Promoting formulation-led and trauma-informed approaches to care planning, risk management and intervention within multidisciplinary teams.
- Providing specialist psychological leadership in relation to complex service-user pathways, supporting staff to maintain engagement and deliver recovery-focused care.
- Contributing to workforce development through training, reflective practice, consultation and supervision for multidisciplinary colleagues.
- Leading and contributing to service evaluation, audit, quality improvement and research activities that enhance service effectiveness and outcomes.
- Supporting strategic developments within the wider Psychology Service and Adult Mental Health Care Group, ensuring psychological expertise informs pathway design and service planning.
- Maintaining a small specialist clinical caseload where appropriate, focused on complex systemic, consultation or direct clinical work that supports the overall objectives of the service.
Whilst the post is located in West Norfolk, the Intensive and Assertive Team covers the geographical region covered by the trust. The post holder might be required to travel on the basis of need (and largely in relation to supporting the 8B principal Clinical Psychologist in the team), but opportunities to work from other parts of the trust will be supported where possible.
This role would be open to a fixed-term secondment by internal candidates (with approval of their line manager) or external candidates.
Please let us know if you are applying for the first time to a consultant role, as we will have a BPS assessor present at the interview who can advise on appointability and development plans for new consultants.
Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!
Some of the benefits you can expect:
- NHS pension
- a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
- career progression
- starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
- staff physio service
- NHS discounts and many more.
Interview dates are yet to be set; you will be contacted via email and invited to book a time. These emails may go to your SPAM, so please keep checking all your emails if applying.
Please visit our Facebook and Twitter page @NSFTjobs
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Training in clinical psychology at post-graduate doctoral level, as accredited by the BPS (British Psychological Society) or equivalent
- Registration with the Health and Care professions Council as Practitioner Psychologist
Desirable criteria
- Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist
- Experience of working with Psychosis and Severe Mental Illness
- Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for service users’ psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan
- Experience of teaching, training professional and clinical supervision
Desirable criteria
- Experience of managing performance and grievance issues.
- Experience of leading change within a service or organisation.
- Experience of implementing clinical governance procedures.
- Experience of working as a Consultant Psychologist Experience of managing staff.
- Experience of delegated responsibility regarding the management of budgets
Skills
Essential criteria
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management.
- A high level ability to communicate complex information effectively
- Ability to produce reports and documents for Boards and Committees using relevant technology to present complex data and strategy with clarity
- Formal training in supervision of psychologists and/or other psychological professionals.
- Ability to inspire and engage staff and encourage improvement, innovation, and development.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
- Ability to lead, motivate and influence both internally and externally, building and maintaining collaborative and trusted relationships
- Ability to be flexible and work under pressure.
- High degree of autonomy and decision-making.
Desirable criteria
- Skills and experience of using leadership models and the application of models of change at a service level.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology
- Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology
- Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice in relation to service users in the designated specialty and mental health generally
- Knowledge of integrated governance/quality governance.
Other
Essential criteria
- Ability to travel independently
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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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 Lynda Meina
- Job title
- Director of Psychology
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Additional information
Or Dr Adrian Leddy, Associate Director of Psychology ([email protected])
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