Go back South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
Clinical/Counselling Psychologist
The closing date is 18 November 2025
The South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust are pleased to offer an exciting opportunity to join our Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Team. We are currently recruiting for 1x wte 8a Clinical Psychologist/Counselling Psychologist/Senior CBT psychotherapist with additional training in at least 1 other modality such as EMDR, to cover the Wakefield locality.
We are looking for a highly motivated HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist/Counselling Psychologist/Senior CBT Therapist. We are also able to offer preceptorship for people looking to develop their expertise in the perinatal field and applicants will be recruited at band 7 or 8a according to experience. We support continuing professional development and there will be opportunities to take on further training in specialist interventions or therapies as agreed in line with management. 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 be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect 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 providing clinical supervision to multidisciplinary colleagues and 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 an advantage.
The post advertised is to work in Wakefield area but travel across the Trust’s 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; 9.00 am–5.00 pm 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 Principle Clinical Psychologist (joanna.yates@swyt.nhs.uk).
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.
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 we’re accountable to our members, who can have a say in how we’re run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.
Join us and you will be one of over 4500 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 expect all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.
We reserve the right to close the vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.
Job responsibilities
JOB SUMMARY
This job description is an outline of the main duties of the post. The post holder 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 post holder when necessary and in line with the service developments.
JOB PURPOSE:
* 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 trust’s policies and procedures.
* Supervise and support Psychology Assistants, Trainees and Band 7 HCPC Registered Clinical Psychologists.
* Utilise research skills for audit, policy, service development and research within the areas served by the team/service.
JOB DIMENSIONS: To offer consultation and supervision when required by other agencies involved in the psychological, emotional and behavioural well‑being of service users. To provide supervision of Band 7 Clinical Psychologists, doctoral level clinical psychology trainees, assistant psychologists and trainees from other disciplines as appropriate.
KEY RESULT AREAS:
Clinical
* Provide highly specialist psychological assessment and treatment for service users experiencing moderate, severe and complex mental health/psychological problems based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self‑report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect observation and semi‑structured interviews with service users, their family and/or carers.
* Formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological intervention and/or management of mental health/psychological and/or behavioural difficulties based upon an appropriate conceptual framework and exercising expert clinical judgement based on the highest standards of evidence‑based practice across a full range of care settings.
* Establish rapport and build effective working relationships with service users and all those involved in their psychological, emotional and behavioural well‑being.
* Evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes.
* Work jointly with other team members and professionals in delivering the most appropriate clinical service to service users and, where appropriate, their families/carers.
* Follow appropriate local Safeguarding Adults and Children policies in all clinical work, including close liaison with all relevant agencies.
* Provide specialist risk assessment of, and intervention to, service users who may present in local acute settings in line with agreed procedures.
* Liaise and consult with the wider professional network in the care of service users, offering consultation and supervision where necessary.
* Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychological interventions and to autonomously manage a caseload of clients.
* Contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all service users, the settings in which they present, and agencies involved in the psychological, emotional and behavioural well‑being.
* Communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to effectively evaluate progress.
* Participate in the multi‑disciplinary assessment and treatment of service users.
For full job description, please see attached supporting documents.
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.
Person Specification
Experience
* Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
* Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
* Frequent, protracted sustained and intense concentration.
* Show respect and treat people with dignity.
* Be able to give bad news sensitively.
* Be able to sustain empathy in difficult situations.
* Be aware of all interviewees in any situation.
* Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
* Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
* Experience of group work.
Special Knowledge & Skills
* Good psychometric assessment skills.
* Experience of assisting in training of Post Graduate Clinical Psychology Trainees.
* Exceptional communication skills in verbal, non‑verbal and written modes.
* Ability to empathise and develop good therapeutic alliance.
* Ability to formulate complex processes.
* Capacity to conduct psychometric assessment.
* Ability to travel around the Trust as appropriate to the role.
* Manual dexterity for conducting tests.
* Working with people in crisis.
* Working on an in‑patient psychiatric ward.
Personal Attributes
* Ability to travel around the Trust as appropriate to the role.
* To transport psychometric testing equipment.
Qualifications
* Doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology.
* Significant post‑qualification experience in a setting relevant to the post.
* HCPC registration as a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist.
Physical Attributes
* Ability to undertake the duties and demands of the post. A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to the need to act with fairness and equality of opportunity, particularly where the sickness is related to a disability and/or pregnancy).
Training
* Completion of formal training to meet eligibility as clinical supervisor of Doctoral Trainee Clinical Psychologists.
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.
Address
8 Fox View Hub, Dewsbury District Hospital
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