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Job overview
Are you an experienced clinician looking for a new challenge and shape the future of psychological care in Milton Keynes CAMHS?
Milton Keynes CAMHS is a Tier 3 specialist multi-disciplinary service, incorporating the Single Point of Access (referrals), Core CAMHS (with a mood and anxiety pathway), and an ADHD pathway. The specialist service works closely with the Liaison & Intensive Support (crisis and home treatment) team, Mental Health Support Team (schools-based support), and the Looked After Children service, as well as other partners in education, social care and the third sector. The Principal Psychologist will join a Lead Consultant Psychologist and a Consultant in Looked After Children team, and Senior Psychologists as well as Family, Arts, CBT and EMDR therapists in delivering specialist psychological care to a diverse range of young people with moderate to severe mental health difficulties and their carers and networks.
With other operational staff, the post holder will contribute to the development and delivery of psychological care; overseeing pathways and waiting lists, innovating where flexibility and creativity are required, and supporting and developing staff in a containing and empowering way. They will play a key role in the strategic development of services, translating policy into practice and ensuring high quality of care.
Main duties of the job
- To develop, co-ordinate and ensure the systematic provision of a psychology service to children and young people (CYP) with mental health difficulties, and personally provide highly specialist clinical input, predominantly in core CAMHS but also across the whole service.
- To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.
- To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate, functioning as a lead specialist in CAMHS.
- To ensure that systems are in place and working effectively for the clinical and professional supervision and support of other psychological staff within CAMHS.
- To undertake service evaluation, audit, research and policy development.
- To work as an autonomous professional within BPS and HCPC guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by principles and policies or procedures of the service, taking responsibility for interpreting policies within defined parameters.
- To agree outcomes/results with clinical/professional lead and to decide how they are best achieved.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- To develop, co-ordinate and ensure the systematic provision of a highly specialist psychology service to CAMHS.
- To provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in CAMHS including working with high levels of acuity and risk, and experience of working with the interface between physical and mental health.
- To provide a lead role in the ongoing development of trauma informed care and recovery oriented practice for young people.
- To work in conjunction with the inpatient wards and community services to ensure seamless patients’ pathways and rapid assessments of service users’ needs.
Person specification
SKills
Essential
- To deliver psychological therapy across cultural and other differences.
- To select and administer specialist psychological assessments, interpreting and integrating complex data that require analysis, interpretation and comparison, drawn from several sources, on which expert opinion may differ.
- To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information.
- To plan and schedule assessment and interventions for individual clients and groups and carers, and to organise meetings such as CPAs and case reviews, and joint activities with staff of partner agencies.
- To plan projects and work schedules for groups of psychologists.
- To be expert in the skilled administration of psychometric tests, including skilled manipulation of test materials; and to be able to supervise others in administration of psychometric tests.
- Well-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data.
- Skills in providing teaching and training to other professional groups (
Abilities
Essential
- Ability to work effectively within a multi disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles.
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate.
- Ability to develop and use complex multi media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings
- Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions, and to deal with unexpected interruptions or changes during these.
- Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive behaviour.
- Ability to manage verbal aggression and hostility directed at self.
- Ability to manage physical aggression directed at self, including use of physical interventions as prescribed by Trust policies.
Knowledge
Essential
- Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies.
- Advanced theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base. for the relevant treatment
- Advanced knowledge of psychological assessment and clinical psychometrics.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities.
- Doctoral level knowledge of psychological research methodology and complex statistical analysis.
- Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability and accessibility of mental health care.
Desirable
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities, autistic spectrum disorders).
Experience
Essential
- Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision in crisis or acute mental health settings, and / or physical health settings.
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature.
- Experience of supervising assistant and trainee psychologists having completed the relevant training.
- Experience of providing teaching and training to psychologists or other professional groups.
- Post-qualification experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities.
- Experience of carrying out post-doctoral research, audit or service evaluation projects.
- Experience of proposing and implementing service development projects within own service area.
Desirable
- Record of publications in either peer reviewed, academic or professional journals/books
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
- Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings.
- Experience of working in a hospital settinExperience of working within a liaison model.g
- Experience of managing both mental and physical health care needs concurrently.
Qualifications
Essential
- Entry-level qualification in Applied Psychology (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level additional training) that has been accepted by the HCPC for purposes of professional registration as a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist.
- Additional training in a specialised area of psychological practice through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses, or an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice–based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice, assessed by an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma.
- Completed training course in clinical supervision.
- Registered with the HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist, and evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
Desirable
- Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice particularly DBT.
- BABCP accreditation
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Principal (Applied) Psychologist with Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust in London, London, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Psychologist role. The advertised salary is £66,582 - £77,368 per annum pro rata. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 25 Jun 2026.
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