# Clinical/Counselling Psychologist > NHS job listing from Job Clerk for Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. ## Canonical URLs - **HTML:** https://www.jobclerk.com/job/clinicalcounselling-psychologist/970be982-e8b0-41f0-a307-747a0e319fda - **Markdown:** https://www.jobclerk.com/job/clinicalcounselling-psychologist/970be982-e8b0-41f0-a307-747a0e319fda.md ## Summary - **Status:** Live - **Employer:** Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust - **Town:** Bracknell - **Region:** South East - **Country:** England - **Profession:** Psychologist - **Grade:** Band 8 - **Salary:** £57,528 - £64,750 per annum, pro rata - **Contract type:** 6 months (fixed term end date will be determined after pre-employment checks have been completed) - **Employment type:** Part time - 22.5 hours per week - **Closing date:** 2026-07-12T23:59:00.000Z - **Posted:** 2026-06-08T10:33:18.958Z - **Source information URL:** https://www.healthjobsuk.com/job/UK/Berkshire/Reading/Berkshire_Healthcare_NHS_Foundation_Trust/Psychology_MH_Inpatients/Psychology_MH_Inpatients-v8065392 - **Application URL:** https://apps.trac.jobs/job-advert/8065392?ShowJobAdvert=&feedid=9002 - **Employer website:** https://www.berkshirehealthcare.nhs.uk ## Job Content ### Job overview 6 MONTH FIXED TERM POST An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to work on an adult acute psychiatric inpatient ward as part of the Mental Health Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team at Prospect Park Hospital in Reading. This role would suit a candidate who is keen to apply a broad range of psychological skills, which would include consultation, formulation, behavioural support, therapeutic interventions, and contribution to service development. We welcome applications for this band 7 or 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist role.  There are opportunities for flexible working patterns which would include face-to-face clinical work as well as home working.  We are also flexible in accommodating requests for part-time working days. Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team overview Job satisfaction can come from numerous areas in this diverse role. Under supervision of a Principal Psychologist you will take on a clinical caseload with adults with complex mental health presentations.  You will provide regular input to the multi-disciplinary team on your ward in the form of consultation, team formulation sessions, teaching and joint working. You will be part of the Inpatients Psychological Therapies team, supervise the Assistant Psychologist on your ward, and also receive peer support from the other ward Clinical/Counselling Psychologists. You will contribute to and/or lead on service development projects. ### Main duties of the job - Work on allocated adult acute mental health ward - Offer psychological consultation to hospital staff (e.g. team formulation, teaching sessions, joint working, supervision and staff support groups). - Supervise Assistant Psychologist. - Clinical work with service users and carers involving assessment (including behavioural support assessments), formulation and interventions with varied and complex mental health presentations. - Contribute to service improvement initiatives in a ward/community team, as well as contributing to projects arising from the Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team. ### Detailed job description and main responsibilities The  “must haves” for you to be considered for this role: - Postgraduate doctoral qualification in Clinical or Counselling Psychology (or equivalent) - You will have experience working with adults and/or older adults with complex mental health problems and have excellent therapeutic and management skills. - You will enjoy working in teams and providing psychological consultation, teaching and supervision. - Calm, confident and assertive in emotionally demanding situations, you will be astute at setting and maintaining professional boundaries and will be efficient at dealing with distressing or hostile situations and behaviour. - Self-motivated and confident, you will show initiative and a determination to support clients and their families through creative engagement. This includes an ability to work integratively in your clinical work. For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification. We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted. We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed. Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible. ## Job Details 6 MONTH FIXED TERM POST An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to work on an adult acute psychiatric inpatient ward as part of the Mental Health Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team at Prospect Park Hospital in Reading. This role would suit a candidate who is keen to apply a broad range of psychological skills, which would include consultation, formulation, behavioural support, therapeutic interventions, and contribution to service development. We welcome applications for this band 7 or 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist role. There are opportunities for flexible working patterns which would include face-to-face clinical work as well as home working. We are also flexible in accommodating requests for part-time working days. Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team overview Job satisfaction can come from numerous areas in this diverse role. Under supervision of a Principal Psychologist you will take on a clinical caseload with adults with complex mental health presentations. You will provide regular input to the multi-disciplinary team on your ward in the form of consultation, team formulation sessions, teaching and joint working. You will be part of the Inpatients Psychological Therapies team, supervise the Assistant Psychologist on your ward, and also receive peer support from the other ward Clinical/Counselling Psychologists. You will contribute to and/or lead on service development projects. ## Job Description Work on allocated adult acute mental health ward Offer psychological consultation to hospital staff (e.g. team formulation, teaching sessions, joint working, supervision and staff support groups). Supervise Assistant Psychologist. Clinical work with