Job summary
Are you an experienced and passionate psychological practitioner looking for your next leadership opportunity?

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) is seeking an enthusiastic and highly skilled Band 8a Senior Psychological Therapist to join our Health & Justice Psychology Team based at HMP Downview. This is an exciting opportunity to play a pivotal role in delivering high-quality, evidence-based psychological services within a specialist prison healthcare setting.

Working within a multidisciplinary team, you will provide expert psychological assessment, formulation and intervention for individuals with complex mental health needs, trauma histories, neurodiverse presentations and personality difficulties. You will lead psychological practice within the service through consultation, supervision, training and service development activities.

Main duties of the job
About the Role

As a Senior Psychological Therapist, you will:

• Deliver highly specialist psychological assessment and intervention to individuals and groups.
• Hold and manage a complex clinical caseload.
• Provide clinical supervision and professional leadership to Band 7 therapists, assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists and other staff.
• Offer consultation and psychologically informed guidance to multidisciplinary colleagues.
• Contribute to service development, quality improvement, audit and research activities.
• Lead on psychological governance and support the development of innovative and responsive services.
• Promote trauma-informed, person-centred and recovery-focused approaches to care.

About You

We are looking for a compassionate and motivated practitioner with:

• A professional qualification and registration as a Practitioner Psychologist, accredited CBT Therapist, or accredited Psychotherapist/Counsellor with relevant post-qualification specialist training.
• Significant post-qualification experience working with complex presentations.
• Experience of supervision, consultation and multidisciplinary team working.
• Knowledge of evidence-based psychological therapies and psychological assessment.
• Excellent communication, leadership and relationship-building skills.
• A commitment to equality, diversity and psychologically informed care.

About us
This is an opportunity to work within one of the UK's leading Health & Justice services, supporting some of the most vulnerable and underserved populations. You will join a highly supportive psychology network with access to excellent supervision, CPD opportunities, specialist training and career development pathways. We are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where innovation, compassion and clinical excellence thrive.

By joining CNWL you will be joining 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 and welcoming and the networking and CPD opportunities are central to our services ethos. We have active research forums and promote our services and work through academic and clinical forums. All staff receive regular supervision and are supported with career aspirations and progression.

Click here to find out more about Psychology at CNWL

Excellent staff benefits, our benefit packages are amongst the best in London and include: Health and wellbeing services, Season ticket loans, Cycle to work scheme

HMP Downview is in easy reach of London and the surrounding areas. The prison offers free use of onsite leisure facilities and free parking for all staff.

Join us and help make a meaningful difference to the lives of people in contact with the criminal justice system.

Details
Date posted: 19 August 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £63,665 to £70,887 a year
per annum inc HCAS pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time
Reference number: 333-D-HJ-2066
Job locations: HMP Downview, Sutton Lane, Sutton Surrey, SM2 5PD, United Kingdom

Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see attached detailed job description & person specification.
We are a friendly team and encourage any prospective candidate to contact us with any questions and/or to book an informal visit. For an informal discussion about the role, please contact the recruiting manager.Jacquelyn.Kennedy3@nhs.net

Person Specification
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical, forensic or counselling psychology, 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
• HCPC Registered 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.

Desirable

• Pre- or Post-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
Essential

• 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.
• Experience of representing psychology within context of multidisciplinary care
• Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. mental illness, personality disorder, dual diagnosis, people with additional disabilities etc)
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC

Desirable

• Experience of working in secure environments and/or forensic mental health.
• Experience of using a trauma informed approach.
• Lived experience of mental health Issues.

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES
Essential

• 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
• Can demonstrate competence in supervision of junior qualified psychology and MDT staff and professional psychology trainees.
• 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 offenders with mental health difficulties and personality disorders
• 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.
• Experience of software e.g. SPSS, EXCEL
• Evidence of continual development of specialist knowledge and skills through engaging in relevant study and Continuing Professional Development relevant to the forensic population.

Desirable

• Ability to write reports for varied audiences, including courts and purchasers of services.

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 (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

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.
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 (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details
Employer name: Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Address: HMP Downview, Sutton Lane, Sutton Surrey, SM2 5PD, United Kingdom
Employer's website: Apply through our website

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact: Consultant Forensic Psychologist, Jacquelyn Kennedy, jacquelyn.kennedy3@nhs.net

Details
Date posted: 19 August 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £63,665 to £70,887 a year
per annum inc HCAS pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time
Reference number: 333-D-HJ-2066
Job locations: HMP Downview, Sutton Lane, Sutton Surrey, SM2 5PD, United Kingdom

Supporting documents
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