Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Principal Psychologist in Cancer
The closing date is 17 June 2026
This post is based within the Wolverhampton Cancer Service and offers an excellent opportunity to work within a compassionate, psychologically informed, and highly collaborative multidisciplinary cancer pathway. The successful applicant will provide highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation, and evidence‑based therapeutic interventions for people affected by cancer, alongside support for families, carers, and wider systems where appropriate.
The service works closely with Macmillan Services, Living With and Beyond Cancer Services, oncology, haematology, palliative care, specialist nursing teams, and wider multidisciplinary colleagues, supporting patients throughout all stages of their cancer journey, including diagnosis, active treatment, survivorship, recurrence, palliative care, and end‑of‑life care.
The post holder will work with individuals presenting with a broad range of highly complex psychological and emotional difficulties associated with cancer and physical illness, including adjustment difficulties, anxiety, depression, trauma responses, fear of recurrence, existential distress, complex grief, relationship challenges and co‑morbidity mental and physical health presentations.
Main duties of the job
Psychology is highly valued within the cancer multidisciplinary teams, with psychologists contributing through regular MDT attendance, psychologically informed consultation, reflective practice, formulation, clinical supervision, staff support and teaching. The successful applicant will play a key role in strengthening psychologically informed approaches across cancer services and supporting the ongoing integration of psychology within physical healthcare pathways.
As a Principal Psychologist you will play a significant leadership role within the service, contributing to strategic service development, pathway innovation, governance and quality improvement initiatives. The role will include providing clinical leadership, highly specialist consultation, supervision and support to psychologists and wider multidisciplinary colleagues, alongside contributing to the wider operational and professional development of the Clinical Health Psychology Service.
The successful applicant will work alongside other Principal Psychologists and applied psychologists, with support from a Consultant Clinical Psychologist within a robust leadership, supervision and governance structure. The wider psychology network provides excellent opportunities for collaborative working, innovation, peer support and professional development across physical health services.
About us
Employees, workers and / or contractors will be expected to uphold the values of the Trust and exhibit the expected Trust behaviours aligned to the Trust’s values. Individuals have a responsibility to ensure that they display the Trust values and behaviours in carrying out their job and that individuals feel able to challenge (or raise a challenge) when other colleagues’ behaviours breach the spirit of Trust values.
The post holder will benefit from joining a supportive and enthusiastic team of practitioner psychologists and psychological professionals who utilise a broad range of therapeutic approaches, including CBT, ACT, Compassion Focused Therapy, systemic approaches and trauma‑informed models of care.
Job responsibilities
Provides highly specialist psychological assessment of clients with highly complex and contentious conditions based on the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of data from a variety of sources, which may include neuropsychological testing.
* 1.2. Responsible for recognising the potential for or signs of client harm, abuse or neglect, including poor clinical practice, reporting all such concerns and taking all reasonable steps to protect the client. Responsible for identifying and reporting concerns regarding the safeguarding of children who may be at risk.
* 1.3. Undertakes risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and provides highly specialist advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management and the high physical risks inherent in the client group.
* 1.4. Formulates plans for highly specialist psychological therapy and/or management of clients’ mental health conditions based upon an appropriate conceptual framework and evidence‑based practice. Negotiates the implementation of such plans with clients and/or their carers.
* 1.5. Implements a range of highly specialist psychological therapies for individual clients, carers, families and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations as required.
* 1.6. Undertakes highly skilled evaluations and makes decisions about treatment options.
Person Specification
Education / Qualifications
* Post‑graduate doctoral level training in applied Psychology (or its equivalent) as accredited by the BPS including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
* HCPC registration as an Applied Psychologist with Chartered Status
* Trained in clinical supervision and the supervision of doctoral trainees
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.
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.
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