Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or Psychological Therapist

Cnwlnhshealthcharity; Milton Keynes; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in Milton Keynes is seeking a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or Psychological Therapist. This full-time role focuses on providing specialist psychological assessment and treatment for service users experiencing first episode psychosis. The ideal candidate will have a doctoral level psychology training and experience working in multidisciplinary teams. This 12-month fixed term contract offers a competitive salary and opportunities for career development.

Benefits

Generous relocation package

Flexible working options

Opportunity for career development

Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in psychology focused on psychopathology and therapies.
• Registered with an approved body such as HCPC or NMC.
• Experience working with complex mental health problems.

Responsibilities

• Deliver specialist psychological assessment and treatment for first episode psychosis.
• Provide supervision and consultation to other staff.
• Collaborate within a multi-disciplinary team.

Skills

Experience with psychosis

Communication skills

Team collaboration

Education

Doctoral level training in psychology

HCPC registered or equivalent

Tools

Clinical supervision experience

Job description

Search here to find a new job, a new career, an opportunity to up skill or to simply change your career direction.

Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.

There’s a place for you at CNWL. We’re passionate about delivering first-class patient‑centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient’s own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do.

Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people. We’re always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee we’re hoping to find our future leaders and we’ll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career.

With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more – whatever stage of your career you’re at, there’s always a place for you at CNWL.

To help your onboarding go smoothly, it’s essential that internal applicants:

Use their NHS.net email address in their TRAC profile

Ensure your application is marked to show that you are a current CNWL staff member

Applications using personal email addresses (e.g. Gmail or Yahoo) will not be recognised, and the process simply won’t work. There is also a charge to change new starter personal email addresses to their nhs.net email address.

Before you apply:

Log into TRAC and update your email to your NHS.net address

Check your application details and make sure you are identified as an internal applicant

This small step helps avoid major problems later.

Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or Psychological Therapist

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Main area MK Mental Health | Grade NHS AfC: Band 8a | Contract 12 months (Fixed Term funding) | Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week | Job ref 333-D-MK-MH-1295

Site: Neath Hill Health Centre | Town: Milton Keynes | Salary £55,690 - £62,682 Per annum | Salary period Yearly | Closing 11/01/2026 23:59 | Interview date 26/01/2026

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.

Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference. We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.

We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page.

Job overview

Band 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or Psychological Therapist

Are you a clinician passionate about working with service users with psychosis?

Do you enjoy working with carers and families?

Are you an independent practitioner who can promote psychology in a small team?

We are looking for applications from highly motivated and enthusiastic Senior Psychologists or Psychological Therapists who are committed to delivering patient‑focused care and treatment to our service users for a 12 month interim period.

We are looking for a clinician with experience working in psychosis who can be relatively autonomous, pick up the job quickly and be flexible and adaptable to the team's needs.

The role involves delivering specialist psychological assessment and treatment to service users who are experiencing first episode psychosis. The post holder will be able to offer supervision, advice, consultation and training to other staff about psychological care for service users and carers. There will be a mix of individual and group interventions.

There is a strong sense of camaraderie within the Milton Keynes EIP team, and a strong partnership between operational and clinical staff. You will be working with our CBT for psychosis therapist and with other colleagues across Milton Keynes services.

Main duties of the job

The Milton Keynes Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) Service is a multi‑disciplinary team providing treatment and support for people who are experiencing symptoms of psychosis for the first time, and during the first three years following a first episode of psychosis. With new monies and investment, the service is expanding with a focus on providing psychological inventions alongside care‑coordination, help, advice and support. The team helps service users make sense of their experiences, provides treatment and interventions to enable them to get back to, or continue to, work or study, whilst liaising with other services and agencies to sort out benefits and finances, and help solve any housing problems.

A key part of the role will be acting as liaison and Principal Investigator for research trials (e.g. virtual reality CBT) from different universities.

We are looking for well‑rounded and experienced practitioners. Our staff work pro‑actively with confidence and motivation, showing initiative which has contributed to the development of numerous award‑winning services. We find that they are often flexible, robust and resourceful and able to manage the challenges of working in an environment that can be demanding.

Hear directly from our leaders and their vision for psychological professions in the Trust here.

Learn more about working in Milton Keynes by following the link below.

Here at CNWL we encourage our psychological professions staff to pursue leadership opportunities in senior roles. Various prominent leadership roles within the Trust are currently held by Psychologists including: Director of Strategy and Integration, Chief Information Officer, 3 Clinical Directors. We try to facilitate the development of our psychological professions staff across all areas.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We prioritize collaboration within our team and with our community partnerships, so we are hoping to find candidates who have the required communication and interpersonal skills that will allow them to thrive when working within their own team and with external partner organisations, in order to provide a meaningful service to the diverse populations we serve.

We also hope to attract therapists with broad training and experience. Additional support and training may be provided for clinicians to gain supervision experience and qualification within the relevant framework and commissioned funding.

If your application is successful, you will receive regular supervision and support from the Clinical Service Lead as well as benefit from support and guidance from other team members. You will also be linked in with Trust – Wide psychological professions initiatives and events.

• To ensure the systematic provision of high‑quality specialist psychological interventions to service users of the Early Intervention in Psychosis team.
• To provide specialist psychological assessment and therapy in line with Government targets and NICE guidance.
• In addition the post holder will offer supervision, advice, consultation and training on service user’s psychological care and treatment to other team members.
• To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the service’s policies and procedures.
• To utilise research skills for audit, policy development and, service evaluation and development within the team and service.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuro‑psychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies development psychology as accredited by the BPS. OR
• A registered qualification in any of the health or allied health professions e.g. nurse, social worker, OT, therapist PLUS Additional therapeutic training such as systemic family therapy training. OR
• Have achieved BABCP registration as a CBT therapist.
• To be registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC), or other approved body such as NMC, BABCP, BACP, AFT.
• Pre‑qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
• Qualification or evidence of training in supervision
• Additional training in an alternative therapeutic model such as EMDR or ACT.

Skills and Abilities

• Valid driver's licence and the ability to drive to different bases.
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi‑media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.

Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and formulation of complex mental health presentations including psychosis presentations.
• Experience of working psychologically with people who have complex mental health problems, including trauma and psychosis.
• Experience of teaching, training and supervision.
• Experience of skills in group work.
• Experience of work with care‑givers/families.
• Experience of working in MDT settings in particular the demonstrated ability to work jointly in assessment interventions with multidisciplinary team members.
• Experience of working in an NHS community mental health settings in secondary and tertiary care.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological assessments and interventions for people with mental health presentations.
• Well‑developed skills in the ability to work and communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and to other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Sound IT skills to manage an electronic case record.
• Knowledge of clinical caseload management within a team setting.
• Skills in providing consultation and supervision to other professional and non‑professional groups and assistants.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

• Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.
• Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
• Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period.
• If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

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.

Name Tsitsi Mlilo
Job title: Team Manager
Email address: [e-mail]
Telephone number: 01908 725885

Sharon Lord
Tel: [phone] / [e-mail]