Job summary
This is an exceptional opportunity for an experienced and enthusiastic Principal Psychologist to join a highly regarded and developing Perinatal Mental Health Service within CNWL Offender Care Services. Working across women's prisons, you will play a key role in shaping and delivering psychologically informed care to women during the perinatal period, while also contributing to specialist services for women with complex trauma, personality difficulties and significant mental health needs.

We are seeking a compassionate, innovative and motivated psychologist who is passionate about improving outcomes for some of the most vulnerable women in society. The role offers a unique opportunity to combine direct clinical work, leadership, consultation and service development within a supportive multidisciplinary environment.

As Principal Psychologist, you will provide clinical leadership and specialist psychological expertise across the service. You will undertake complex psychological assessments, formulations and interventions, working directly with women as well as consulting to the wider systems around them. A strong emphasis is placed on trauma-informed care, attachment-informed practice and relational approaches that promote recovery, resilience and wellbeing.

Main duties of the job
The role offers considerable scope to influence service development, enhance psychological thinking across multidisciplinary teams and contribute to innovative approaches to supporting women experiencing multiple disadvantage.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention for women with complex presentations.
• Delivering psychologically informed care to women who are pregnant or experiencing separation from their infant while in custody.
• Supporting trauma-informed practice across prison and healthcare systems.
• Providing consultation and guidance to multidisciplinary colleagues and prison staff.
• Leading and contributing to service development, evaluation and quality improvement initiatives.
• Supervising qualified psychologists, doctoral trainees, assistant and graduate psychologists, and other members of the multidisciplinary team.
• Developing and delivering training on topics including trauma, attachment, personality disorder and psychologically informed care.
• Contributing to the development of psychologically responsive environments across women's prisons.

About us
CNWL is committed to the development of its psychology workforce. Successful applicants will have access to a wide range of professional development opportunities, including specialist training, continuing professional development, leadership development and clinical supervision.

Psychologists within Offender Care Services benefit from being part of a large and diverse professional network and regularly come together for professional meetings, peer support, supervision and shared learning. Opportunities to develop expertise across different specialist pathways within offender health are actively encouraged.

CNWL Offender Care Services provides healthcare across a broad range of secure and community settings. We employ psychologists and psychological therapists from clinical, counselling and forensic backgrounds and deliver services across prisons, immigration removal centres and secure hospitals.

Our services support children and adults, men and women, across varying levels of security. Psychologists also lead four specialist Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) services and the Sexual Behaviour Service within the youth estate.

Joining CNWL offers the opportunity to be part of a progressive and innovative organisation committed to high-quality care, professional excellence and staff development. Successful candidates will benefit from excellent career progression opportunities within a large and thriving psychology profession.

Details
Date posted: 01 September 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8b
Salary: £68,852 to £79,638 a year
Pro rata per annum incl. HCAS
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time
Reference number: 333-D-HJ-2076
Job locations: HMP Bronzefield, Woodthorpe Road, Ashford Middlesex, TW15 3JZ, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
About the Service
The Perinatal Mental Health Service operates across four women's prisons: HMP Bronzefield, HMP Downview, and HMP Send. This post will be primarily based at HMP Bronzefield, although travel between sites will be required.

The service provides specialist psychological and mental health support to women who are pregnant in custody, preparing for motherhood while in prison, or experiencing the profound impact of separation from their infant as a consequence of imprisonment. Alongside this work, psychologists contribute to the care of women presenting with complex trauma, attachment difficulties, personality disorders and co-occurring mental health needs.

You will join a highly skilled multidisciplinary team comprising Consultant Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists, Occupational Therapists and Nursing staff, working collaboratively to provide trauma-informed, formulation-driven care.

Person Specification
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
Essential

• Substantial assessed experience of working as a qualified psychologist including at a highly specialist level or an alternative agreed by the Chief Psychologist
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient 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.
• Experience of teaching and training.
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
• Advanced knowledge, experience and expertise in at least one relevant specialist area of clinical practice gained through specialist training and supervised practice (e.g. psychotherapy, neuropsychology, risk assessment, clinical supervision).
• Experience of leading on projects of service design or improvement.
• Experience of leadership, management and supervision of trainees and qualified staff including those from other disciplines.
• Experience of working together with service users to ensure that they are equal partners in service design, evaluation, research and training
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Experience of working effectively in multidisciplinary settings.

Desirable

• Awareness of institutional dynamics
• Research/publications on relevant issues
• Experience of working indirectly with staff groups
• Experience of working within secure environments and/or forensic mental health and of supporting and developing psychological services in such
• Expertise in delivering gender sensitive services
• Experience of using a trauma informed approach
• Experience and expertise in in the specialist area of learning disability and/or neurodiversity.

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
Essential

• An honours degree in Psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
• Doctoral level training in clinical, counselling or forensic psychology or equivalent, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, equivalent to that accredited by the BPS.
• Evidence of significant post-qualification specialist training, experience and developing expertise in a specialist area of clinical practice relevant to this role.
• HCPC Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Completion of supervisor training course.

Desirable

• Other relevant CPD qualifications, pre- or post-training. Especially training in working with people with trauma and/or neurodiverse presentations, research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES
Essential

• Advanced skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Possesses range of clinical knowledge, skills & information technology expertise relevant to demands of senior post.
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Broad knowledge of models of assessment, management and treatment of those in the criminal justice system with mental health difficulties and personality disorder.
• Ability to work intensively with people who present challenges in the complexity of their problems and needs, including sexual and violent offending and self-harming and suicidal behaviours.
• High level of ability to plan and organise clinical service provision to meet service demands, and to maintain high quality professional practice.
• Evidence of continuing professional development relevant to the forensic population as recommended by the HCPC.
• An understanding of the social determinates of health inequalities and relevant psychological theory and practice
• Excellent IT skills.

Desirable

• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work flexibly according to changing demands and to work well within a team
• Appreciation of the interface between our personal and professional lives, high level of self awareness and knowledge of principles of self care.

Other
Essential

• Ability to work in a secure environment, in line with HMPS policy and procedures and obtain and maintain enhanced security clearance.

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.
Certificate of Sponsorship: Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.
UK Registration: Applicants must have current UK professional registration.