Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

Job overview

We are delighted to announce an exciting opportunity for a one year fixed-term post (Jan-Dec 2026) for a Band 8a Clinical / Counselling Psychologist in the Traumatic Stress Service. We will also consider applications to enter the post at Band 7 from applicants who can demonstrate significant experience of providing evidence-based treatments for PTSD e.g. tf-CBT or EMDR.

The Traumatic Stress Service is a tertiary-level specialist service which provides psychological assessment and evidence-based treatment to people with PTSD and associated conditions. People treated at the service have experienced traumatic events in adulthood such as physical or sexual assault, torture or serious accidents. Approximately half of patients referred are refugees or asylum-seekers.

The service provides assessment and NICE guideline recommended treatments for PTSD: trauma-focussed CBT (tf-CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR).

You will join a team of 1 Consultant Clinical Psychologist, 3 Clinical Psychologists, 2 Counselling Psychologists, Trainee Clinical Psychologists and 1 Assistant Psychologist.

The service has a strong commitment to research and evidence-based practice, with regular opportunities for CPD and specialist supervision.  The service has also been involved in several research projects including a multi-site RCT of cognitive therapy for complex PTSD.

Main duties of the job

The post is primarily a clinical post, alongside which there are opportunities to be involved in clinical research, supervision, consultation, and delivering training to the Trust and more widely.

The post is for a qualified clinical or counselling psychologist registered with the Health & Care Professions Council and who has at least 18 months post qualification experience. We are particularly interested in recruiting someone with a strong interest and experience of working with people with PTSD and associated difficulties.  We will also consider applications for those with less than 18 months post qualification experience to enter the post at Band 7, if they can demonstrate significant experience in providing evidence-based treatments for PTSD e.g. tf-CBT or EMDR.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
• To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy in the treatment of acute and chronic/complex PTSD, as recommended by the NICE guidelines for PTSD.
• To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, employed individually and in combination, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing on several different explanatory theoretical models and maintaining several provisional hypotheses.
• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options considering both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
• To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals, as appropriate, to assist in the formulation, diagnosis and treatment of clients presenting with acute and chronic/complex PTSD.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for relevant individual clients and to provide general advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management, as well as to external agencies concerned with Public Protection, such as Social Services, Probation, Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).
• To provide reports and communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients to other health professionals, family and carers, the client, legal professionals and other relevant agencies.