Senior Psychologist – Options OPD Service
This is an exciting opportunity to join and help develop our expanding Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Services for women. Options is a treatment and support service running primarily modified forensic Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) programmes, offering treatment for service users who have been identified on the Personality Disorder Pathway. We also provide 1:1 EMDR therapy, staff training, consultation and formulation services to our probation and prison colleagues to support and progress women’s safety through their sentence plan, preparing them for release into the community.
Service users report many improvements in the way they manage emotions and relationships. “I’ve noticed genuine changes in my behaviour since doing Options. I have learned new ways to deal with problems and think about things better. I am more able to think before I react.”
Main duties of the job
* Provide psychologically informed care and interventions to OPD service users, including the delivery of specialist individual and group therapy, outreach support and stabilisation with women at HMP Downview.
* Work with the team to support women on the Offender Personality Disorder pathway, promoting a trauma‑informed, risk‑cognisant environment and service.
* Develop and support psychological formulations that enhance the team’s ability to support women in their sentence progression.
* Provide training and participate in audit and research that aims to improve the service.
* Supervise prison and qualified NHS team members, including trainee psychologists.
About Us
By joining CNWL you will join a large department of psychologists and psychological therapists that provide an array of mental health and OPD services across London and the home counties. Our staff are dynamic, welcoming, and the networking and CPD opportunities are central to our ethos. All staff receive regular supervision and are supported with career aspirations and progression.
Benefits
* Health and wellbeing services
* Season ticket loans
* Cycle to work scheme
* Access to MyTrustBenefits portal with discounts on UK retailers and free online courses
* Free use of onsite leisure facilities and free parking at HMP Downview
Details
* Date posted: 30 October 2025
* Band: 8a
* Salary: £61,631 to £68,623 per annum (pro rata if part‑time)
* Contract: Permanent
* Working pattern: Part‑time
* Seniority level: Mid‑Senior level
* Employment type: Part‑time
* Job location: HMP Downview, Sutton Lane, Sutton, Surrey, SM2 5PD
* Reference number: 333-D-HJ-1919
Person Specification
Essential:
* Doctoral level training in clinical, forensic or counselling psychology, equivalent to that accredited by the BPS.
* HCPC registration as a practitioner psychologist.
* Evidence of post‑qualification specialist training, experience and developing expertise in a specialist area of clinical practice relevant to this role.
* Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment across a full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient.
* Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups across the life course, presenting a full range of clinical severity and maintaining high professionalism in the face of emotive, distressing problems and risk.
* Experience of representing psychology within multidisciplinary care and working within a multicultural framework.
* Knowledge of specialist psychological therapies for difficult-to-treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnosis, additional disabilities).
* Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
* Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, design and complex, multivariate data analysis.
* Competence in supervision of junior qualified psychology and multidisciplinary staff and trainees.
* Ability to implement clinical governance mechanisms and maintain clinical practice amid high emotional intensity.
Desirable:
* Pre‑ or post‑qualification training in research methodology, staff training or related applied psychology fields.
* Experience working in secure environments and/or forensic mental health.
* Experience of a trauma‑informed approach.
* Lived experience of mental health issues.
* Ability to write reports for varied audiences, including courts and service purchasers.
* Experience of, or access to, software such as SPSS or Excel.
Additional Information
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and a Disclosure and Barring Service check is required. Applicants who require Skilled Worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome, and current UK professional registration is mandatory.
Employer Details
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
HMP Downview
Sutton Lane
Sutton, Surrey, SM2 5PD
Website: https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work
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