Job Summary
We are seeking an experienced and dynamic senior psychologist to join our large and thriving psychology department in the forensic service at ELFT. This post will be based on a newly opened medium secure men's admission ward.

The successful candidate would join a newly formed multidisciplinary team to provide psychological care to service users to promote their recovery, reduce the risk of harm to others, and to support their progression and discharge back to the community. They would also act as line managers and supervisors to colleagues, contribute to service development, and be part of our large psychology department with access to good quality supervision and CPD opportunities. Our links with doctoral programmes also means there are opportunities to supervise trainee psychologists and contribute to taught content on clinical and forensic psychology doctoral courses.

Based in the heart of East London, we provide services to a very diverse local population, and we are therefore particularly keen to hear from candidates who represent these communities that we serve.

Main duties of the job

• Responsible for providing a specialist psychology service to service users in the medium secure service at the John Howard Centre, including highly specialist psychological assessments and interventions.
• To offer advice, supervision, training and consultation on service users' psychological care to non-psychology colleagues.
• To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the service's policies and procedures, and the psychology department's objectives.
• To utilise research skills in audit and other research and development activities.
• As a senior member of the psychology department, to supervise and direct the work of assistant and trainee psychologists as required.
• To provide clinical supervision to more junior clinical, forensic, or counselling psychologists and to contribute to service development.

About us
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Details
Date posted: 13 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £66,274 to £73,496 a year per annum Inc HCAs
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 363-FOR8111619
Job locations: John Howard Centre, 12 Kenworthy Road, London, E9 5TD, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Clinical

• To provide specialist psychological assessments of based on the integration of complex qualitative and quantitative data from a variety of sources. Includes selecting, administering, scoring and interpreting appropriate standardised psychometric assessment tools.
• Drawing on a broad theoretical knowledge of psychology, including taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models, historical, developmental and cultural processes and systems which have shaped the individual, family or group, to consider and evaluate different treatment options, and formulate and implement plans for the specialist psychological treatment and/or management of patients mental health and related problems.
• Implement a range of specialist psychological interventions for individual patients and groups, and where appropriate for carers within the forensic service, co-working with psychologist and non-psychologist colleagues as appropriate.
• Responsible for providing and receiving highly complex, sensitive, distressing and emotional information in relation to mental health and forensic issues both verbally and in writing.
• Responsible for communicating across language and cultural barriers with patients or carers, using interpreters when necessary.
• Spend sustained amounts of time with patients or carers who may be verbally or physically aggressive and hostile, who may have poor communication and/or self-care skills and special physical and/or mental needs
• Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the psychological care of service users.
• To incorporate risk assessment and management into all aspects of clinical work; to comply with security policies and procedures; to notify management of breaches in security and to make suggestions for improving security; to undertake breakaway training

Patient Care

• To provide specialist psychological advice, supervision and consultation to members of the multidisciplinary team and others contributing directly to the formulation of patients care plans, including advice on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
• To co-ordinate and supervise the work of assistant psychologists, and trainee clinical psychologists on placement in the forensic service. To supervise the work of less experienced clinical, forensic, or counselling psychologists or other healthcare staff as required
• Draw on a broad theoretical knowledge of psychology and specialist clinical or counselling psychology skills to develop and support the psychological skills of assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists, and other non-psychology staff through developing and delivering teaching, training and supervision
• Provide a psychological perspective and a highly specialist psychologically-based framework for understanding clinical care, service/team dynamics, or service/team organisational systems in various teams and groups of which the psychologist is a member, to benefit the patients served by the service/team. Contribute to the delivery of reflective practice within the forensic service.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of local resources and relationships with relevant statutory, voluntary and community groups and organisations
• Develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision
• Maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to forensic and general mental health services and the criminal justice system
• Maintain and use knowledge and understanding of the work and approaches of other key disciplines, professions and agencies involved in the care and management network, including knowledge of medication and physical health issues, education, vocational training, employment, and social care systems.

