Senior Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or Psychotherapist
We are seeking a Senior Clinical or Counselling Psychologist, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, or Adult Psychotherapist to support young peoples hostels in Islington through the development of Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE).
This is an exciting opportunity to work creatively and systemically with staff teams supporting young people aged 16 to 25, including care leavers, young people experiencing homelessness, and those who were previously unaccompanied asylum‑seeking children. The role focuses on consultation, reflective practice, training and service support, helping staff to feel more confident in understanding and responding to complex emotional, relational and mental health needs.
You'll contribute specialist psychological thinking without holding direct clinical responsibility for residents, supporting staff and services to develop trauma‑informed, attachment‑informed and culturally responsive practice. You will also help strengthen approaches to risk, formulation, referral pathways, and joined‑up working with partner agencies.
This role would suit a clinician with experience of working with adolescents and young adults, and a strong interest in consultation, training, service development and psychologically informed practice in community settings. At Brandon Centre, you will join an established young peoples mental health charity with a strong commitment to reflective practice, supervision, CPD, equality and accessible support for young people.
Main duties of the job
The postholder will work alongside hostel staff and managers to embed psychologically informed ways of understanding and responding to young peoples needs. Rather than providing direct therapy to residents, the role will focus on supporting the staff and systems around them.
A key part of the role will be offering consultation, reflective spaces and training that help staff make sense of young peoples emotional distress, trauma histories, relational patterns, risk behaviours and barriers to engagement. The postholder will help staff think about formulation, support planning, boundaries, transitions, referral options and the emotional impact of the work.
The role will also involve adapting input to the realities of hostel settings, where work can be fast‑moving, complex and unpredictable. The successful candidate will bring psychological thinking in a practical, accessible and collaborative way, supporting staff confidence, team reflection and joined‑up working with other services.
There will be opportunities to contribute to service development, monitoring and evaluation, helping the Brandon Centre and Depaul UK understand what is working well and where practice can be strengthened.
About us
Brandon Centre is a well‑established young peoples mental health charity, founded in 1969. We provide accessible, professional and flexible services for young people under 25, responding to their psychological, emotional and social needs.
Our work includes counselling and psychotherapy, systemic integrative treatment for families, parenting programmes, and consultation and training for organisations working with young people. We have a strong reputation for thoughtful, relational and evidence‑informed practice, and for working with young people whose needs may be complex, marginalised or not easily met elsewhere.
You will join a supportive and reflective clinical organisation where supervision, learning and collaboration are central to how we work. Staff are encouraged to bring curiosity, creativity and psychological thinking to their roles, while remaining grounded in the realities of community‑based services.
Benefits
- 28 days annual leave pro rata
- BUPA Employee Assistance Programme
- NEST Employer pension contributions
- Regular clinical supervision
Job responsibilities
1 Consultation
Provide regular consultation and guidance to Depaul UK staff including frontline workers, key workers and senior staff to support psychologically informed work with young people.
Give psychologically informed formulation and specialist advice to staff regarding young peoples emotional and mental health needs without taking on direct clinical responsibility for Depaul UK’s operational case management, support planning or risk management processes.
Advise on appropriate responses, referral pathways and the psychological aspects of risk, safety, emotional distress and behaviour within staff members’ roles and organisational procedures.
Facilitate access to mental health support for young people where appropriate in line with Brandon Centre’s agreed role in the partnership.
2 Training and workforce development
Design and deliver mental health trauma‑informed and Psychologically Informed Environment training tailored to different staff roles and levels of responsibility.
Strengthen staff mental health awareness, PIE capability, practical skills and resilience including understanding trauma, attachment, emotional regulation, relational dynamics and the impact of adversity and transition.
3 Clinical supervision and reflective practice
Provide regular clinical supervision and reflective practice to staff, helping them navigate the emotional demands of their work and remain thoughtful, containing and effective in supporting young people.
Support staff to think psychologically about change, endings, move‑on and discontinuity and contribute to reflective learning after significant incidents or challenging events in line with Depaul UK procedures.
4 PIE development and trauma‑informed practice
Support the development and embedding of a Psychologically Informed Environment PIE across Depaul UK’s Islington services with particular emphasis on relationships between young people and staff.
Contribute to PIE‑related developments including reflective practice, staff training, psychologically informed consideration of the physical environment and review of service practices, procedures and pathways.
Promote trauma‑informed relational and developmentally attuned ways of working that recognise distress and behaviour as meaningful communication.
Use young people’s feedback, lived experience and perspectives alongside staff reflection and service data to inform the ongoing development of PIE within the service.
5 Partnership and multi‑agency working
Work collaboratively and constructively with Depaul UK as lead partner in the delivery of the Islington Young People’s Supported Accommodation Pathway.
