Job summary
Are you ready to lead transformation at the front door of mental health care?

As the principal clinical psychologist within our 24/7 Initial Response Service, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring people receive the right support at the earliest point of contact. Working across IRS, Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment (CRHT) services and NHS 111 Mental Health Services, you will provide expert clinical leadership in psychologically informed triage, formulation, risk assessment and crisis decision-making.

The post offers the opportunity to influence practice at both clinical and system levels. You will support and develop multidisciplinary teams through consultation, supervision, training and reflective practice, while championing trauma-informed, autism-informed and psychologically informed care. You will also lead service improvement and transformation initiatives, helping to develop innovative, evidence-based pathways that improve access, safety and outcomes for people experiencing mental health crises.

We are looking for an experienced clinical psychologist with strong leadership skills, a passion for improving urgent care services and the ability to work collaboratively across organisational boundaries to drive meaningful change. This is an excellent opportunity to make a tangible impact on the quality, effectiveness and responsiveness of mental health crisis care.

Main duties of the job

• Provide psychological leadership within IRS, CRHT and NHS 111 mental health services.
• Lead psychologically informed triage, formulation, risk assessment and risk management for complex, urgent and crisis presentations.
• Deliver expert clinical consultation regarding managing crisis presentations.
• Provide structured consultation and supervision to IRS staff.
• Support NHS 111 clinicians with formulation, risk assessment and psychologically informed decision-making.
• Develop and align psychological practice across IRS, CRHT and NHS 111 to evidence-based and best-practice standards.
• Provide training, reflective practice sessions and post-incident reflections to multidisciplinary teams.
• Support the delivery of trauma-informed, autism-informed and psychologically informed care.
• Contribute to patient safety processes, after-action reviews and the production of reports.
• Develop integrated pathways with system partners including NHS 111, primary care, crisis services and acute care pathways.
• Lead and support urgent care service transformation, pathway development and continuous quality improvement initiatives.
• Promote a standardized approach to safety planning, clinical decision-making and risk formulation across services.
• Work collaboratively across organizational and system boundaries to improve access, reduce duplication and enhance service user and carer experience.

About us
As an employer, Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust are particularly committed to enabling our staff to do the very best they can through support and training, as well as opportunities for progression. We are confident, therefore, that the right candidate will have a real chance to make a positive impact to the lives of young people in Norfolk.

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you'll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We're an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

Job responsibilities
We are seeking an experienced and innovative principal clinical psychologist to play a key leadership role in our Initial Response Service (IRS) a 24/7 single point of access service. The role focuses on psychologically informed triage; formulation; risk management; staff support and service transformation, to ensure people receive the right help at the first point of contact. The postholder will need to have the ability to work flexibly, as IRS is 24/7, where peak demand is expected to be outside of normal working hours.

Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!

Some of the benefits you can expect:

• NHS pension
• a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
• career progression
• starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
• staff physio service
• NHS discounts and many more.

Interview dates are yet to be set; you will be contacted via email and invited to book a time. These emails may go to your SPAM, so please keep checking all your emails if applying.

Please visit our Facebook and Twitter page @NSFTjobs

Qualifications
Essential

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology, or its equivalent, including eligibility for chartered status with the BPS
• Further post-qualification, post-graduate training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
• Registered as a practitioner psychologist with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC)

Desirable

• Evidence of CPD in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice

Experience
Essential

• Specialist complex psychological assessment and treatment of people with a wide range of mental health problems, of varying severity and complexity.
• Extensive experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist and evidence of specialist knowledge gained through practice and ongoing training.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups and presenting problems including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems.

Desirable

• Representing psychology within MDT setting (clinical and organisational contexts).
• Experience of clinical work in a setting relevant to the post

Skills
Essential

• Use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management.
• Assessment, evaluation and management of risk associated with mental ill health and related psychopathology.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively complex, highly technical and clinically highly sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS

Desirable

• Production of reports suitable for public presentations and presentation in medico-legal setting.
• High level knowledge in the assessment and evaluation of psychological therapies.

Knowledge
Essential

• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnosis, people with additional disabilities etc.)
• Practitioner level knowledge of at least two models of psychological therapy.
• Legislation and its implication for clinical practice and the appropriate management of people presenting with mental health problems

Desirable

• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Experience of providing specific support intervention and strategy for staff.

Other
Essential

• Commitment to continuing professional development, to partnership working and to reflective clinical practice.
• Able to identify, and employ appropriate clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice.
• Ability to travel Independently
• Undertake physical intervention training and remain trained in techniques, as required by role

Desirable

• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Experience of providing specific support intervention and strategy for staff.

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: Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust
Address: County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, NR1 2UA, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/Pages/Home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact: Director of Psychology, Dr Laura Capellino, Laura.Capellino@nsft.nhs.uk

Details
Date posted: 01 September 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8b
Salary: £66,582 to £77,368 a year gross per annum
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
Reference number: 246-CEN8211142-A
Job locations: County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, NR1 2UA, United Kingdom