Job summary
- Main area
- Psychology
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job ref
- 190-0876-DIR
- Employer
- Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Northern General Hospital
- Town
- Sheffield
- Salary
- £55,690 - £62,682 pa/pro rata for part time staff
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 28/09/2025 23:59
- Interview date
- 07/10/2025
Employer heading
Senior Clinical/Counselling Psychologist
NHS AfC: Band 8a
We are committed to helping our staff balance their work and home lives and ensure they feel supported, valued and appreciated so whilst you care for our patients and clients, we’ll take care of you. We offer many different ways of helping staff including career development opportunities, flexible working, good annual leave and pension schemes , health and wellbeing packages and financial support systems. Joining the Trust also allows you access to a number of saving options via our salary sacrifice schemes and a wide range of discount opportunities with retailers and service providers.
Job overview
We are delighted to advertise two varied and innovative permanent Band 8a posts working into the Neonatal and Birth in Mind Maternal Mental Health services (MMHS) at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust (STHFT). These posts join a well established team of Psychologists working into these services. In our latest staff survey, 95% of staff report feeling valued and cared for and that their role makes a difference.
We aim to attract a committed, diverse, and talented workforce who are passionate about delivering psychological care within an acute hospital setting. In return, we offer a supportive, dynamic work setting where you can link with colleagues and develop your career.
We welcome applications from HCPC registered Clinical or Counselling Psychologists with relevant skills and experience; support will be given for anyone returning to the workplace.
As a department, we recognise that diversity of workforce extends our skills, experiences, and ideas, thereby adding value and creativity to our services. The department has an active Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) group and welcomes applications from candidates from all backgrounds. We particularly encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and the LGBTQ+ community.
Please see the attachment “Department overview” for more details about working with us.
Main duties of the job
These posts will work primarily into the Neonatal service at the Jessop Wing in Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, and the South Yorkshire MMHS. The MMHS is a regional service, and there may also be some working into maternity units across the South Yorkshire region.
Within this role there will be opportunities for multidisciplinary team working and providing supervision and training. Working with families and team members, there is potential to have a far-reaching positive impact both directly and indirectly, making a huge difference to outcomes and quality of life for families with babies being cared for on the Neonatal Unit, and for people affected by birth trauma. There may also be opportunities to work with patients with other physical health conditions.
There are 1.55wte permanent hours available. We welcome applications to work a minimum of 0.6wte, up to full time.
Working for our organisation
You will be working for an organisation which values and respects all of its staff and the community it serves. The Trust is a leader in the NHS and research sectors and provides excellent benefits for its staff. This includes commitments to professional development but also many policies to support employees in balancing their personal and professional lives.
The department is committed to supporting our staff and have a well-supported Staff Engagement and Wellbeing Group. The Trust has a flexible working policy, allowing for a range of flexible / hybrid working options as appropriate to the service needs. Continuing professional development is strongly supported, as appropriate to the individual’s and organisation’s requirements.
The attached document outlines our department strategy.
The department has strong links with local DClinPsy and DCounsPsy courses.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please view the attached Job Description and Person Specification documents for full details regarding this post.
When completing your application please ensure that you clearly demonstrate how you meet the role criteria.
Please note this advertisement can be appointed as either a full time or part time opportunity.
Person specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996), or counselling psychology as accredited by the HCPC, including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, as accredited by the British Psychological Society
- Professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
- Eligible for Practitioner Full Membership of the BPS Divisions of Clinical or Counselling Psychology
Desirable criteria
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in other fields of applied psychology
Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of patients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care, and in-patient settings.
- Significant experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups including with presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity
- Significant experience of representing psychology within the context of multidisciplinary care
- Working clinically in health and medical settings
- Working with people affected by health-related psychological problems.
- Working effectively with other professionals in multidisciplinary settings.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working with MDT groups
- Experience of working into an inpatient and/or outpatient Health Psychology Service
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision, including to healthcare staff.
- Experience of the application of clinical or counselling psychology in different cultural contexts
- Experiences of working with young adults and adults in a physical health setting
Further Training
Essential criteria
- Further specialist training / experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a clinical or counselling psychologist over a minimum of 24 months
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical or counselling fields of psychology
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and HCPC.
- Formal training in supervision of other psychological practitioners
Skills and Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention, and management.
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
- Skills in working effectively with other professionals in multidisciplinary settings.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Skills in working with diversity.
- Ability/skills in working through interpreters.
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Knowledge of legislation and national policies and guidance in relation to the patient group, and physical and mental health.
- Specialist knowledge of psychological, physical health and medical interventions relating acute physical health care.
- Ability to establish and maintain professional credibility at all levels of the organisation.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Experience of significantly developing or transforming a service model.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, chronic or terminal illness, complex psychological or physical problems, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria
- Highly developed ability to communicate effectively (orally and in writing) highly complex and/or clinically sensitive information to patients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
- Ability to manage time effectively and prioritise workload.
- Positive attitude, sensitivity, and commitment to working with patient groups affected by medical/physical health conditions.
- Ability to deal with frequent exposure to highly distressing or highly emotional circumstances.
- Ability to maintain intense concentration on a frequent basis.
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
- Emma Williamson
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0114 2266929
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