Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Senior Psychologist
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Senior Psychologist
Job Overview
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust is a Top Employer Award Winner and works in partnership to provide responsive and dependable primary care, mental health, intellectual disability and substance misuse services to the diverse and culturally rich communities it serves.
In pursuit of delivering patient-focused quality care, the Trust is seeking to recruit a highly motivated, innovative and enthusiastic Senior Psychologist to join the forward-thinking, friendly and expanding Mental Health Team at HMP Woodhill. This role provides the opportunity to:
- Address the healthcare needs of prisoners.
- Promote health and well-being within secure environments.
- Work collaboratively with the criminal justice system and otras agencies.
The Trust offers culturally competent and responsive service delivery and warmly welcomes applications from all backgrounds, particularly those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Core Responsibilities in Clinical Psychology
- Provide a key role in integrating clinical psychology within the broader mental health team.
- Offer a comprehensive specialist clinical psychology service to service users.
- Conduct specialist psychological assessments and psychological therapy as well as provide clinical advice and consultation to broader healthcare teams.
- Operate autonomously, adhering to professional guidelines and service policies and procedures.
Development, Research, and Leadership
- Apply research skills for audit, policy development, and service improvement in Health & Justice Services.
- Provide clinical supervision where appropriate.
- Contribute to case-based reflective practice, service development, and team-specific critical thinking, including complex case reviews.
Structural Benefits
- Join a dynamic team with extensive experience in secure environments, including prisons, YOIs, and secure hospitals.
- Benefit from excellent development opportunities, career advancement, and job satisfaction.
- Participate in professional and clinical development with peers across Health and Justice Services.
- Receive high-quality supervision and support for continuing professional development (CPD).
Detailed Job Description: Clinical Duties
Psychological Assessment
- Conduct complex psychological and neuropsychological assessments using psychometric tools, self-report measures, rating scales, structured observations, and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members, and others involved in care.
- Compile psychological formulations of client difficulties.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Treatment Planning and Implementation
- Develop and implement evidence-based treatment plans for individuals, carers, families, and groups across diverse therapeutic modalities.
- Adjust interventions to account for multidimensional factors, ongoing assessment, and refinement of psychological hypotheses.
Cognitive Impairment and Neuropsychology
- Assess and work with clients presenting with cognitive impairment or organic conditions, requiring tailored neuropsychological and functional evaluations.
- Modify psychological interventions to effectively meet needs of complex presentations.
Risk Assessment and Consultation
- Perform comprehensive risk assessments, formulating and managing high-risk client presentations with complex psychological needs (e.g., violent or sexual offending, self-harm, suicidality).
- Offer specialized psychological advice and guidance to multidisciplinary teams.
Communication and Collaboration
- Clearly document assessments, treatment plans, and progress to clients, families, and multidisciplinary professionals.
- Engage in collaborative multidisciplinary teamwork, supporting service development and improvement.
- Actively promote user and carer involvement in care planning.
Training and Professionalism
- Define best practices in client de-escalation, physical restraint (PMVA) appropriate to secure healthcare settings.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential Criteria
-
Doctoral-level training in clinical, forensic, or counselling psychology, including:
- Psychopathology models
- Clinical psychometrics
- Neuropsychology
- Two or more distinct psychological therapies.
-
Equivalence to British Psychological Society (BPS) accreditation standards.
-
HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist (essential).
Desirable Criteria
- Post-qualification training in research methodology, staff training, or applied psychology.
Previous Experience
Essential Criteria
- Specialised psychological assessment and treatment experience across:
- Outpatient
- Community
- Primary care
- Inpatient settings.
- Ability to work effectively with diverse client groups across the lifespan, managing highly sensitive, emotive cases, including vulnerabilities to violence, verbal abuse, or threats.
- Multidisciplinary representation of psychology in collaborative care environments.
- Multicultural competence and experience in operating within diverse and culturally complex contexts.
- Training, mentorship, and supervision of junior psychologyprofessionals.
- Service-specific familiarity with target populations, including offenders and trauma survivors.
- Laws, legislation and policy understanding relevant to offender populations and mental health practice.
- Ready application of methodologies for complex cases (e.g., personality disorders, dual diagnoses, additional disabilities).
- Strong knowledge of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
- Neuropsychological practice and post-qualification training.
- Formal qualifications in supervision of psychological trainees.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
- Continuous adherence to HCPC CPD guidelines.
Desirable Criteria
- Experience in secure healthcare or forensic mental health principles.
- Trauma-informed care techniques.
- Personal lived experience of mental health challenges.
Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities (Competencies)
Essential Criteria
- Competency in complex psychological assessment and interventions, requiring sustained attention.
- Strong written and oral communication skills to convey sensitive or technical material to clients, families, and professional peers.
- Doctoral-level expertise in research methods, data analysis, and statistical tools.
- Broad clinical knowledge, IT competency, and skills in software (e.g., SPSS, Excel).
- Ability to supervise team members and people in training.
- Capacity to teach and train diverse audiences (e.g., public, professionals, academics).
- Applying Clinical Governance frameworks in environments that expose staff to emanotive, high-tension situations.
- Knowledge of offender mental health management (personality disorders included).
- Participation in intensive, difficult case consultations, including nuance of offending motivation (violence, self-harm, and suicide risks).
- Exceptional time-management, prioritisation, and service delivery focus harmony with professional standards.
- Commitment to continuous professional development, aligned with forensic populations.
- Secure environment clearance competencies (per HMPS, Sodexo policy alignments).
Desirable Criteria
- Report-writing experience for legal/court use or purchasers of specialised offender services.
Attitudes, Aptitudes, and Personal Characteristics
Essential Criteria
- Excellent interpersonal skills.
- Strong commitment to multidisciplinary teamwork.
- Secure environment fitness and regulatory clearance (HMPS compliance).
Additional Notes: All psychiatrists and mental health practitioners applying are expected to uphold confidentiality, armed security policies, and professional standards. Requires interpersonal adaptibility and resilience.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills