Job summary
Band 7 preceptorship progressing to 8a after 24 months and completion of the supervision course

Full Time 37.5 hours M-F

This is an exciting opportunity for a newly qualified Band 7 Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to develop their career. This role will eventually include providing supervision to band 7 qualified clinicians and students, taking a lead role in service developments. The successful candidate will also take a lead in the day-to-day running of Merton SPA including supporting with case discussions for more junior colleagues. The role will also involve triaging and provision of quality assessments within Merton SPA, liaison with partner agencies, and playing an active part in the wider multidisciplinary team.

Supervision will be provided by the experienced 8a and 8b Professional Lead.

Main duties of the job
The role is part of an exciting new project to develop new support streams within Merton SPA. These include self-referrals for 16 and 17 years old, short-term treatment sessions and enhanced consultation to schools through attendance at TAC/TAF meetings. We have recently received additional funding for this role. The role will involve supporting the 8b in providing leadership to Merton SPA. This includes providing supervision to band 7 qualified clinicians and students, and taking a lead role in implementing these new support streams. The successful candidate will also take a lead in the day-to-day running of Merton SPA including supporting with case discussions for more junior colleagues. The role will also involve triaging and assessments within Merton SPA

Supervision will be provided by the 8b Professional Lead already in post

• To work as a core member of Merton SPA, providing direct therapeutic work in accordance with an agreed job plan
• To model high standards of clinical practice in terms of safety, effectiveness and user experience.
• To coordinate clinical activity in order to enhance the overall coherence of the clinical offer.
• To meet with leads of other agencies and teams of relevant services e.g. health visitors, perinatal services, in order to coordinate the work of the Merton SPA Team with these services.
• To advise managers and Professional Leads about clinical issues relating to work with preschool children, and in relation to training needs for the team.

About us
We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.

This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.

About our location:
This post will be based at Birches House Mitchem

Unless expressly stated in the job advert this role is not subject to sponsorship, please be advised that all offers of employment are subject to evidence of right to work in the UK.

Details
Date posted: 03 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 7
Salary: £55,524 to £62,652 a year per annum inclusive of Outer London HCAs
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 294-CAMHS-7978647-AZ-A
Job locations: Birches House, Birches Cl, Mitcham, CR4 4LQ, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

• To provide specialist assessments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care.
• To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and management of a childs difficulties and distress, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the childs problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy.
• To be responsible for implementing a range of therapeutic interventions employed individually and in synthesis, maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses, adjusting and refining formulations or understandings, drawing upon different explanatory models and employing methods of intervention that are based upon evidence of efficacy.
• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options in line with relevant theoretical and therapeutic models and the factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of an individual case load that can include individual, family, and group-based treatment.
• To provide specialist clinical advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to a childs formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual children and to provide advice to other teams and services on specialist risk assessment and risk management for this client group.
• To act as care coordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans including children, their carers, referring agents and others involved the network of care.
• To communicate, in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of children to parents and carers.
• To ensure effective communication within the team and share relevant information as required.
• To implement and participate in crisis intervention measures with families in conjunction with other agencies.

Person Specification
Training & Qualifications
Essential

• Educated to degree level or equivalent
• Professional postgraduate qualification(s) in one of the following disciplines: o Clinical Psychology o Counselling Psychology
• Registered with an appropriate professional body (HCPC, NMC, ACP, UKCP)

Desirable

• Supervision training relevant to discipline

Experience
Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of people with a wide range of mental health problems, of varying severity and complexity
• Significant experience of working with children with mental health problems in a variety of community settings
• Experience of multi-disciplinary team working
• Experience of inter-agency working
• Experience and skills in risk assessment and management
• Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a qualified psychological therapist over a minimum of 18 months, or an alternative agreed by the Director of Psychology

Desirable

• Experience of the use of a variety of therapeutic tools
• Experience of working with diverse communities
• Experience of working with emotionally dysregulated service users

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: South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust
Address: Birches House, Birches Cl, Mitcham, CR4 4LQ, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.swlstg.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Service Manager
Henrietta Dewsnap
henrietta.dewsnap@swlstg.nhs.uk
02082548060