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Job overview
We are looking to recruit a Principal Psychologist to add further senior psychology capacity to the CAMHS crisis service known as CAIST (Crisis and Intensive Support Team). A highly regarded service across Norfolk and Waveney, the team supports children and adolescents who need brief but intensive support to help deal with acute levels of psychological distress. This post is ideally suited for an experienced clinician who will work well as part of a team and who is both compassionate and resilient.
This post will suit an ambitious, experienced, and knowledgeable clinician who has the passion and vision to play a leading role in transforming the quality and effectiveness of services offered to those with mental health difficulties and their families.
Main duties of the job
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Advances in training, clinical practice and research have widened the scope of interventions psychologists now use when dealing with acute distress, the post holder will be expected to contribute to the expanding corpus of knowledge of ‘what works’ in a dynamic and evolving service. When working with children and families in crisis, you will decide whom to involve in assessment and intervention, for example, parents, brothers, sisters, or other key professionals. The process can be resource intensive given the range of variables and the different perspectives to be considered. Your formulation may lead to the setting up of training or consultation work with staff as well as, or instead of, direct clinical work with families. Despite the intensity of the work, it is brief in its duration since it is designed to help children, adolescents and families so that the stage that is ‘crisis’ can pass. Using the Thrive model, the CAIST team provide episodic care before transfer to core CAMHS or discharge from service.
We would like you to possess well developed specialist clinical, supervision and leadership skills, with particular depth of knowledge and experience in young person’s mental health and working successfully with families experiencing complex psychosocial difficulties.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached letter for a full description of the service and also please find attached the job description which outlines the key responsibilities and requirements of the role.
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
- Commitment to continuing professional development, to partnership working and to reflective clinical practice.
- Able to identify, and employ appropriate clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice.
Desirable
- Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Experience of providing specific support intervention and strategy for staff.
Skills
Essential
- Assessment, evaluation and management of risk associated with mental ill health and related psychopathology
- Use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management.
- Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively complex, highly technical and clinically highly sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
Desirable
- Production of reports suitable for public presentations and presentation in medicolegal setting
- High level knowledge in the assessment and evaluation of psychological therapies.
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
- Practitioner level knowledge of at least two models of psychological therapy.
- Providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
- Legislation and its implication for clinical practice and the appropriate management of people presenting with mental health problems.
- Creating and delivering presentations and training programmes in line with specialist knowledge.
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
- Application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
Desirable
- Working in the relevant service to support specialist knowledge
- Representing psychology within MDT setting (clinical and organisational contexts)
- Experience of clinical work in a setting relevant to the post.
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)
- Further Post Qualification post-graduate training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
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 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 gross per annum. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 20 Jul 2026.
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