Job summary
- Main area
- Psychology
- Grade
- Band 8b
- Contract
- 23 months (fixed term contract linked to research funding; can be offered as a secondment opportunity)
- Hours
- 30 hours per week (part time)
- Job ref
- 267-CS7710790
- Employer
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Department of Experimental Psychology
- Town
- Oxford
- Salary
- £55,690 - £74,896 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 17/02/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Highly Specialist Clinical Research Psychologist
Band 8b
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people.
We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.
We actively support anti-racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion so, if you’re excited about this job opportunity and you meet our Trust values, but feel unsure about applying, then please get in touch and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.
We are also committed to increasing diversity in the workforce, that is why we actively encourage applications from those groups of people who are currently under-represented, which include amongst others: people with disabilities; men from all socio-economic backgrounds; people from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and people from the LGBTQIA+ community.
Good luck and we hope to hear from you.
Job overview
We are recruiting for a Clinical Psychologist to join us and deliver specialist psychological therapy for people with psychosis in a clinical research study.
This is an opportunity to join a centre of excellence in the development and delivery of psychological interventions for psychosis: Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis. It is a thriving and supportive clinical research group, based in the University and Oxford Health.
The focus of this post is delivering a new, specialist psychological therapy for people experiencing harmful grandiose delusions in a case series and pilot trial. The studies will test whether this new treatment is feasible to deliver, acceptable to patients, and likely to have large clinical benefits.
The post holder will deliver the face-to-face psychological therapy across several NHS trusts. There will be publication, teaching, and supervision opportunities.
In the first instance the post will be for two years. The successful candidate will have a Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology or be a CBT therapist with a recognised PGDip in CBT for psychosis and a strong understanding of research. They will have: excellent cognitive therapy skills; knowledge of clinical trials; excellent interpersonal, communication and organisational skills; and commitment to developing evidence based psychological treatments.
Main duties of the job
This is an exciting new clinical psychologist post to deliver specialist psychological therapy to people experiencing psychosis.
The therapy will initially be tested with 12 patients within a multiple-baseline single-case experimental design (SCED) study, and subsequently a pilot randomised controlled clinical trial with 50 patients. Qualitative methods will provide greater understanding of patients' experiences of the therapy.
We hope this therapy will substantially improve outcomes for people with harmful grandiose delusions.
The post-holder will deliver the intervention, support the day to day management of the research, supervise research assistants, and work with local services at each of the collaborating NHS trusts. They will also contribute to the data collection and analyses of the qualitative studies. There will also be teaching, research supervision, and publication opportunities.
The primary base for this role will be at the Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis (O-CAP) team in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford. Please note if you are based outside of the UK you will need to hold HCPC registration in order to be considered for this role.
This is a 23 month fixed term contract linked to research funding and can be offered as a secondment opportunity.
Working for our organisation
Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.
As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”
Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”
We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing.
These include:
• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.
The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.
We are aware that some candidates may choose to use AI tools to support their application. We kindly remind applicants that submissions should remain an honest and accurate representation of their experience and must take care to ensure the use of AI tools does not generate an application that does not accurately reflect their knowledge, skills and values
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology (or equivalent) or BABCP accredited CBT Therapist with a PGDip in CBT for Psychosis. Qualification required by time of taking up the post.
- Registered with HCPC
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of conducting individual therapy sessions with patients who are experiencing difficulties related to psychosis.
- Excellent cognitive therapy skills - to enable treatment delivery and treatment development.
- Experience of clinical research.
- 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 specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature.
- Experience that supports working with and addressing issues of diversity within local communities.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of providing supervision.
- Experience of clinical studies and trials.
- Experience of working with individuals with lived experience in the development of psychological research or practice.
- Experience of authorship of publications.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of the theory, evidence base, and practice of specialised psychological assessments and interventions for people with psychosis
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities.
- Knowledge of clinical trials
- In-depth understanding of the theoretical and empirical foundations of cognitive approaches to mental health disorders.
Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent skills in engagement of patients in psychological intervention.
- Ability to communicate sensitively and skilfully (oral and written).
- Ability to supervise psychology graduate research assistants.
Desirable criteria
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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 Louise Isham
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0186 283804
- Additional information
At Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust we want to employ people not just with experience, but with the aptitude and motivation to succeed and whose values resonate with our own.
Therefore, if you don’t meet all the requirements of the role and are unsure about applying but are excited about the opportunity, please do get in touch. We will be happy to discuss the requirements in more detail ahead of making a written application.
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