Job summary
Part-time - 30 hours per week. Are you someone who enjoys team working and engaging creatively and collaboratively with adults with complex presentations? The Core Team East in Pontefract is a friendly and supportive integrated team offering a range of interventions and modalities of treatment. As a Senior Clinical Psychologist (0.8wte), you will be offering psychological therapies to adults who are experiencing moderate to severe, and often longstanding, psychological difficulties. Our service users often have complex trauma presentations, and we are keen to promote a trauma-informed approach both within the team and across the Trust as a whole. The post-holder will have the opportunity to work mainly autonomously with their own cases. We offer supervision, support training and the professional development of the clinicians working in our service and have links with the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology courses regionally. The trust also supports clinicians who wish to become involved in research studies.

Main duties of the job
We aim to provide a comprehensive range of psychological interventions as part of a psychological therapy offer within an integrated community team. We are looking for a flexible and adaptive individual who is able to offer assessments, consultations and psychological therapy to working age adult service users. The postholder would have experience/be capable of mainly single practitioner working with this client group. The successful applicant would be expected to regularly offer supervision to Clinical Psychology Trainees as part of the role. As supervising other psychological therapists and offering consultations to the team would be an integral part of the role, experience of further training as a supervisor and competencies in evidence based clinical modalities would be essential. The post-holder would also undertake a psychological duty role on a rota basis which would involve being able to work 8.30-5pm on at least one day per week. Service meetings are to be attended regularly.

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.

Details
Date posted: 10 June 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: 8a
Salary: £57,528 to £64,750 a year
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time, Flexible working
Reference number: C9378-W1502
Job locations: Core Team East, Baghill House, Walkergate, Pontefract, WF81QW, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
JOB SUMMARY
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:
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

• 01. 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.
• 02. 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.
• 03. To establish rapport and build effective working relationships with service users and all those involved in their psychological, emotional and behavioural well-being.
• 04. To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes.
• 05. 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.
• 06. To follow appropriate local Safeguarding Adults and Children policies in all clinical work, including close liaison with all relevant agencies.
• 07. To provide specialist risk assessment of, and intervention to, service users who may present in local acute settings in line with agreed procedures
• 08. To liaise and consult with the wider professional network in the care of service users, offering consultation and supervision where necessary.
• 09. 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.
• 10. 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.
• 11. 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.
• 12. To participate in the multi-disciplinary assessment and treatment of service users.

For full job description, please see attached supporting documents.

We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Over reliance on AI-generated content in application forms is strongly discouraged and we will conduct a thorough screening process before selecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form.

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.

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.

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.

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 equipment

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).