Principal Clinical Psychologist

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see our Candidate information pack for a comprehensive job description and person specification for this role. We welcome applicants with limited experience of working with Neurodiversity who are willing and eager to develop knowledge and skills in this area. We are able to provide specialist training (such as ADOS-2, 3Di, ADI-R, Tics therapy training etc.) to successful candidates who may require such training, which would be negotiated during the offer stage of recruitment.

If you have any enquiries about the post, please do get in touch with:

Dr Desiree Saddik, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Joint Head of Psychology for CAMHS via [email protected] or 020 8483 1979 /07958488587.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society, or equivalent if trained overseas.
• Eligible to work as a Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical) as approved by the Health Care Professions Council
• Post-qualification training in supervision / specialist application of formal therapy models.

Desirable criteria

• Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
• Training in CBT

Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist with children and young people and their families/carers.
• 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 and across the age range of 0-18, 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 assessment and intervention with individuals with neurodevelopmental difficulties.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan.
• Experience of teaching and training.
• Experience of multi-agency working.
• Significant experience of delivering professional, clinical and management supervision to psychologists.
• Experience of and commitment to service development.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.

Knowledge & Skills

Essential criteria

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practised within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge and skills in specialist psychological assessment and treatment of specific groups (e.g. looked after children, learning disabilities, neurodevelopmental disorders, adolescent mental health, trauma, anxiety and mood disorders).
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of application of therapeutic models to children who have special educational needs and neurodevelopmental conditions.

Other Requirements

Essential criteria

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• 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.
• Commitment to provide support to children, their families/carers and linked professionals and maintain high levels of aspiration for the population referred to the service.
• Commitment to working flexibly and collaboratively with team colleagues and to support innovative ways of working.
• To approach clients with empathy and adaptability and to be open to development of new approaches to work with clients.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.

As an employee of West London NHS Trust, you have a responsibility to maintain a sound understanding of, and a commitment to uphold the National Health Service values and principles set out in the NHS Constitution.

We reserve the right to close adverts prior to the closing date stated should we receive a high volume of applications.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to West London NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, you will be required to undergo a pre-employment checks which can take between 4-8 weeks . After which your information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system (ESR ).

Please ensure you include email addresses for your referees which MUST be at supervisory or managerial capacity covering the last 3 years of employment to date to avoid delay in the recruitment process.

West London NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We encourage the thoughtful use of technology as a demonstration of strong time management and a commitment to innovation. However, we encourage applicants to personalise their recruitment application to showcase their unique skills and experiences.

While AI-generated content can be a helpful tool, relying solely on generic responses instead of highlighting your own strengths and achievements may impact the success of your application. The success of an application will always be assessed against the essential and desirable criteria for the role, so it is important to ensure that your application and any supporting information clearly demonstrate how you meet these requirements.

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

• AD & JD (PDF, 728.3KB)