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Job overview
Clinical Lead for Suffolk CONNECT and Therapeutic Fostering Service
We are seeking an experienced, innovative and compassionate Principal Clinical Psychologist to provide clinical leadership across two highly regarded and impactful services:
- CONNECT - Suffolk's specialist mental health service for children in care and care-experienced young people.
- Suffolk Therapeutic Fostering Service - Supporting foster carers, children and young people, and their social workers through trauma-informed approaches, therapeutic parenting, consultation and specialist psychological support.
We are looking for a psychologist whose values align with our commitment to care-experienced children and young people and who is passionate about improving outcomes for some of the most vulnerable children in our communities. The role requires compassion, resilience, curiosity, creativity and the ability to think systemically in the face of complexity.
This role spans both Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and Suffolk County Council, offering a rare opportunity to work across organisational boundaries and shape practice, culture and service development across health and social care.
Join us and help create the conditions in which care-experienced children, young people and foster families can thrive — while shaping the future of trauma-informed practice across Suffolk.
Main duties of the job
The successful applicant will provide psychological and clinical leadership across both services, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based and trauma-informed care. You will support the continued development of psychologically informed and relationship-based practice, helping services respond effectively to the complex needs of children and young people who have experienced developmental trauma.
Alongside direct clinical leadership, a significant and exciting aspect of the role involves workforce development, training and consultation. You will lead the development, delivery and evaluation of high-quality training programmes.
We are particularly interested in applicants who are enthusiastic about developing innovative training offers and psychologically informed learning opportunities that strengthen trauma-informed practice across systems. This includes identifying emerging needs, co-producing new training programmes, and building the confidence and capability of professionals working with care-experienced children and families.
This role therefore provides a unique opportunity not only to support individual children and their networks, but also to create lasting impact through influencing the knowledge, skills and culture of the wider workforce.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached the job description which outlines key responsibilities and requirements of the role. You will play a key role in:
- Providing clinical and professional leadership across CONNECT and Suffolk Therapeutic Fostering.
- Supporting the development of psychologically informed systems and services.
- Leading on complex assessment, formulation and intervention for children, young people and carers.
- Promoting trauma-informed, attachment-aware and relationship-based practice.
- Developing workforce capability through consultation, supervision, teaching and reflective practice.
- Supporting service development, quality improvement and innovation.
- Building strong partnerships across health, social care, education and the wider children's workforce.
- Contributing to strategic developments relating to care-experienced children and young people across Suffolk.
Person specification
Other
Essential
- Capacity to exercise careful clinical judgement whilst having the ability to work with and to hold the stress of others in the work setting
- Ability to travel independently
Skills
Essential
- Assessment, evaluation and management of risk associated with mental ill health and related psychopathology
Desirable
- Production of reports suitable for public presentations and presentation in medicolegal setting
Knowledge
Essential
- Well-developed knowledge of the Application Form / Interview / theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnosis, people with additional disabilities etc.)
- Providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
Experience
Essential
- Specialist complex psychological assessment and treatment of people with a wide range of mental health problems, of varying severity and complexity
- Relevant experience in service area
- Extensive experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist and evidence of specialist knowledge gained through practice and ongoing training
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups and presenting problems including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems
- Teaching, training and delivering clinical supervision
Desirable
- Working in the relevant service to support specialist knowledge
- Representing psychology within MDT setting (clinical and organisational contexts)
Qualifications
Essential
- Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology, or its equivalent, including eligibility for chartered status with the BPS
- Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC)
Desirable
- Evidence of CPD in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for 8B Principal Clinical Psychologist - CONNECT & Therapeutic Fostering with Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in Norwich, East of England, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Psychologist role. The advertised salary is £66,582 - £77,368 pro rata. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 20 Jul 2026.
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