Main area Mental Health Grade Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Happy to discuss flexible working.) Job ref 437-7347666
Employer Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Adult Forensic Services, Prestwich Site Town Manchester Salary £55,690 - £62,682 per annum pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 15/09/2025 23:59
Clinical and/or Forensic Psychologist
Band 8a
Job overview
Are you passionate about delivering excellent forensic care and keen to help shape the ongoing development of a Specialist Community Forensic Team (SCFT) ? This is a n excellent time to join our SCFT and become part of a skilled and supportive integrated multidisciplinary team. This post will be attractive to a forensically orientated Practitioner Psychologist wishing to use the full breadth of their psychological skills and knowledge.
This post is a full time permanent post and w e would warmly welcome hearing from potential candidates .
SCFT is part of GMMH’s Adult Forensic Services. SCFT adopts a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to achieve two primary functions: to assist service users to transition out of secure services and to support non-forensic services to help avoid unnecessary admissions into inpatient secure beds. This entails providing consultation to external teams to enhance risk formulation and management strategies to enable care to be delivered in the least restrictive setting, and to aid community reintegration by offering specialist forensic follow-up including forensic psychological interventions.
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will join the wider SCFT multidisciplinary team consisting of a consultant psychologist, consultant psychiatrist, assistant psychologists, CPNs, senior nurse, advanced clinical practitioner, clinical engagement workers and operational colleagues. You will:
* Contribute to the MDT forensic consultation process.
* Develop and sustain close working relationships with non-forensic teams.
* Deliver 1:1 and/or group interventions, as required.
* Engage in research, clinical audit and quality improvement initiatives, as agreed by the Consultant Psychologist, to support the SCFTs efficacy and ongoing development.
* Contribute to training which upskills the wider SCFT in relation to psychological concepts, interventions and tools etc.
* Clinically supervise and/or line management psychological professionals, as agreed with the Consultant Psychologist.
Working for our organisation
Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations.
We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford,Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.
Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.
Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.
Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description and person specification
* 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years
Person specification
Education
* Registered with the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist
* Additional further professional training and/or qualification, such as neuropsychology or therapeutic models (e.g. CBT, EMDR, schema therapy).
* Completion of post-graduate training in the clinical supervision of others.
Experience
* Experience working as a qualified clinical or forensic psychologist in forensic settings.
* Experience working with service users with severe mental health problems who engage in significantly risky behaviour(s).
* Experience providing psychological consultation (including formulation) to other professionals and professional groups.
* Experience interfacing with criminal justice systems, e.g. MAPPA and HMPPS
* Experience of teaching, training and supervising others.
* Experience supervising assistant psychologists and/or trainee psychologists.
Knowledge
* Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of psychological approaches to working with complex mental health difficulties (inc. personality and neurodevelopmental disorders) and significant, complex risk profiles.
* Knowledge of relevant legislation and its implications for clinical practice.
* Developed knowledge of research methodology, statistical analysis and publication-level written communication skills.
Skills
* Skills in conducting risk assessment, formulations and management plans
* Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
* Approved training in a specific therapeutic approach other than cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), such as mentalisation-based therapy (MBT), cognitive analytic therapy (CAT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT
Important Information about working for GMMH:
All positions within the Trust are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, for further information on the checks required please visit the NHS Employers website www.nhsemployers.org
The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.
Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.
The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications
A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application.The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.
We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.
Sponsorship
We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – clickhere .
If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.
The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it here .
Do you have experience outside the NHS?
We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.
We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment. Please contact our Recruitment Team for more information.
Please note, this vacancy may be closed at any time if sufficient applications have been received
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Name Dr Hannah Darrell-Berry Job title Care Group Lead for Psychological Services Email address hannah.darrell-berry@gmmh.nhs.uk Telephone number 0161 7739121
#J-18808-Ljbffr