Understand and operate within the agreed division of responsibilities between Brandon Centre and Depaul UK, including safeguarding referrals, staff briefings and handovers, support planning, health triage, reporting, data sharing and on‑site procedures.
Attend agreed project management meetings and contribute to communication, monitoring, learning and service development across the partnership.
Liaise with partner agencies, referrers and other professionals as appropriate, supporting joined‑up and psychologically informed working.
Participate where relevant and feasible in the Camden and Islington Trauma Informed Network and other provider forums when the specific topic is pertinent and resourcing allows.
6 Equality, diversity and inclusion
Promote inclusive, anti‑discriminatory and culturally informed practice in all aspects of the role.
Support staff to recognise the impact of race, religion, nationality, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, class, culture, migration history and other protected or marginalised identities on young people’s experiences, engagement, mental health and experiences of trauma.
Contribute to an environment that is respectful, inclusive, relational and responsive to the diversity of young people and staff.
7 Safeguarding, risk and professional practice
Follow Depaul UK safeguarding policy and procedures while working on site and share safeguarding concerns with Depaul UK as part of normal working practice. Brandon Centre staff also have access to Brandon Centre’s internal safeguarding and clinical support structures.
Identify and respond appropriately to safeguarding, welfare and risk concerns in line with organisational professional and statutory requirements.
Maintain clear professional boundaries, sound judgement and appropriate confidentiality in a complex multi‑agency and supported accommodation environment.
Work in accordance with HCPC and or other relevant professional codes, standards and ethical frameworks.
8 Monitoring, evaluation, reporting and information governance
Maintain accurate, timely and confidential records in accordance with Brandon Centre policies, professional standards and agreed partnership arrangements.
Use relevant systems to record consultation, training and reflective practice activity and to contribute to monitoring, reporting and evaluation requirements.
Contribute to data collection, feedback, outcome monitoring and service learning and support the use of this information to improve practice.
Work in line with data protection requirements and agreed data‑sharing arrangements recognising that Brandon Centre and Depaul UK are joint data controllers for the project.
9 Supervision, service development and professional responsibilities
Engage in regular professional supervision and continuing professional development in line with service requirements and the standards of the postholder’s professional body.
Maintain and develop specialist knowledge and skills relevant to consultation, training and psychologically informed practice within young people’s supported accommodation and related services.
Contribute to service development and quality improvement within Brandon Centre’s contribution to the Depaul UK partnership.
Work autonomously within the remit of the role while recognising the limits of own competence and making appropriate use of supervision, consultation and support.
Attend relevant meetings and partnership activity as required, work flexibly and collaboratively in a developing partnership and undertake other duties commensurate with the role in discussion with the line manager.
Person Specification
- Commitment to Brandon Centre values of compassion, inclusion and respect
- Ability to work independently and manage a varied workload across multiple sites
- Ability to work collaboratively and constructively within a partnership model
- Emotional resilience and ability to remain thoughtful, containing and reflective in the face of distress, complexity and uncertainty
- Flexible, creative and professionally boundaried approach to consultation‑based work
- Ability to build trusted, dependable and collaborative working relationships across teams and partner organisations
- Good reflective capacity, including awareness of own competencies and appropriate use of supervision and support
- Commitment to reflective practice, supervision and continuing professional development
- Willingness and ability to work in person across Depaul UK’s Islington sites and within agreed on‑site procedures
Experience
- At least two years post‑qualification experience working psychologically with adolescents and young adults with a range of emotional and mental health difficulties in community‑based or equivalent settings.
- Experience of working with young people affected by trauma, homelessness, care experience, migration, refugee or asylum experiences, placement instability, social exclusion or multiple disadvantage.
- Experience of providing consultation, training and/or reflective support to staff teams.
- Experience of supporting staff teams to embed psychologically informed or trauma‑informed approaches in day‑to‑day practice.
- Experience of working collaboratively in partnership with voluntary sector, housing, youth, supported accommodation or multi‑agency services.
- Experience of contributing to service development, monitoring, evaluation or outcome measurement.
- Experience of working in hostels, supported accommodation, homelessness services or PIE settings.
- Understanding and experience of issues related to refugee care and homeless young people.
