Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust
8B Principal Clinical Psychologist - CONNECT & Therapeutic Fostering

The closing date is 20 July 2026

Job summary
Clinical Lead for Suffolk CONNECT and Therapeutic Fostering Service

We are seeking an experienced, innovative and compassionate Principal Clinical Psychologist to provide clinical leadership across two highly regarded and impactful services:

CONNECT - Suffolk's specialist mental health service for children in care and care-experienced young people.

Suffolk Therapeutic Fostering Service - Supporting foster carers, children and young people, and their social workers through trauma-informed approaches, therapeutic parenting, consultation and specialist psychological support.

We are looking for a psychologist whose values align with our commitment to care-experienced children and young people and who is passionate about improving outcomes for some of the most vulnerable children in our communities. The role requires compassion, resilience, curiosity, creativity and the ability to think systemically in the face of complexity.

This role spans both Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and Suffolk County Council, offering a rare opportunity to work across organisational boundaries and shape practice, culture and service development across health and social care.

Join us and help create the conditions in which care-experienced children, young people and foster families can thrive -- while shaping the future of trauma-informed practice across Suffolk.

Main duties of the job
The successful applicant will provide psychological and clinical leadership across both services, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based and trauma-informed care. You will support the continued development of psychologically informed and relationship-based practice, helping services respond effectively to the complex needs of children and young people who have experienced developmental trauma.

Alongside direct clinical leadership, a significant and exciting aspect of the role involves workforce development, training and consultation. You will lead the development, delivery and evaluation of high-quality training programmes.

We are particularly interested in applicants who are enthusiastic about developing innovative training offers and psychologically informed learning opportunities that strengthen trauma-informed practice across systems. This includes identifying emerging needs, co-producing new training programmes, and building the confidence and capability of professionals working with care-experienced children and families.

This role therefore provides a unique opportunity not only to support individual children and their networks, but also to create lasting impact through influencing the knowledge, skills and culture of the wider workforce.

About us
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.

Details
Date posted: 07 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8b
Salary: £66,582 to £77,368 a year
pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
Reference number: 246-ESU8106489
Job locations: Child Treatment Centre, Walker Close, Ipswich, IP3 8LY, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
Please see attached the job description which outlines key responsibilities and requirements of the role.You will play a key role in:

• Providing clinical and professional leadership across CONNECT and Suffolk Therapeutic Fostering.
• Supporting the development of psychologically informed systems and services.
• Leading on complex assessment, formulation and intervention for children, young people and carers.
• Promoting trauma-informed, attachment-aware and relationship-based practice.
• Developing workforce capability through consultation, supervision, teaching and reflective practice.
• Supporting service development, quality improvement and innovation.
• Building strong partnerships across health, social care, education and the wider children's workforce.
• Contributing to strategic developments relating to care-experienced children and young people across Suffolk.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology, or its equivalent, including eligibility for chartered status with the BPS
• 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
• Relevant experience in service area
• 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
• Teaching, training and delivering clinical supervision

Desirable

• Working in the relevant service to support specialist knowledge
• Representing psychology within MDT setting (clinical and organisational contexts)

Skills
Essential

• Assessment, evaluation and management of risk associated with mental ill health and related psychopathology

Desirable

• Production of reports suitable for public presentations and presentation in medicolegal setting

Knowledge
Essential

• Well-developed knowledge of the Application Form / Interview / theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnosis, people with additional disabilities etc.)
• Providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups

Other
Essential

• Capacity to exercise careful clinical judgement whilst having the ability to work with and to hold the stress of others in the work setting
• Ability to travel independently

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).

Employer details
Employer name: Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust
Address: Child Treatment Centre, Walker Close, Ipswich, IP3 8LY, 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:
Associate Director of Psychology
Dr Kate Budge
kate.budge@nsft.nhs.uk
07795062324