service users and carers involving assessment (including behavioural support assessments), formulation and interventions with varied and complex mental health presentations. Contribute to service improvement initiatives in a ward/community team, as well as contributing to projects arising from the Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team. ## Responsibilities The “must haves” for you to be considered for this role: Postgraduate doctoral qualification in Clinical or Counselling Psychology (or equivalent) You will have experience working with adults and/or older adults with complex mental health problems and have excellent therapeutic and management skills. You will enjoy working in teams and providing psychological consultation, teaching and supervision. Calm, confident and assertive in emotionally demanding situations, you will be astute at setting and maintaining professional boundaries and will be efficient at dealing with distressing or hostile situations and behaviour. Self-motivated and confident, you will show initiative and a determination to support clients and their families through creative engagement. This includes an ability to work integratively in your clinical work. For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification. We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted. We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed. Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible. ## Person Specification ### Experience **Essential** - Demonstrable post qualification experience working as a qualified specialist practitioner in the area of specialism - Experience of working in evidence-based ways with services users (and their carers/families) presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the range of settings, 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 dealing with highly distressing or emotional circumstances, such as serious mental illness, child and sexual abuse, exploitation, and complex family dynamics - Experience of delivering interventions across different modalities (e.g. individual, group and systemic-based approaches) - Experience of working effectively in multi-disciplinary team and multi-agency environments - Experience of providing specialist advice and consultation to multi-disciplinary and multi-agency colleagues to support the psychological care of service users - Experience of providing effective clinical supervision, mentoring and leadership to junior staff - Experience of developing and delivering teaching to a range of staff groups - Experience of carrying out clinical audit, evaluative research and applying the findings - Experience of service evaluation, quality improvement work and of implementing change from this and from a national and local health or social care change agenda that impacts across services and professions - Experience of working with and addressing issues of diversity, including experience of working with diversity, multiculturalism, and equality of access to service **Desirable** - Experience of line managing staff (including junior psychological roles) ### Additional Requirements **Essential** - Able to work flexibly around working patterns as required - Ability to travel independently between locations in Berkshire to fulfil the requirements and duties of the position ### Knowledge, Skills & Abilities **Essential** - Demonstrable knowledge, skills and abilities in the practice of highly specialised assessment, formulation and intervention, relevant to the specialist modality and service area - Up to date knowledge of evidence, theory, research, policy and legislation in relation to the service area - 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 - Well-developed verbal and written communication skills enabling the sensitive communication of complex, technical and/or sensitive information to multiple stakeholders both within and outside the NHS - Well-developed interpersonal skills with the ability to support, influence and engage with clinicians, stakeholders and service users to create change and improvement. - The ability and skills to act as an advocate for the service, to engage and foster positive relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of the service within the wider health care system - Advanced IT skills and the ability to navigate various systems and software packages (such as RiO, Outlook, databases, MS Office/Teams, One Consultation and the Internet) ### Education/Qualifications/Training **Essential** - For Clinical/Counselling Psychologist: Post graduate doctorate in clinical or counselling psychology (or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996 or for those who completed their training overseas) - Registration with Health Care Professional Council (HCPC) as a Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical/Counselling) - (Eligibility for) Chartered Membership of British Psychological Society (BPS) - Additional training and accreditations (or working towards these) in relevant therapeutic approaches or psychological models to reflect post qualification interests/ specialism (e.g., specific therapy models, Health Psychology, Neuropsychology etc.) - Clinical supervision training for doctorate psychology trainees (BPS Registered course) and other qualified clinicians ### Continuous Professional Development **Essential** - Evidence of post-qualification training and expert knowledge in multiple psychological models and therapeutic approaches relevant to the post and service area. - Comprehensive and up to date knowledge of the current evidence-base and developments within the area of specialism - Training, and where relevant, accreditation in clinical supervision ## Documents - [working for us (pdf, 766.8kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?vdoc=10356196) - [values & behaviour framework (pdf, 454.2kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?vdoc=10356195) - [job description & person specification (pdf, 340.9kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?vdoc=10356194) ## Agent Notes - This Markdown page is generated from the same Job Clerk job record as the HTML job detail page. - Use the canonical HTML URL for user-facing references. - Use the application URL when the user wants to apply on the source NHS site.