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Job overview
Are you ready to lead transformation at the front door of mental health care?
As the principal clinical psychologist within our 24/7 Initial Response Service, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring people receive the right support at the earliest point of contact. Working across IRS, Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment (CRHT) services and NHS 111 Mental Health Services, you will provide expert clinical leadership in psychologically informed triage, formulation, risk assessment and crisis decision-making.
The post offers the opportunity to influence practice at both clinical and system levels. You will support and develop multidisciplinary teams through consultation, supervision, training and reflective practice, while championing trauma-informed, autism-informed and psychologically informed care. You will also lead service improvement and transformation initiatives, helping to develop innovative, evidence-based pathways that improve access, safety and outcomes for people experiencing mental health crises.
We are looking for an experienced clinical psychologist with strong leadership skills, a passion for improving urgent care services and the ability to work collaboratively across organisational boundaries to drive meaningful change. This is an excellent opportunity to make a tangible impact on the quality, effectiveness and responsiveness of mental health crisis care.
Main duties of the job
- Provide psychological leadership within IRS, CRHT and NHS 111 mental health services.
- Lead psychologically informed triage, formulation, risk assessment and risk management for complex, urgent and crisis presentations.
- Deliver expert clinical consultation regarding managing crisis presentations.
- Provide structured consultation and supervision to IRS staff.
- Support NHS 111 clinicians with formulation, risk assessment and psychologically informed decision-making.
- Develop and align psychological practice across IRS, CRHT and NHS 111 to evidence-based and best-practice standards.
- Provide training, reflective practice sessions and post-incident reflections to multidisciplinary teams.
- Support the delivery of trauma-informed, autism-informed and psychologically informed care.
- Contribute to patient safety processes, after-action reviews and the production of reports.
- Develop integrated pathways with system partners including NHS 111, primary care, crisis services and acute care pathways.
- Lead and support urgent care service transformation, pathway development and continuous quality improvement initiatives.
- Promote a standardized approach to safety planning, clinical decision-making and risk formulation across services.
- Work collaboratively across organizational and system boundaries to improve access, reduce duplication and enhance service user and carer experience.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We are seeking an experienced and innovative principal clinical psychologist to play a key leadership role in our Initial Response Service (IRS) – a 24/7 single point of access service. The role focuses on psychologically informed triage; formulation; risk management; staff support and service transformation, to ensure people receive the right help at the first point of contact. The postholder will need to have the ability to work flexibly, as IRS is 24/7, where peak demand is expected to be outside of normal working hours.
Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!
Some of the benefits you can expect:
- NHS pension
- a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
- career progression
- starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
- staff physio service
- NHS discounts and many more.
Interview dates are yet to be set; you will be contacted via email and invited to book a time. These emails may go to your SPAM, so please keep checking all your emails if applying.
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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.
Person specification
Other
Essential
- 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.
- Ability to travel Independently
- Undertake physical intervention training and remain trained in techniques, as required by role
Desirable
- Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Experience of providing specific support intervention and strategy for staff.
Skills
Essential
- Use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management.
- Assessment, evaluation and management of risk associated with mental ill health and related psychopathology.
- 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 medico-legal setting.
- High level knowledge in the assessment and evaluation of psychological therapies.
Knowledge
Essential
- Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnosis, people with additional disabilities etc.)
- Practitioner level knowledge of at least two models of psychological therapy.
- Legislation and its implication for clinical practice and the appropriate management of people presenting with mental health problems
Experience
Essential
- Specialist complex psychological assessment and treatment of people with a wide range of mental health problems, of varying severity and complexity.
- 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.
Desirable
- 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
- Further post-qualification, post-graduate training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
- 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 with Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in County Hall. 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 31 Aug 2026.
Before you apply, compare the job description with the person specification and mirror the employer's essential criteria in your supporting information. Use the vacancy title, employer, location, salary, contract type, closing date and posted date (19 Aug 2026) to decide whether this role fits your current NHS job search. If the employer can close applications early, prepare the application before the stated deadline rather than waiting for the final day.
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