Knowledge and Skills
- Knowledge of trauma‑informed, attachment‑informed and psychologically informed approaches in work with vulnerable young people
- Ability to provide psychologically informed consultation and guidance to staff supporting young people with complex needs
- Ability to deliver high‑quality clinical supervision, reflective practice and training
- Ability to formulate complex emotional, relational and systemic presentations clearly and usefully
- Ability to support staff to think psychologically about trauma, adversity, transition, rupture, endings and move‑on
- Ability to advise on referral pathways and the psychological aspects of risk without losing sight of professional boundaries and role remit
- Knowledge of safeguarding, confidentiality, consent, information governance and professional boundaries in partnership and multi‑agency settings
- Understanding of homelessness, supported accommodation and the developmental needs of young people moving towards independence
- Ability to communicate complex psychological ideas clearly, accessibly and appropriately to different audiences, including frontline staff, managers and partner professionals
- Ability to maintain appropriate records and contribute to data collection, monitoring and reporting
- Knowledge of culturally responsive, anti‑discriminatory and inclusive practice
- Knowledge of the Psychologically Informed Environment model and its application in supported accommodation or related settings
Qualifications
- UK recognised postgraduate training in clinical or counselling psychology, child & adolescent psychotherapy qualified to doctorate level or with equivalent experience.
- Registered as clinical/counselling psychologist with the HCPC, or child & adolescent psychotherapist / adult psychotherapist registered with relevant professional body (e.g. ACP; BACP; UKCP; BPC).
- Additional formal training since qualification in an area relevant to the post such as trauma‑informed practice, consultation, supervision, group facilitation or psychologically informed environments.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
#J-18808-Ljbffr”, “datePosted”: “2026-05-13”, “hiringOrganization”: { “@type”: “Organization”, “name”: “NHS”, “sameAs”: “https://uk.whatjobs.com/pub_api__cpl__430942330__4861?utm_campaign=publisher&utm_medium=api&utm_source=4861&geoID=33” }, “jobLocation”: { “@type”: “Place”, “address”: { “@type”: “PostalAddress”, “addressLocality”: “London” } } }Senior Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or Psychotherapist
We are seeking a Senior Clinical or Counselling Psychologist, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, or Adult Psychotherapist to support young peoples hostels in Islington through the development of Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE).
This is an exciting opportunity to work creatively and systemically with staff teams supporting young people aged 16 to 25, including care leavers, young people experiencing homelessness, and those who were previously unaccompanied asylum‑seeking children. The role focuses on consultation, reflective practice, training and service support, helping staff to feel more confident in understanding and responding to complex emotional, relational and mental health needs.
You’ll contribute specialist psychological thinking without holding direct clinical responsibility for residents, supporting staff and services to develop trauma‑informed, attachment‑informed and culturally responsive practice. You will also help strengthen approaches to risk, formulation, referral pathways, and joined‑up working with partner agencies.
This role would suit a clinician with experience of working with adolescents and young adults, and a strong interest in consultation, training, service development and psychologically informed practice in community settings. At Brandon Centre, you will join an established young peoples mental health charity with a strong commitment to reflective practice, supervision, CPD, equality and accessible support for young people.
Main duties of the job
The postholder will work alongside hostel staff and managers to embed psychologically informed ways of understanding and responding to young peoples needs. Rather than providing direct therapy to residents, the role will focus on supporting the staff and systems around them.
A key part of the role will be offering consultation, reflective spaces and training that help staff make sense of young peoples emotional distress, trauma histories, relational patterns, risk behaviours and barriers to engagement. The postholder will help staff think about formulation, support planning, boundaries, transitions, referral options and the emotional impact of the work.
The role will also involve adapting input to the realities of hostel settings, where work can be fast‑moving, complex and unpredictable. The successful candidate will bring psychological thinking in a practical, accessible and collaborative way, supporting staff confidence, team reflection and joined‑up working with other services.
There will be opportunities to contribute to service development, monitoring and evaluation, helping the Brandon Centre and Depaul UK understand what is working well and where practice can be strengthened.
About us
Brandon Centre is a well‑established young peoples mental health charity, founded in 1969. We provide accessible, professional and flexible services for young people under 25, responding to their psychological, emotional and social needs.
Our work includes counselling and psychotherapy, systemic integrative treatment for families, parenting programmes, and consultation and training for organisations working with young people. We have a strong reputation for thoughtful, relational and evidence‑informed practice, and for working with young people whose needs may be complex, marginalised or not easily met elsewhere.
You will join a supportive and reflective clinical organisation where supervision, learning and collaboration are central to how we work. Staff are encouraged to bring curiosity, creativity and psychological thinking to their roles, while remaining grounded in the realities of community‑based services.
Benefits
- 28 days annual leave pro rata
- BUPA Employee Assistance Programme
- NEST Employer pension contributions
- Regular clinical supervision
Job responsibilities
1 Consultation
Provide regular consultation and guidance to Depaul UK staff including frontline workers, key workers and senior staff to support psychologically informed work with young people.
Give psychologically informed formulation and specialist advice to staff regarding young peoples emotional and mental health needs without taking on direct clinical responsibility for Depaul UK’s operational case management, support planning or risk management processes.
Advise on appropriate responses, referral pathways and the psychological aspects of risk, safety, emotional distress and behaviour within staff members’ roles and organisational procedures.