Administration

• Maintain the highest standards of clinical record-keeping including electronic data-entry and recording, report writing, and dissemination of relevant information appropriately to other professionals. To monitor, record and report on clinical and other activities as required. To protect confidentiality in compliance with professional and Trust policies and procedures

Management

• Advise service and psychology management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/organisational matters need addressing
• Identify and propose potential changes to work practices and procedures in own area of work, which may impact on the wider service and contribute to discussions relating to psychology service and forensic service issues
• To represent psychology on a service wide operation/working group, to undertake tasks arising from the groups work, and to be responsible for providing a specialist psychological perspective to the work of the group
• To offer line management supervision to qualified and unqualified staff in the psychology department as required.

Human Resources

• Participate in the recruitment of new staff as required in line with current human resources policies and procedures.

Performance and Quality

• Develop and maintain the highest professional standards of practice by continuing to gain additional highly specialist experience and skills; by participating in regular clinical and professional supervision and appraisal; by active participation in internal and external CPD activities; and by updating knowledge of current developments in psychology and related disciplines relevant to the practice of forensic psychology, through a personal development plan agreed with psychology management. To exercise professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the Health Professionals Council and Trust policies and procedures
• To identify areas of need and propose innovative responses to address unmet need in own area or in the wider service, in consultation with senior colleagues and head of service including contributing to Quality Improvement projects.
• To ensure consultation and collaboration with service users, carers and other stakeholders when planning service improvements.

Financial and Physical Resources

• Has personal duty of care for the use and protection of restricted psychology equipment and test materials

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Postgraduate Doctorate in Clinical, Counselling or Forensic Psychology, or equivalent qualification such as Statement of Equivalence, leading to eligibility for Chartered status, or Depending on training needs, may hold a professional qualification in psychology and be undertaking further training to complete requirements for a Statement of Equivalence

Desirable

• Pre-qualification training in a relevant field of applied psychology

Experience
Essential

• Experience of providing specialist psychological assessments and treatment interventions to patients with complex problems
• Experience of working with a variety of patients reflecting a wide range of clinical severity
• Experience of involving service users in the co-production of service delivery.
• Experience of teaching, training, and supervision
• Experience of working in a multi-cultural setting, including working with interpreters
• Experience of working in a range of care settings, including outpatient, inpatient and community

Desirable

• Experience of working in a forensic specialism

Knowledge
Essential

• Awareness of diversity, and skills and commitment to provide a service that is appropriate to a diverse population
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management, including the use of theoretical models to analyse information and develop formulations upon which to base choice of treatment
• Skills in working as part of a multi-disciplinary team
• Skills in delivering psychological interventions in individual and/or group formats, adapted to meet the needs of the individual or group
• Skills in effective oral and written communication of complex and/or clinically sensitive information to a wide range of recipients both within and outside the NHS, including the ability to produce letters, reports, and associated documentation appropriate to its readership, and to overcome barriers to understanding and acceptance
• Skills in providing advice and consultation to other professionals and carers
• Postgraduate level knowledge of research methodology, including research design, and complex statistical analysis: audit skills
• Ability to plan and deliver teaching and training sessions; high level presentation skills
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult-to-treat groups (complex needs, personality disorder, dual diagnosis, substance misuse, offending)

Desirable

• Fluency in a second language
• Knowledge of the legal framework in which forensic services operate, and of other agencies and systems involved in the treatment /management and care of mentally disordered offenders
• Knowledge of the evidence base for psychological interventions with the forensic client group
• Knowledge and skills in applying Quality Improvement methodology to service improvement projects.

Other
Essential

• Ability to produce high quality professional results to specified deadlines and other time constraints
• Ability to effectively manage verbal aggression and the risk of physical aggression from patients or carers
• Ability to effectively manage frequent exposure to highly distressing /emotional circumstances
• Ability to concentrate and remain in constrained positions for substantial periods during patient contact, teaching/supervision, team meetings, preparation of written work, etc
• Ability to recognise, contain and work with organisational and personal stress
• Respectful approach to patients, carers, colleagues, and others
• Willingness to negotiate and ability to handle confrontation effectively and professionally

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).

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community.