Principal Psychologist

Compassionate, authentic, inspiring. Raise your hand if thats you. We require someone to develop our psychology service and psychosocial interventions offer to support people experiencing difficulties associated with drug and alcohol use. You may already be at consultant level or seeking an opportunity to move into that role. Our model emphasises physical, psychological, and emotional safety and helps people to regain a sense of control and empowerment in their lives. As part of our multi-disciplinary team, you will work flexibly and creatively to establish whats needed to create a positive impact.

You will develop and lead a trauma-informed service, ensuring that psychological perspectives are central to everyones thinking. Empowering teams and individuals to increase knowledge, skills, and professional confidence around the needs of people we support is a key to the role. Through consultancy, clinical supervision, reflective practice, team formulation, training, and clinical case management, you will help the wider team create an innovative and effective service that adheres to best practice guidelines and delivery of high-quality care.

Our national Psychology Directorate provides connection, peer support, reflective practice and CPD relevant to psychology. Regular clinical supervision will be from the National Psychology Lead. If youre a team player who shares our organisational values (bold, compassionate, and open) this could be the role for you.

Job description

Were looking for someone who:

Has an appreciation of Change Grow Lives values, the people who use our services and how everyone can make a difference.

Possesses self-belief, is steady in the face of challenge, and challenges in the right way.

Has the patience and compassion to work with individuals and teams.

Is self-aware, reflective, and invested in their personal development.

Is a team player collaborative, open to new ideas and ways of working.

Is comfortable with ambiguity and able to adapt to situations as they occur.

Key Activities

To provide leadership for the development and delivery of an efficient, effective, comprehensive, and trauma-informed psychology service.

To provide leadership and supervision to the psychological professions, trainee and assistant psychologists.

To contribute to the development and/or evaluation and delivery of specialist training, psychological and psychosocial intervention.

To deliver reflective practice, team formulations and other psychologically informed approaches for clinical and non-clinical teams.

To contribute to multidisciplinary assessment of and intervention for people with complex needs using a multi-systemic approach that promotes the strengthening of their social networks.

To undertake a range of highly specialist clinical work and outcome monitoring.

To contribute to research at the local and national level.

Knowledge and Experience

Leadership

The post holder will provide clinical leadership and supervision within the sphere of their professional expertise.

To actively promote integrated health/care professional working internally and externally.

To facilitate the development of a positive and supportive team culture.

To ensure that a high quality, timely, accessible evidence-based/evidence/informed service is available for people who access our service.

To take an active interest in working groups within the wider service to develop and improve on service delivery, protocols, and guidelines.

To advise, encourage and share knowledge utilising the latest research and practice development, through literature and peer reviews.

Clinical Skills

To act as an autonomous professional fully registered with the HCPC.

To provide specialist consultation, training and clinical supervision to other qualified psychologists and trainees psychologists, counsellors and counsellors-in-training, multidisciplinary professionals and non-clinical colleagues for their provision of psychologically based interventions.

To promote and take part in multidisciplinary assessments that are comprehensive and reflect an understanding of the impact of adverse experiences on a persons mental health and overall well-being.

To provide highly specialist, evidence-based and evidence-informed interventions with due regard to issues of equality, diversity and inclusion.

To receive monthly clinical supervision from an HCPC registered Consultant/Counselling Clinical Psychologist, Line Management from the Services Manager, and opportunities for relevant peer support and CPD through our Psychology Directorate.

To utilise theory, literature, and research to support evidence-based and evidence/informed practice within the service.

Research and Development

To contribute to the evaluation of psychological and psychosocial services within specialities.

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature, and research to support evidence/based practice in individual work and that of other team members.

To aim to use specialist knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods to initiate and support all research and audit activities that will evaluate and promote the development of programmes across the charity.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training in Clinical or Counselling Psychology, including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental.

Desirable

• Eligibility to be registered with the BPS as a Chartered Clinical Psychologist.
• Prequalification training and qualifications in research methodology staff training and / or other fields of applied psychology.
• Certificates to be seen and recorded/discussed at interview.

Experience

Essential

• Willingness to complete additional training as required for appropriate performance of the role.
• Doctoral knowledge of clinical psychology including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, complex trauma, attachment, clinical psychometrics, neuropsychology, and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
• Doctoral knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical field of psychology.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of people across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity, including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing material.
• Post-Doctoral experience of specialist psychological assessment and intervention with children, adolescents, families, and adults.

Desirable

• Previous experience in a Mental Health or Social Care environment.
• Experience of Multi-agency working.
• Attended a formal training programme in supervision.
• Further training in an attachment/trauma informed model (e.g. EMDR, DDP).
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Microsoft Access & PowerPoint.
• Knowledge of GDPR.
• Knowledge/experience of working within a mental health /psychology /therapy and/or legal service.

About the employer

Believe in people

At Change Grow Live, above all else we believe in people. It's the one thing that acts as a foundation for all our work.

If you use our services: we understand what you're going through. We won't judge. We believe you can make positive changes in your life.

If you work or volunteer for us: we believe in your potential. We believe you can do brilliant, life-changing work.

Our mission and vision

Our mission is to help people change the direction of their lives, grow as individuals, and live life to its full potential.

The vision we're working towards is to develop, deliver and share a whole person approach that changes society.

We believe that having diverse people working as part of our team makes us the organisation that we are.

We actively encourage applications from people from all backgrounds to help us to provide the best possible experience for the people who use our services and to make Change Grow Live a great place to work.

The safety of vulnerable children, young people and adults is our absolute priority. We will support you in your role to make sure that you are equipped to support the safety of people who use our services and those around them, to the highest standard possible.