Band 8a Clinical Psychologist, CAMHS - Bristol

Somerset NHS Charity; Bristol; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Part time

Job summary

A leading NHS mental health organization is seeking a part-time Clinical Psychologist specializing in autism. The successful candidate will provide assessments, interventions, and training within the Autism Intensive Service in Bristol. We are looking for someone with a Doctoral qualification in Clinical Psychology and strong experience working with children and young people facing complex psychological challenges. This role offers a chance to impact vulnerable populations and work within a diverse team focused on person-centered care.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience with children and young people with autism.
• Ability to manage complex psychological needs.
• Competency in engaging families and children.
• Capacity to deliver training and supervision.

Responsibilities

• Provide psychological assessments and interventions.
• Develop and implement evidence-based treatment plans.
• Deliver staff training and supervision.
• Engage with multidisciplinary teams for effective service delivery.

Skills

Assessment skills

Training delivery

Interpersonal skills

Data analysis

Research skills

Education

Doctoral Clinical Psychology qualification

HCPC or equivalent registration

Qualification in Positive Behavioural Support

Job description

Band 8a Clinical Psychologist, CAMHS - Bristol

Main area CAMHS autism Grade Band 8a Contract Fixed term: 12 months (This post is based in the Autism Intensive Service, Brentry) Hours Part time - 18.45 hours per week (Wednesday, Thursday & Friday) Job ref 342-CAMHS161-1225

Employer Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust Employer type NHS Site Woodland View Town Bristol Salary £55,690 - £62,682 Per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 04/01/2026 23:59

Job overview

We are looking for an experienced Clinical Psychologist who is passionate about providing values led, person centred evidence-based processes of change/intervention programmes for children and young people with autism diagnoses, and their families, who are at risk of home or placement breakdown and residential admission.

Autism Intensive Service utilises the Process Based Therapy (PBT), Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) and Extended Evolutionary Meta Model (EEMM) frameworks to inform and support genuinely person‑centred programmes for CYP and their families.

The post covers BNSSG area.

Main duties of the job

• The post holder will provide specialist assessment, formulation and intervention programmes for CYP and their families/carers.
• The post holder will provide staff training, supervision, consultation and advice to colleagues in AWP teams and other agencies (e.g., social care, education etc).
• The post holder will need excellent interpersonal skills to support the development of psychological thinking and intervention within multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience of delivering supervision and training would be essential.
• Data analysis and research skills are highly desirable.

Working for our organisation

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust), a diverse organisation with over 4 500 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.

AWP is committed to supporting and creating a positive research and evidence-based environment and culture, which can have a beneficial impact on everyone who works for the organisation and the care we provide to those who use our services.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Provide a high quality and largely autonomous and systematic applied psychology service.
• Undertake highly specialist assessments, risk assessment and assessment for suitability for specialist psychological therapies with Children and Young People and their carers.
• Formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological intervention and/or management of clients’ mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
• Be responsible for providing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
• Provide specialist evidence-based psychological intervention as dictated by the needs of the service.
• Provide highly specialist consultation to members of the various teams in the area and beyond regarding formulation and psychological management of clients of those teams.
• Use highly specialist psychological knowledge and skills to contribute to the more effective management of Children and Young People by teams.
• Be involved in the development and delivery of training within the Trust.
• Participate in clinical and caseload supervision arrangements provided by the Service.
• Maintain accurate records and monitor clinical workload using agreed systems.
• Enter data as requested by the Trust in a timely manner.

Person specification

• Doctoral Clinical Psychology qualification or equivalent (e.g., UKCert).
• HCPC or equivalent registration (e.g., BCBA).
• Experience and/or qualifications in delivery of Positive Behavioural Support.
• Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of Positive Behavioural Support and the use of this framework for children and young people with Learning Disability and their families.
• Capacity to manage risk associated with working with verbal and physical aggression associated with children and young people with disabilities who also show emotional and behavioural difficulties.
• Competency in engaging children and young people with learning disability and autism spectrum conditions and their families and the ability to work autonomously.
• Ability to lead services and support staff team.
• Capacity to cope with complex distressing material (e.g., child sexual and physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and domestic violence).
• Capacity to cope with physical demands of working with children and young people with learning disability and autism spectrum conditions and their families, including restricted movement for extended periods of time during therapy sessions.
• Qualification in Positive Behavioural Support and/or Applied Behaviour Analysis.

We are proud to be fostering a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. A key commitment to this is improving staff representation from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, those from the LGBTQ+ communities, people with ‘lived‑experience’ of mental health conditions and people living with disabilities. We are a ‘Disability Confident Employer’ offering a guaranteed interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. This includes people with a variety of disabilities and neurodivergent conditions (for example autism, ADHD, sensory, physical and learning disabilities).

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours. We do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service users.

Please apply to join us; we would love to hear from you. Any personal details you supply to us are kept safe in line with the General Data Protection Regulations.

Adverts normally close for application a few minutes before midnight on the closing date and we will let you know if we are offering you an interview by email via our recruitment system ‘TRAC’. We contact all applicants within 4 weeks after the closing date, so please check your emails regularly once you have submitted your application; you are welcome to contact us via the TRAC system if you have any queries about your application.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) describes algorithms that can be used to produce new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations and videos. It is developing all the time and is now being used as a support mechanism for all kinds of content-based creations. Please note the use of AI is monitored and if you have used it in your application you are required to declare this.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. Please complete and submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.