Senior Clinical Psychologist/Senior Psychotherapist - Band 8a

Job summary

12 month maternity cover Fixed Term.

The South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust are pleased to offer an exciting opportunity to join our Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Team for a 12 month fixed term to cover for maternity leave. We are currently recruiting for 30hrs 8a Clinical Psychologist/Counselling Psychologist/Senior CBT/EMDR Psychotherapist to work in the Wakefield locality.

We are looking for a highly motivated HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist/Counselling Psychologist/Senior CBT/EMDR therapist. (if you require the Job Description and Person Specification for these post please contact Claire.Lowe@swyt.nhs.uk)The posts are supported in the service by a Principal Clinical Psychologist and there is specialist supervision available.

All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to have their up-to-date flu vaccination to protect staff and patients.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will provide psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for women experiencing complex mental health issues during pregnancy and the first 2 years postnatally, alongside their babies and families. The post also involves working closely with colleagues across the specialist multidisciplinary team and will include providing clinical supervision and consultation to multidisciplinary colleagues. The post requires excellent communication skills alongside competence in working with and managing risk in relation to both mother and baby.

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the unique challenges of working with women during the perinatal period. Experience of working clinically with parent-infant relationships, couples/families or groups would be advantage.

The post advertised is to work in the Wakefield area but travel across the Trusts footprint is required on an ad-hoc basis as we are a trust wide service to help manage capacity and demand. The Service operates Monday-Friday; 9.00am-5.00pm however successful applicants would be expected to have the flexibility to work occasional extended hours to facilitate service effectiveness. Car driver essential.

Please contact Claire Lowe Perinatal Service Manager claire.lowe@swyt.nhs.uk for further details or Jo Yates Perinatal Principal Clinical Psychologist joanna.yates@swyt.nhs.uk.

About us

We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the west Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.

Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, we do this by providing high-quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non-clinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families and carers.

We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we value diversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.

Being a foundation Trust means were accountable to our members, who can have a say in how were run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.

Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.

We do reserve to right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.

Details

• Date posted: 21 October 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 8a
• Salary: £57,528 to £64,750 a year
• Contract: Fixed term
• Duration: 12 months
• Working pattern: Part-time, Flexible working
• Reference number: C9378-CK2571
• Job locations: Dewsbury District Hospital, 8 Fox View, Dewsbury, WF13 4DT, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

JOB SUMMARY

This job description is an outline of the main duties of the post. The postholder will be required to undertake other duties commensurate with the grade as directed.The content of this post will be reviewed in consultation with the postholder when necessary and in line with the service developments.

JOB PURPOSE:

The post holder will provide a high quality specialist clinical psychology service to clients as part of the multidisciplinary team within the service.

Provide highly specialist psychological assessment and intervention.

Provide advice and consultation on psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues, and other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines, and the overall framework of the team and trusts policies and procedures.

Supervise and support Psychology Assistants, Trainees and Band 7 HCPC Registered Clinical Psychologists.

To utilise research skills for audit, policy, service development and research within the areas served by the team/service.

JOB DIMENSIONS:

(e.g. budgetary or supervisory responsibilities)

To offer consultation and supervision when required by other agencies involved in the psychological, emotional and behavioural well-being of serive users

To provide supervision of Band 7 Clinical Psychologists, doctoral level clinical psychology trainees, assistant psychologists and trainees from other disciplines as appropriate.

For full job description, please see attached supporting documents.

At the time of advertising, this role does meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. We look forward to receiving your application.

We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Over reliance on AI-generated content in application forms is strongly discouraged and we will conduct a thorough screening process before selecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).