Specialist or Highly Specialist Applied Psychologist

Go back Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

Specialist or Highly Specialist Applied Psychologist

The closing date is 04 October 2026

We are looking to recruit a permanent Band 7 Applied Psychologist or Band 8a Highly Specialist Psychologist to join our LD Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team in Teesside covering all four localities (Stockton, Hartlepool, Redcar and Middlesbrough). The successful candidate will join a supportive and collaborative multi-disciplinary team, leading on and delivering psychological assessments, formulations and therapies within the LD Getting More Help CAMHS Team.

Applicants should ideally have experience in working within CAMHSand show strong patient-centred values. The successful applicant will be enthusiastic, motivated, and demonstrate a commitment to delivering excellent mental health care and evidence-based interventions.

The post holder will have a key role in providing both psychological assessments and psychological therapy.

This post is open to candidates who are either already meeting the essential criteria for a Band 8a Highly Specialist Applied Psychologist, or those who meet the essential criteria for a Band 7 Specialist Applied Psychologist who would be interested in undertaking this as a developmental post with a supportive plan for development and progression in due course.

Main duties of the job

In addition to direct clinical work, and where necessary clinical supervision to other team members regarding patients is an important element of the role.

The post holder will provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulation and therapies with individuals, families and teams as part of an MDT approach. Alongside direct clinical work, providing consultation, training and where required clinical supervision to other team members as well as trainee and assistant psychologists are all integral part of the role.

As a senior member of the team, the post holder will be expected to demonstrate good leadership skills in supporting MDT colleagues to work psychologically and use person-centred principles across their work. This includes supervision, advice, consultation and training. The post holder will work within a compassionate, collective leadership approach and will be a key member of the leadership within the team. This is a role where innovation and engagement in research and development activity are actively encouraged.

Due to the nature of the role, it is essential that applicants are able to travel independently across the locality and have access to a suitable vehicle for business purposes. If necessary, adjustments can be considered in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

About us

We are the Mental Health & Learning Disability NHS Trust for County Durham and Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.

From education and prevention, to crisis and specialist care --our talented and compassionate teams work in partnership with our patients, communities and partners to help the people of our region feel safe, understood, believed in and cared for.

We nurture the recovery journey of anyone in need of our help. In Our Trust, everyone has a say in how they are supported and treated because we listen to every person in our care until they feel understood. Our patients, their families and carers work together with us towards better mental health.

We're committed to new thinking that improves the wellbeing of our region. We connect with our communities and partners to get mental health care right, in areas that really need it.

We won't rest until everyone in our region has the mental health care they need, to lead their best possible life.

Job responsibilities

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

We welcome applications from staff who are currently coming to the end of their training in Clinical or counselling psychology that on successful completion will achieve the required qualification and registration with HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist. Trainee counselling psychologists are eligible to apply for and to be shortlisted for interview and to be offered qualified posts when they are in their 3rd year of the doctoral training and have the following confirmed as completed by the university. This information may be requested prior to interview: a. All clinical competencies. b. 80% of the 450 supervised clinical practice hours (360 hours)

Trainee clinical psychologists are eligible to apply for and to be shortlisted for interview and to be offered qualified posts when they are in their third year of training, as they will have completed their core clinical competencies by this stage of the course.

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 Academys 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.

The successful candidate will benefit from being part of a larger group of Psychologists across other TEWV Trust services

We encourage opportunities to undertake service development activities.

We have strong links to the local Doctoral Programmes in Clinical Psychology at Teesside and Hull Universities and the Doctoral Programme in Counselling Psychology at York St John University. There are excellent opportunities for peer support/ supervision, CPD, teaching/ training, research, and audit.

We are also very keen to support practitioners obtain further professional training if required, dependent on service need, this might include training such as EMDR; Flash EMDR; CAT; PBS; Systemic Family Therapy, etcetera.

We are one of the largest specialist mental health and learning disabilities trusts in the country, operating from over one hundred sites in Durham, Teesside and across York and North Yorkshire. Locally, we have close links with psychological professionals working across Mental Health Services across the Care Group, as well as across other areas and specialties.

Please find the attached job description and person specifications which outlines the main duties and responsibilities of the role andto ensure that you meet the role criteria before applying.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist
• Post doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice - Band 8a
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Post-graduate training (doctoral level equivalent) in clinical / counselling / forensic psychology (or its equivalent prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS.
• Trained in clinical supervision and the supervision of doctoral trainees for 8a
• Post-graduate training (doctoral level equivalent) in clinical / counselling / forensic psychology (or its equivalent prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS- Band 7
• Registration with BPS
• Post-graduate qualification showing evidence of supervised practice in an evidence-based psychological therapeutic model

Experience

• Working as a qualified applied psychologist within the designated service including a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and a range of clinical severity across a range of care settings- Band 8a
• Exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care as a care coordinator within the context of a multidisciplinary team- Band 8a
• Working with mental health/learning disability clients (depending on designated service area- Band 7
• Multi-disciplinary team working- Band 7
• Teaching, training and clinical supervision and field supervisor for doctoral theses.- Band 8a
• Research and development- Band 8a
• Quality and service improvement and evaluation- Band 8a
• Experience of CBT, DBT, Psychodynamics, systematic therapy
• Experience of research and audit

Knowledge / Skills

• Doctoral level knowledge of: Evidence- based practice relevant to the role
• Risk assessment and risk management
• Clinical governance
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
• Audit and research methodology
• Social Inclusion agenda
• Knowledge of: The Trust's Quality Improvement System
• Experience of joint working with statutory, voluntary and private sector agencies

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

£49,387 to £64,750 a yearpro rata, per annum

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