Consultant Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Job overview

Interview will be held on 17th Dec 2025

An exciting opportunity has arisen to work in an innovative service within Berkshire Healthcare- the Family Safeguarding Service.  This service forms the mental health component of the multidisciplinary ‘Family Safeguarding Model’.  It is a collaboration between health services and local authority Children’s Social Care services (Bracknell Forest Council and West Berks Council). The Family Safeguarding Model is a multiagency initiative, where mental health, domestic abuse practitioners and alcohol and substance misuse recovery workers are co-located within Children’s Social Care, to provide a ‘whole family’ approach to safeguarding children.

The service supports adults, who are experiencing difficulties with their emotional wellbeing and mental health, to meet the needs of their children and to better safeguard them. Improving parental mental health, improves family functioning and the outcomes for children, and contributes to the service aims of keeping families together.

Flexible working is available, with a combination of home visits, on-site appointments and remote working.

This is a 12 month fixed term contract but we will be considering secondment options for internal candidates.

Main duties of the job

• Overall responsibility for the Family Safeguarding Service, ensuring that the service has effective clinical, quality and performance governance, including digital systems and processes

• Lead the development of the Family Safeguarding Service to maximise its contribution, ensuring developments are aligned with Trust, local systems and national strategy, policy and practice drivers

• Work as an integral member of a co-located multi-disciplinary team, which includes children’s social workers, domestic abuse and substance misuse specialists, as well as mental health practitioners and clinical psychologists, to safeguard and reduce risks to children
• Contribute to the holistic approach, recognising the impact on children where parents have mental health difficulties and limited coping strategies, as well as problems arising from domestic abuse, and parental alcohol and substance misuse
• Provide evidence-based opinion on the role of parental mental health and share this with the MDT through review meetings such as Child in Need reviews and Child Protection Case Conferences

• Lead the service in undertaking specialist clinical work to engage clients in expert assessment and formulation based on relevant theory and research.  They will provide evidence-based psychological interventions to improve parental mental health and improve outcomes for the most vulnerable children and their families

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The “must haves” for this role:

• A team player with experience of multidisciplinary working and working flexibly

• A holistic understanding of mental health needs and the intergenerational impact of mental health and trauma upon family functioning

• A desire to support families to improve outcomes for parents and their children

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.

We have identified that this is a role where we have underrepresentation of ethnically diverse colleagues. As part of our commitment to inclusion and Unity Against Racism we offer guaranteed interviews to candidates who meet the essential criteria and identify as: Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British, Mixed and ‘Other’ Ethnic Groups.

We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to contact: Catherine Farr, email :  [email protected]  or Poppy Law [email protected] who’ll be delighted to help or to arrange a phone call to discuss further.

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.

We have identified that this is a role where we have underrepresentation of ethnically diverse colleagues. As part of our commitment to inclusion and Unity Against Racism we offer guaranteed interviews to candidates who meet the essential criteria and identify as: Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British, Mixed and ‘Other’ Ethnic Groups.