Clinical Psychologist (7-8a preceptorship considered)
Band 8a
Main area Psychology Grade Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time – 37.5 hours per week Job ref 351-BAY1055-MF
Site Parlick Centre, Guild Park Town Preston Salary £57,528 – £64,750 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 18/08/2026 23:59
Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism, community, and physical health services for the populations we serve.
As an integrated Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) delivers a comprehensive range of services, including:
- Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults, including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, and forensic services with low and medium secure care.
- Specialist mental health inpatient care for individuals with learning disabilities, alongside specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
- Extensive community physical health and well-being services for children and adults, covering prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term condition management.
The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,500 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health, general nurses, children’s nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers, as well as those specialising in learning disabilities and community physical health services.
We are excited to announce a fantastic opportunity has arisen for an 8a Clinical Psychologist to work across the Forensic Outreach Service (FOS) and the Forensic Community Mental Health Team (FCMHT). Both of these teams form part of the Community Business Unit at Guild Park. The Forensic Outreach service provides a consultancy service to local services who manage cases where there are significant risk concerns. The FCMHT is a multi-disciplinary team whose task is to ensure safe and lasting transitions for service users moving on from secure inpatient care into the community. The post holder would be joining experienced and friendly multi-disciplinary teams as well as a supportive group of psychology colleagues.
The role requires the post holder to have the ability to work with clients who present with the full range of clinical needs and risk behaviours, and the ability to engage with, and respond to, highly complex clinical, professional and ethical challenges, and demands on clinicians and services. There will also be opportunities to use audit and evaluation to inform and develop practice and service provision.
Main duties of the job
Other aspects of the psychology role would include:
- Providing risk formulation based psychological advice to the team
- Implementing direct psychological intervention with service users managed by the team
- Providing formal consultation and reflective space to MDT practitioners
- Undertaking joint working with other key stakeholders including the Community Mental Health Teams and inpatient services within LSCFT’s Adult Mental Health Network in managing high risk and complexity of need.
- Consulting with referrers in order to work towards building comprehensive risk formulations with which to guide recommendations to the referring team;
- Providing psychologically informed guidance to other FOS team practitioners that are from Nursing, Occupational Therapy and Social Work disciplines
- Model alternative approaches and solutions through direct working with service users that have been referred.
As part of the wider Psychological Services Team, the post holder will be supported to and expected to develop expertise in all aspects of forensic/clinical practice across the different services within Guild Park.
We would welcome applications for individuals considering taking up this post as the preceptorship/development post at band 7-8a. The post holder will be expected to reach the set of competencies expected of a Clinical/Forensic/ Counselling Psychologist working at 8a within an agreed time frame in order to make the transition to the higher grade.
Working for our organisation
LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.
Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you’d like to discuss your application, please ask.
We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.
LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.
The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For more details on this vacancy please review the attached job description and person specification.
Person specification
Qualifications
- Post graduate doctoral level clinical psychology training and/or the training equivalent training for those trained prior to 1996 or equivalent forensic/ counselling qualification.
- Eligibility for graduate membership of the BPS and HCPC Registration.
- Evidence of continuing professional development consistent with professional and HCPC requirements.
- Extensive post qualification experience and /or qualification in the supervision of psychological interventions
Experience
- Experience of working as a clinical psychologist with clients with complex and enduring mental health and risk needs.
- Experience of providing a range of psychological assessments and interventions and adapting these to meet clients’ presenting needs/communication abilities as required.
- Experience of providing clinical supervision and leadership regarding psychological interventions and casework.
Knowledge
- Knowledge and skills in the use of complex methods and techniques of psychological assessment and intervention, including: risk assessment models and approaches; ability to utilise and interpret neuropsychological assessment tools and approaches
- Ability to work independently, on own initiative and as part of complex teams and services, and to organise and prioritise own workload within competing demands and short deadlines
- Highly developed skills in providing advice and consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
You are advised to consider applying for LSCFT vacancies as soon as possible as in some instances vacancies are closed as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received. If you are not invited to interview within four weeks of the closing date then please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful, as it is not possible to contact all unsuccessful candidates.
Please note that further communication from LSCFT will normally be to the email address given on the application form. You should also ensure that email addresses and telephone numbers are provided for your referees, to enable LSCFT to contact them.
Please ensure that you read the person specification as your application will be measured against this document.
If you use AI to assist with your application, you must declare this. Undeclared use may result in withdrawal. Please ensure your application reflects your own skills and experiences. While AI tools can assist, they may produce generic or inaccurate content. We encourage you to provide personal examples that demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria.
For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).
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.
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