Principal Applied Psychologist

Job overview

We're seeking an exceptional, experienced CBT practitioner and psychological leader to join our Wellbeing in Mind Team (WiMT) service as Principal Psychologist and CBT Lead for Children and Young People's Mental Health Services across North Yorkshire and York. WiMT is the local name for our Mental Health Support Teams.

This is a unique opportunity to combine strategic leadership, clinical expertise and service development within one of the country's largest MHST footprints. As a senior member of the WiMT Leadership Team, you will provide psychological and therapeutic leadership across a rapidly expanding service.

The successful candidate will be an HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist with current BABCP accreditation and extensive experience of delivering and supervising evidence-based CBT interventions with children and young people. You will provide expert clinical consultation, oversee therapeutic governance and lead the development of CBT practice.

Alongside your psychological leadership responsibilities within WiMT, you will act as the CBT Lead for Children and Young People's Mental Health Services, promoting high-quality CBT practice, workforce development and clinical excellence.

This role offers the opportunity to influence practice at scale, shape future service development and ensure children and young people receive high-quality, evidence-based psychological support within schools, colleges and community settings.

Main duties of the job

As Principal Psychologist and CBT Lead, you will provide psychological leadership, leading the development and implementation of psychologically informed, evidence-based practice. You will ensure high standards of clinical governance, quality assurance and therapeutic delivery, working closely with operational leaders and system partners.

Key responsibilities include:

• Acting as the senior psychological adviser within WiMT and providing professional leadership for psychological practice and governance.
• Leading the development of psychologically informed approaches across the service.
• Acting as CBT Lead for Children and Young People's Mental Health Services across North Yorkshire and York.
• Providing expert consultation on complex clinical presentations, service pathways and therapeutic practice.
• Delivering and overseeing supervision for EMHPs, Senior Wellbeing Practitioners and other clinicians delivering CBT interventions.
• Supporting workforce development.
• Leading service evaluation, clinical effectiveness, quality improvement and research activity in partnership with others.
• Influencing service transformation, policy implementation and strategic planning while building strong relationships with schools, colleges, local authorities, other services, public health teams and wider system partners.

This role would suit an experienced, innovative clinician passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people through strategic and clinical leadership.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

WiMT continues to expand significantly across North Yorkshire, York and Selby to meet national requirements of supporting 100% of education settings by 2030. This has created exciting opportunities for senior clinical leadership. This role has been established to provide strategic psychological oversight and specialist CBT leadership across a growing and increasingly complex system of care. The post is designed to ensure that service development, clinical governance, workforce capability and partnership working remain grounded in robust psychological expertise and evidence-based practice.

As Principal Psychologist, you will be responsible for providing visible and accessible psychological leadership across WiMT, ensuring the consistent delivery of high-quality interventions, strong clinical governance arrangements and psychologically informed decision making. Alongside the Service Manager and Advanced Clinical Specialist, you will be a key member of the WiMT Senior Leadership Team and contribute to service planning, operational development, workforce strategy and transformation programmes across the wider children and young people's mental health system.

You will provide expert consultation relating to complex presentations, maintain oversight of therapeutic pathways and support practitioners delivering interventions aligned with NICE guidance and evidence-based psychological models. Emphasis will be placed on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and systemic practice, underpinned by formulation-driven, trauma-informed and neuroaffirmative approaches, with the explicit aim of reducing inequalities in access and outcomes.

A key element of the role will be acting as the CBT Lead for Children and Young People's Mental Health Services across North Yorkshire, York and Selby. You will provide specialist leadership for CBT practice, support service-wide developments in psychological therapies and promote consistency, quality and innovation across services. The successful candidate must hold current BABCP accreditation and possess significant experience of delivering and supervising CBT interventions with children and young people.

You will oversee supervision structures for EMHPs, Senior Wellbeing Practitioners and other psychological therapy staff delivering governed psychological interventions, ensuring practitioners are supported to provide safe, effective and evidence-based care. Workforce development, reflective practice, consultation and the promotion of psychologically informed leadership will form an important part of the role.

You will also play a significant role in strengthening relationships with education settings and partners. This includes supporting senior mental health leads, Multi Academy Trusts, local authorities and specialist services to develop whole-school and college approaches to mental health and emotional wellbeing. The role requires an individual who can work confidently across organisational boundaries and contribute to system-wide approaches that improve outcomes for children, young people and families.

The successful candidate will be an HCPC-registered Practitioner Psychologist with substantial post-qualification experience in child and adolescent mental health services, significant experience working with educational settings and a strong track record of clinical leadership, service development and partnership working. Current BABCP accreditation and a recognised CBT supervision qualification are essential (e.g. PGCert in Clinical supervision for CYP IAPT). If all other essential criteria are met commitment to gain this supervision qualification within the first year of the role may be considered. The ability to travel independently between settings during the working day to undertake the role is essential.

Psychologists & Psychological Therapists provide key leadership roles within the Trust. To support this we have developed leadership profiles for each psychology band and the profile card associated with this post is attached on NHS Jobs. You can find more information about the NHS Leadership Academy’s Healthcare Leadership Model and the profiles at their website. We encourage you to look at these resources as they will play a part in the interview process.

This role may be eligible for sponsorship under the UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker route. However, sponsorship can only be provided where applicants meet the specific requirements, therefore, we recommend that you assess your eligibility before applying for this position.

Visit https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa

This job advert may close early if a high volume of applications have been received. If interested, please apply for this post as soon as possible.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.