Job summary
Band 7/8a Practitioner Psychologists (Forensic/Counselling/ Clinical) with Preceptorship
Are you a motivated and compassionate Practitioner Psychologist seeking a meaningful and impactful role within forensic mental health? We warmly invite you to apply to join our dedicated team working within our Secure Care and Offender Health (SCOH) Division.
This role will initially be based full-time at Tamarind (1.0 WTE) for the first year, with an exciting opportunity thereafter to share your time across another service within the division to broaden your experience and expertise, whilst helping you maintain good mental health. The split will be developed collaboratively to best meet your professional development and the needs of the division.
As part of our team, you will work alongside a multi-disciplinary group of professionals providing safe, containing, and connected psychological care and advice. Your focus will be on supporting individuals with complex presentations, many of whom have experienced trauma, neglect, and adverse life experiences alongside offending histories. Together, we support service users to understand their mental health and offending behaviours within a recovery-focused framework.
Main duties of the job
We seek a Practitioner Psychologist who
Brings integrity, warmth, and robustness in working with a diverse and complex population.
Has a passion for collaborative, cross-disciplinary partnership working, embedding trauma-informed and recovery-focused practices
Is eager to contribute to the evolving culture of care, balancing therapeutic work with effective risk management.
Is interested in using and developing skills across a range of psychological models, including CBT, CAT, EMDR, DBT, Compassion Focused Therapy, Schema Therapy, and ACT
Has familiarity with structured clinical judgement tools and psychometric assessments
Can compassionately challenge systems and colleagues to foster continual improvement and psychological mindedness across the service.
Values authentic, down-to-earth, open communication and embraces the rich diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives within our team.
We warmly encourage newly qualified Band 7 practitioners interested in forensic settings to apply. We offer structured preceptorship and supervision to support your journey towards the full Band 8A role over time.
In this role, you will have the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to service development, research, and the pursuit of therapeutic excellence within a supportive and inclusive environment. To support your professional growth and well-being, you will engage in model-specific group supervision as well as regular clinical and managerial supervision..
About us
Welcome to Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Our 4000 clinical and support staff help us to improve mental health wellbeing and meet the needs of the 70,000 people we serve each year. We provide a range of mental healthcare services across Birmingham and Solihull, as well as specialised services nationally. We also offer medical, nursing and psychology training and are proud of our international reputation for both research and innovation.
Our population is culturally diverse, characterised in places by high levels of deprivation which create an increasing demand for our services and a necessity for us to make sure everyone can access the help they need. We are a team of compassionate, inclusive and committed people working together to provide excellent care to support our community. If you are looking for a place to belong, where you can make a real difference to people's lives, join our team where our warm welcome is waiting for you.
Job description
Job responsibilities
For further information about the main responsibilities please view the attached job description and person specification.
Psychology recruitment (youtube.com)
Job description
Job responsibilities
For further information about the main responsibilities please view the attached job description and person specification.
Psychology recruitment (youtube.com)
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Satisfactory completion of a British Psychological Society accredited Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training course in clinical/forensic psychology completion of which includes the study of models of psychopathology, psychometric and neuropsychological assessment, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
- Eligibility for entry onto the Register of Chartered Psychologists
Experience
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and individual and group based treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including primary and secondary/ specialist care and inpatient/residential, outpatient and community team settings.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, including forensic contexts with clients of all ages across the lifespan and of wide-ranging presenting problems that reflect the full spectrum of clinical complexity and severity.
Desirable
- At least 2 years post qualification experience, and formal training in supervision, enabling the post holder to independently supervise psychology trainees in accordance with relevant criteria adopted by local University Psychology Training Courses criteria.
Knowledge
Essential
- Well developed theoretical and practical knowledge of the field of clinical psychology, consistent with doctoral level professional training and further post qualification study, training and supervised experience during a minimum of 18 to 24 months as a Specialist Clinical/Forensic Psychologist.
- Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) including the ability to empathically, sensitively and effectively communicate clinical and condition related information to clients, their families, carers and professional colleagues (within and outside the NHS) that is extremely complicated or technical; extremely sensitive and potentially distressing to the recipient; or that is extremely contentious or challenging.
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment commensurate with doctoral level training, including specialist clinical interviewing, behavioural observation, complex psychometric testing and specialist neuropsychological testing.
- Skills in providing consultation and advice from a psychological perspective to members of other professional and non-professional groups
- Awareness and understanding of the differential needs of people from black and minority ethnic groups and of the service issues arising within a multicultural urban area.
Desirable
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific 'difficult to treat' groups (e.g. personality disorder, challenging behaviour, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
- Knowledge of relevant legislation and DoH policy and implementation guidelines in relation to mental health in general and the client group with which this post is concerned.
Personal
Essential
- Ability to interact and to build and sustain relationships with people with mental health problems and associated disabilities
- Is a 'team player' and has demonstrated ability to work and deliver to team and organisational objectives
- Ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines.
Other
Essential
- Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
- Awareness and understanding of the purpose and mechanisms of clinical governance and an ability to employ such mechanisms to maintain and improve standards of clinical practice
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Satisfactory completion of a British Psychological Society accredited Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training course in clinical/forensic psychology completion of which includes the study of models of psychopathology, psychometric and neuropsychological assessment, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
- Eligibility for entry onto the Register of Chartered Psychologists
Experience
Essential
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and individual and group based treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including primary and secondary/ specialist care and inpatient/residential, outpatient and community team settings.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, including forensic contexts with clients of all ages across the lifespan and of wide-ranging presenting problems that reflect the full spectrum of clinical complexity and severity.
Desirable
- At least 2 years post qualification experience, and formal training in supervision, enabling the post holder to independently supervise psychology trainees in accordance with relevant criteria adopted by local University Psychology Training Courses criteria.
Knowledge
Essential
- Well developed theoretical and practical knowledge of the field of clinical psychology, consistent with doctoral level professional training and further post qualification study, training and supervised experience during a minimum of 18 to 24 months as a Specialist Clinical/Forensic Psychologist.
- Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) including the ability to empathically, sensitively and effectively communicate clinical and condition related information to clients, their families, carers and professional colleagues (within and outside the NHS) that is extremely complicated or technical; extremely sensitive and potentially distressing to the recipient; or that is extremely contentious or challenging.
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment commensurate with doctoral level training, including specialist clinical interviewing, behavioural observation, complex psychometric testing and specialist neuropsychological testing.
- Skills in providing consultation and advice from a psychological perspective to members of other professional and non-professional groups
- Awareness and understanding of the differential needs of people from black and minority ethnic groups and of the service issues arising within a multicultural urban area.
Desirable
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific 'difficult to treat' groups (e.g. personality disorder, challenging behaviour, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
- Knowledge of relevant legislation and DoH policy and implementation guidelines in relation to mental health in general and the client group with which this post is concerned.
Personal
Essential
- Ability to interact and to build and sustain relationships with people with mental health problems and associated disabilities
- Is a 'team player' and has demonstrated ability to work and deliver to team and organisational objectives
- Ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines.
Other
Essential
- Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
- Awareness and understanding of the purpose and mechanisms of clinical governance and an ability to employ such mechanisms to maintain and improve standards of clinical practice
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
