Job summary
- Main area
- AMH
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8b
- Contract
- 12 months (FIXED TERM TO 31ST DECEMBER 2026)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 186-2006-25-MH
- Employer
- Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Highbury Hospital
- Town
- Bulwell, Nottingham
- Salary
- £64,455 - £74,896 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 18/09/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Principal Clinical Psychologist - Acute AMH
NHS AfC: Band 8b
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Job overview
The Nottinghamshire Adult Mental Health Acute and urgent care services provide high quality psychological assessment, intervention and consultancy within local adult acute mental health wards and crisis teams. We are seeking to recruit to an experienced principal practitioner psychologist or someone wishing to develop principal level skills on a 12 months fixed term maternity cover basis. The post holder will provide clinical input to Rowan 2 inpatient ward and City CRHT team, working closely with the Consultant Lead Psychologist for Inpatient and Acute services as well as two additional principal psychologists who work part time within our team.
We encourage those with an interest in working with services users during periods of crisis to consider taking this opportunity to apply their transferrable skills to this rewarding and varied post.
Applicants seeking to progress to 8b NHS banding with significant demonstrated experience of working in acute adult mental health services are welcomed.
Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. The cost of the DBS application is £26.40 (standard) or £54.40 (enhanced), this cost will be deducted from your salary over the first 2 months of employment.
You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. An annual fee of £16 per year applies.
Main duties of the job
You will hold a leadership role within the team and will support the team to adopt a psychological approach. You will participate in individual assessment and formulation of patients’ needs, including a wide range of clinical presentations. You will complete brief psychological interventions with service users on a caseload shared across the team and work indirectly to provide advice and consultation to the multi-disciplinary team, e.g., contributing a psychological perspective to care planning and guiding treatment plans at review meetings.
You will be involved in promoting wellbeing within the multi-disciplinary team, including providing supervision and reflective practice. Our Acute Psychology team have recently developed a range of brief psychologically informed group interventions for our inpatient wards as we expand our treatment directory, and so there will be opportunities to help shape, plan, oversee and deliver group interventions within the inpatient and/or CRHT settings whilst providing supervision and leadership less experienced members of the Acute and Crisis Psychology team. There are also frequent opportunities to provide training and contribute to service development. For further information, please refer to the job description and person specification attachment in the advert.
Working for our organisation
#TeamNottsHC comprises over 11,000 dedicated colleagues who #MakeADifference every day. We deliver intellectual disability, mental health, community health, forensic, and offender healthcare services across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and South Yorkshire. Our care is provided from over 200 sites, spanning community locations, acute settings, and secure environments, including prisons.
We are one of the largest mental health and community Trusts in the East Midlands and one of Nottinghamshire's biggest employers.
We offer a variety of employee-led staff networks, including Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) groups, the Green Champions network, the Freedom to Speak Up network, the Health and Wellbeing Champions network, and the Menopause Champions network. These networks play a vital role in supporting our diverse workforce and promoting a culture of inclusivity.
The health and wellbeing of our colleagues is a top priority. We invest significantly in this through our in-house occupational health and staff counselling services, supported by a dedicated Health and Wellbeing team.
The Trust is committed to reducing its carbon emissions, with a specialised Energy and Environmental team working to ensure compliance with environmental legislation, enhance our environmental performance, and achieve our net-zero commitment
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The successful applicants will join an established, friendly and supportive group of qualified and assistant psychologists working into the Trust’s acute adult mental health services, including inpatient wards and crisis teams across Nottinghamshire. Our team of psychologists have a breadth of experience and employ a range of psychological models and approaches. This post is line managed within the profession and clinical supervision will be provided by a senior psychologist in the service.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Doctorate level qualification in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996).
- Registered as a Clinical Psychologist with the HCPC.
Desirable criteria
- Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
- Trained in clinical supervision and the supervision of doctoral trainees
- Post-doctoral training in one or more specialisms
Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant post qualification experience.
- Post Qualification Experience of working within an Adult Mental Health NHS setting.
- Post Qualification Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary setting.
- Experience of liaison and consultation with other professionals.
- Supervising other clinicians
- Evaluating and auditing professional work
Desirable criteria
- Providing leadership / management to other psychologists.
- Supervising other psychologists.
- Teaching mental health professionals about psychological issues.
- Experience of clinically relevant research.
- Experience of representing psychology within the broader organisational context.
- Experience of leading clinical initiatives / projects.
- Involvement in the planning and development of psychological services.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Extensive and up-to-date knowledge of relevant theory and research through reading and CPD.
- IT skills sufficient for the purposes of word processing, data entry and statistical analysis.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
- Knowledge of a range of therapeutic approaches.
- Ability to undertake specialist assessments, develop formulations and provide psychological interventions.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research, design and methodology.
- Knowledge of broader issues impacting on the delivery of psychological services within mental healthcare.
Skills
Essential criteria
- Effective verbal and written communication skills and relationship building skills.
- Teaching Skills.
- Planning Skills to organise workload and contribute to service co-ordination and delivery of care to the individual and team.
- Skills for assessment involving complex facts where expert opinion may differ.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- IT skills.
- Leadership skills.
Values and Behaviour
Essential criteria
- All colleagues are expected to demonstrate that they act in line with Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Values: Trust Honesty Respect Compassion Teamwork
- All colleagues are expected to demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and how it applies to their role. The Trust’s expectations are highlighted within our EDI Policy, and associated EDI and Human Rights legislation
Training
Essential criteria
- Post-qualification training including specialist training in specific therapeutic approaches or clinical topics relevant to Adult Mental Health.
Desirable criteria
- Training regarding clinical leadership.
Physical Requirements
Essential criteria
- Has the physical ability to perform the full range of duties.
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 Zoe Whitaker
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01159691300
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