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Job overview
Join a dynamic, forward-thinking team where your expertise can change lives.
Are you a passionate Clinical or Counselling Psychologist looking to make a meaningful impact with children and young people (CYP)? We are seeking a motivated and compassionate professional to join our supportive and innovative service.
This is an exciting time to join an established team as we evolve and develop our service model, offering real opportunities to contribute to its future direction.
You will deliver specialist psychological care to CYP with a wide range of complex needs, including those experiencing distress related to health conditions and neurodivergence. The role includes undertaking comprehensive psychological assessments and delivering creative, evidence-based interventions to individuals, families, and groups.
Alongside clinical work, there are opportunities to contribute to service development, provide supervision, support research activity, and work closely with multi-agency partners including education, social care, and CAMHS.
***Preference will be given to internal Trust staff, as well as ‘Priority’ and 'At Risk' status including NHS At Risk staff throughout Devon who are able to display recent relevant experience as dictated by the Person Specification.***
Main duties of the job
You will provide specialist clinical/counselling psychology services to CYP with complex needs, including those experiencing psychological distress related to health difficulties/neurodivergence. Your role involves conducting comprehensive assessments using a variety of tools and techniques, formulating and delivering highly specialised interventions to individuals, families, and groups, and evaluating treatment plans based on theoretical models and individual developmental history.
This position offers an excellent opportunity to develop and refine skills in short-term interventions and caseload management. You will work in a fast-paced clinical setting, managing around 15 clinical contacts per week. This role is ideal for someone seeking rich, diverse clinical experience within a structured and supportive framework.
You will also play a key role in supporting the multidisciplinary team through consultation, supervision, and joint working, liaising with professionals across health, education, and social care. Your responsibilities will include contributing to service development, engaging in teaching, supervision, research activities, and participating in statutory processes such as EHAT and EHCP.
A strong focus is placed on multi-agency collaboration, clinical leadership, and maintaining high professional standards grounded in evidence-based practice. You will participate in clinical supervision, keep accurate records, and pursue CPD.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- To provide a specialist clinical/counselling psychology assessments of individuals, families or groups with complex needs; gathering information from a range of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews
- To formulate, develop, provide and manage psychological interventions to individuals, families, carers or groups with complex presentations through highly specialised programmes of care. Intervention may be through individual therapy and/or family work using various models (e.g. cognitive, behavioural, systemic, developmental).
- To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
- Utilise a range of specialist assessment techniques including, psychometric testing and developmental assessment.
- To provide support to the wider service including psychological consultation with the MDT and psychosocial assessment and intervention for children and young people as required.
- To provide support to children and young people within the service as required. The service supports those with health difficulties and those children with neurodivergence. Be flexible to respond to service needs as appropriate which may mean working within other areas of the service.
- To contribute to the design and development of the service.
- Provide consultation, specialist advice and/or supervision to colleagues and those in other agencies, in the development and management of programmes of care.
- Communicate highly complex information with empathy and sensitivity to clients and families, possibly within a highly emotive atmosphere.
- Participate within the EHAT and/or EHCP processes and other statutory processes as required; ensuring information is shared appropriately with other professionals. Convene and chair multi-disciplinary meetings as appropriate.
For further details please see attached JD&PS.
Person specification
Other
Essential
- Proven ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for a variety of audiences
- Proven ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance to support and maintain clinical practice
- Proven ability to travel between sites
Qualifications
Essential
- 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 BPS
- HCPC Registered (includes awaiting registration)
Aptitude and Abilities
Essential
- Excellent time management and organisational skills
- Proven ability to communicate effectively, both 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.
- Competence in research and audit/evaluation
- Proven ability to represent psychology within a multi-disciplinary team
Disposition and Attitude
Essential
- Proven ability to successfully manage in a stressful environment
- Able to work both as part of a team and independently
- Skills to interact and communicate with a wide range of people
- Capacity to reflect and contain intense feelings evoked by exposure to distressing situations
Desirable
- Keen to be involved with service development
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Demonstrable experience of complex, specialist psychological assessment and treatment of children and young people across different care settings e.g. outpatient, community and inpatient.
- Demonstrable experience of multi-disciplinary team working
- Awareness: up to date with the NHS Agenda for children and young people, national directives and all Governance aspects
Desirable
- Proven ability to use test equipment to carry out psychometric assessment (e.g. WISC,WPPSI, developmental assessment, Schedule of Growing Skills II)
- Demonstrable clinical experience in range of children’s mental health work in a community setting
- Demonstrable clinical experience in a Paediatric setting either acute or community paediatrics.
- Computer literate e.g. proven knowledge of excel and use of video in therapy
- Demonstrable experience of providing teaching/ training and/or providing supervision
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Clinical/Counselling Psychologist with University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust in Plymouth, South West, England. It is listed as a Band 7 Psychologist role. The advertised salary is £49,387 - £56,515 Per Annum. The contract type is Permanent: Approximately 2 days home working. The application deadline is 29 Jul 2026.
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