South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust

Clinical/Forensic Psychologist
The closing date is 20 November 2026

Job summary
Clinical/Forensic Psychologist (Band 8a) Secondment Opportunity / fixed term (12 Months) - Maternity Leave Cover We are seeking a highly skilled and compassionate psychologist to join the Forensic Outreach Liaison Service for Learning Disability and/or Autism (FOLS LDA) on a 12-month basis to cover maternity leave. This is an exciting opportunity to work within a specialist service with adults who have a diagnosis of learning disability and/or autism, and present with risk to others. FOLS provides community forensic support across Leeds, Bradford and the wider SWYT footprint. The service adopts a formulation-driven, trauma-informed and strengths-based approach, to influence care and risk management while prioritising safety and recovery. The successful candidate will work in close partnership with colleagues from Probation, Police, Local Authorities, Mental Health Teams and Learning Disability Services, helping to shape effective multi-agency responses to complex presentations. The FOLS psychology team is well integrated within the wider All Age Forensic Community Service (AAFCS), providing excellent opportunities for professional networking, peer support and collaborative working. As a key member of our multidisciplinary team, you will work alongside experienced colleagues from various disciplines to embed psychological approaches in assessment, formulation, intervention and risk management.

Main duties of the job
The service actively promotes collaborative decision-making and values the contribution of all professional disciplines.

Key responsibilities will include

• Delivering specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions
• Contributing to complex forensic risk assessments and management plans
• Providing consultation, advice and guidance to colleagues and partner agencies
• Supporting the development and delivery of offence-focused intervention pathways
• Delivering direct therapeutic interventions
• Providing supervision, support and training to assistant and trainee psychologists, as well as non-psychology colleagues
• Working with external agencies to improve outcomes and reduce risk

Applicants should:

• Demonstrate experience of working with complex presentations and multidisciplinary teams
• Have strong formulation and consultation skills
• Be committed to trauma-informed and strengths-based approaches to care

You will receive:

• Regular supervision from a highly experienced Principal Clinical Psychologist
• Access to specialist forensic psychology networks and learning opportunities across AAFCS
• Support to develop expertise in forensic risk assessment and offence-focused interventions
• Opportunities to contribute to service development and innovation

You will join a service that values collaboration, professional curiosity, reflective practice and continuous learning, ensuring you are supported to thrive in your role and advance your career.

About us
We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the west Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.

Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, we do this by providing high-quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non-clinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families and carers.

We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we value diversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.

Being a foundation Trust means we are accountable to our members, who can have a say in how we are run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.

Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.

We do reserve to right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.

Details
Date posted: 09 November 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £57,528 to £64,750 a year
Contract: Fixed term
Duration: 12 months
Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
Reference number: C9378-FO732
Job locations: Fieldhead Hospital, Ouchthorpe Lane, Wakefield, W Yorkshire, WF13SP, United Kingdom

Job description
Job responsibilities
This job description is an outline of the main duties of the post. The postholder will be required to undertake other duties commensurate with the grade as directed. The content of this post will be reviewed in consultation with the postholder when necessary and in line with the service developments.

JOB PURPOSE:
The post holder will provide a high quality specialist clinical psychology service to clients as part of the multidisciplinary team within the service.

• Provide highly specialist psychological assessment and intervention.
• Provide advice and consultation on psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues, and other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines, and the overall framework of the team and trusts policies and procedures.
• Supervise and support Psychology Assistants, Trainees and Band 7 HCPC Registered Clinical Psychologists.
• To utilise research skills for audit, policy, service development and research within the areas served by the team/service.

JOB DIMENSIONS:
(e.g. budgetary or supervisory responsibilities)

• To offer consultation and supervision when required by other agencies involved in the psychological, emotional and behavioural well-being of service users
• To provide supervision of Band 7 Clinical Psychologists, doctoral level clinical psychology trainees, assistant psychologists and trainees from other disciplines as appropriate.

KEY RESULT AREAS:
Clinical

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessment and treatment for service users experiencing moderate, severe and complex mental health/psychological problems based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect observation and semi-structured interviews with service users, their family and/or carers.
• To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological intervention and/or management of mental health/psychological and/or behavioural difficulties based upon an appropriate conceptual framework and exercising expert clinical judgement based on the highest standards of evidence based practice across a full range of care settings.
• To establish rapport and build effective working relationships with service users and all those involved in their psychological, emotional and behavioural well-being.
• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes.
• To work jointly with other team members and professionals in delivering the most appropriate clinical service to service users and, where appropriate, their families/carers.
• To follow appropriate local Safeguarding Adults and Children policies in all clinical work, including close liaison with all relevant agencies.
• To provide specialist risk assessment of, and intervention to, service users who may present in local acute settings in line with agreed procedures
• To liaise and consult with the wider professional network in the care of service users, offering consultation and supervision where necessary.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychological interventions and to autonomously manage a caseload of clients.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all service users, the settings in which they present, and agencies involved in the psychological, emotional and behavioural well-being.
• To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to effectively evaluate progress.
• To participate in the multi-disciplinary assessment and treatment of service users.

For full job description, please see attached supporting documents.

Person Specification
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.
• Frequent, protracted sustained and intense concentration
• Show respect and treat people with dignity
• Be able to give bad news sensitively
• Be able to sustain empathy in difficult situations
• Be aware of all interviewees in any situation

Desirable

• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of groupwork

Training
Essential

• Completion of formal training to meet eligibility as clinical supervisor of Doctoral Trainee Clinical Psychologists.

Special Knowledge/Skills
Essential

• Good Psychometric Assessment skills
• Experience of assisting in training of Post Graduate Clinical Psychology Trainees
• Exceptional communication skills in verbal, non verbal and written modes.
• Ability to empathise and develop good therapeutic alliance
• Ability to Formulate Complex processes.
• Capacity to conduct Psychometric Assessment
• Ability to travel around the Trust as appropriate to the role
• Keyboard skills
• Manual Dexterity for conducting tests.

Desirable

• Working with people in Crisis
• Working on an in-patient Psychiatric ward.

Physical Attributes
Essential

• Ability to undertake the duties and demands of the post. A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to the need to act with fairness and equality of opportunity, particularly where the sickness is related to a disability and/or pregnancy).

Qualifications
Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.
• Significant Post qualification experience in a Setting relevant to the post
• HCPC Registration as a Clinical Psychologist.

Personal Attributes
Essential

• A Current driving licence and access to a car during the working day is essential (reasonable adjustments will be considered for any applicants who are unable to drive due to a disability)
• To transport Psychometric testing

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.

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 Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
Address: Fieldhead Hospital, Ouchthorpe Lane, Wakefield, W Yorkshire, WF13SP, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.southwestyorkshire.nhs.uk

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact: Nicola Hanlon, Nicola.Hanlon@swyt.nhs.uk, 07901520635

Supporting documents
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