Facilitate access to mental health support for young people where appropriate in line with Brandon Centre’s agreed role in the partnership.
2 Training and workforce development
Design and deliver mental health trauma‑informed and Psychologically Informed Environment training tailored to different staff roles and levels of responsibility.
Strengthen staff mental health awareness, PIE capability, practical skills and resilience including understanding trauma, attachment, emotional regulation, relational dynamics and the impact of adversity and transition.
3 Clinical supervision and reflective practice
Provide regular clinical supervision and reflective practice to staff, helping them navigate the emotional demands of their work and remain thoughtful, containing and effective in supporting young people.
Support staff to think psychologically about change, endings, move‑on and discontinuity and contribute to reflective learning after significant incidents or challenging events in line with Depaul UK procedures.
4 PIE development and trauma‑informed practice
Support the development and embedding of a Psychologically Informed Environment PIE across Depaul UK’s Islington services with particular emphasis on relationships between young people and staff.
Contribute to PIE‑related developments including reflective practice, staff training, psychologically informed consideration of the physical environment and review of service practices, procedures and pathways.
Promote trauma‑informed relational and developmentally attuned ways of working that recognise distress and behaviour as meaningful communication.
Use young people’s feedback, lived experience and perspectives alongside staff reflection and service data to inform the ongoing development of PIE within the service.
5 Partnership and multi‑agency working
Work collaboratively and constructively with Depaul UK as lead partner in the delivery of the Islington Young People’s Supported Accommodation Pathway.
Understand and operate within the agreed division of responsibilities between Brandon Centre and Depaul UK, including safeguarding referrals, staff briefings and handovers, support planning, health triage, reporting, data sharing and on‑site procedures.
Attend agreed project management meetings and contribute to communication, monitoring, learning and service development across the partnership.
Liaise with partner agencies, referrers and other professionals as appropriate, supporting joined‑up and psychologically informed working.
Participate where relevant and feasible in the Camden and Islington Trauma Informed Network and other provider forums when the specific topic is pertinent and resourcing allows.
6 Equality, diversity and inclusion
Promote inclusive, anti‑discriminatory and culturally informed practice in all aspects of the role.
Support staff to recognise the impact of race, religion, nationality, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, class, culture, migration history and other protected or marginalised identities on young people’s experiences, engagement, mental health and experiences of trauma.
Contribute to an environment that is respectful, inclusive, relational and responsive to the diversity of young people and staff.
7 Safeguarding, risk and professional practice
Follow Depaul UK safeguarding policy and procedures while working on site and share safeguarding concerns with Depaul UK as part of normal working practice. Brandon Centre staff also have access to Brandon Centre’s internal safeguarding and clinical support structures.
Identify and respond appropriately to safeguarding, welfare and risk concerns in line with organisational professional and statutory requirements.
Maintain clear professional boundaries, sound judgement and appropriate confidentiality in a complex multi‑agency and supported accommodation environment.
Work in accordance with HCPC and or other relevant professional codes, standards and ethical frameworks.
8 Monitoring, evaluation, reporting and information governance
Maintain accurate, timely and confidential records in accordance with Brandon Centre policies, professional standards and agreed partnership arrangements.
Use relevant systems to record consultation, training and reflective practice activity and to contribute to monitoring, reporting and evaluation requirements.
Contribute to data collection, feedback, outcome monitoring and service learning and support the use of this information to improve practice.
Work in line with data protection requirements and agreed data‑sharing arrangements recognising that Brandon Centre and Depaul UK are joint data controllers for the project.
9 Supervision, service development and professional responsibilities
Engage in regular professional supervision and continuing professional development in line with service requirements and the standards of the postholder’s professional body.
Maintain and develop specialist knowledge and skills relevant to consultation, training and psychologically informed practice within young people’s supported accommodation and related services.
Contribute to service development and quality improvement within Brandon Centre’s contribution to the Depaul UK partnership.
Work autonomously within the remit of the role while recognising the limits of own competence and making appropriate use of supervision, consultation and support.
Attend relevant meetings and partnership activity as required, work flexibly and collaboratively in a developing partnership and undertake other duties commensurate with the role in discussion with the line manager.
Person Specification
- Commitment to Brandon Centre values of compassion, inclusion and respect
- Ability to work independently and manage a varied workload across multiple sites
- Ability to work collaboratively and constructively within a partnership model
- Emotional resilience and ability to remain thoughtful, containing and reflective in the face of distress, complexity and uncertainty
- Flexible, creative and professionally boundaried approach to consultation‑based work
- Ability to build trusted, dependable and collaborative working relationships across teams and partner organisations
- Good reflective capacity, including awareness of own competencies and appropriate use of supervision and support
- