Principal forensic/clinical psychologist

Go back Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust

Principal Forensic/Clinical Psychologist

Closing date is 16 June 2026

Are You a Psychologist Who Wants to Make a Difference to Offender Care Across Coventry & Warwickshire?

Come & Join Our Growing Forensic CMHT

We are recruiting a Forensic / Clinical Psychologist to support the leadership of our projects, enhancing the delivery of services offered to patients who present with a risk to others.

We are looking for a psychologist who is experienced working within prison & or secure care settings & offering support & consultation to colleagues. This role involves liaising across teams in CWPT & with partner agencies across the criminal justice network.

Make a real impact where it matters most.

We’re looking for a passionate, confident professional who is driven to improve outcomes for people with complex mental health needs within the criminal justice system.

You’ll bring strong clinical confidence & experience in forensic settings, using your knowledge of Forensic Psychology to inform consultation, risk management, & treatment recommendations. Just as importantly, you’ll be skilled at empowering & motivating others--helping multidisciplinary teams feel confident, capable, & supported when working with highly complex cases.

A key part of this role is translating complex psychological concepts into clear, practical guidance that meaningfully changes how staff work with service users. If you enjoy influencing practice beyond direct clinical work, this role offers real scope to do just that.

Please see Job advert for full details.

Main duties of the job

To provide highly specialist psychological assessment & therapy, using highly complex psychological data gained from a variety of sources. This includes forensic assessments & interventions of risk to others.

To ensure the systematic provision of psychological service, including the responsibility to prioritise work appropriately.

To communicate assessment results, formulations, outcome data, & other complex & sensitive information orally & in written form to support the work of colleagues.

To provide highly specialist psychological advice, consultation & supervision to other professionals & staff contributing to the formulation, diagnosis, treatment plan & management of clients, both within & outside the Trust.

To contribute to the development of services, reviewing service outcomes, designing & participating in audit, research & clinical governance initiatives, & working cooperatively with colleagues to achieve service goals & maximise service effectiveness. This will involve communication with a wide range of clinical & managerial colleagues, within & outside the Trust.

To provide supervision to other psychological staff, to trainee clinical/counselling psychologists on placement, to volunteers & other colleagues, including professional & doctoral research supervision, as required.

To provide management of junior Psychological Services staff.

To offer formulation, reflective practice & case consultation to staff working with people who present with a risk to others.

About us

At Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT), we deliver a wide range of physical, mental health, learning disability and autism services, and are proud to serve communities across Coventry, Warwickshire and beyond.

We put ‘people at our heart’; this ethos is at the centre of everything we do and how we do it. We care for our staff and colleagues as much as they care for others and offer a wide range of benefits and development opportunities.

• generous annual leave entitlement which increases during your time with us
• excellent learning and development opportunities, including apprenticeship frameworks, distance learning, internal training, coaching and mentoring, and much more
• salary sacrifice schemes for lease car/ vehicle, Cycle to Work, home and electronics, gym membership and more
• discounts with a range of retailers, restaurants and entertainment venues through our Employee Assistance Programme and NHS discount schemes
• wellbeing support, including an in-house counselling service, external helpline and more
• staff networks and support group

We’re always on the lookout for people who share our passion for improving the lives and wellbeing of people in our community, as well as our values of compassion, collaboration, excellence, integrity and respect.

Job responsibilities

For further information related to the job description and the main responsibilities of the role, please refer to the Job advert and Job description linked to this job advert. This will provide candidates with the relevant information.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Registration with the HCPC in Clinical or Forensic Psychology
• Further post-doctoral qualification / registration
• Expertise and/or training in Clinical Supervision for doctorate level trainees as may supervise trainee clinical Psychologist

Experience

• Substantial experience of working with people in forensic mental health settings
• Substantial experience of completing structured risk assessments (e. g. HCR20v2) and associated risk formulations and recommendations
• Experience of working with a range of clients, presenting a range of clinical severity and maintenance of professionalism in challenging circumstances.
• Experience of tailoring psychological assessment and intervention to individual needs.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for work
• Experience of teaching, training, and supervising of qualified staff and doctoral level trainees.
• Experience of neuropsychological assessment and therapy

Knowledge

• Post-doctoral training relevant to the post
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialist assessment methods and therapeutic approaches in relation to the client group.
• Skills in applying this knowledge.
• Well developed communication skills, suitable to the specialty
• Experience of team working.
• Experience in providing consultancy to colleagues.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Knowledge of research and audit methodology suitable to the job.
• Knowledge of the pathways of care and services that exist in secure care and criminal justice system

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.

Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust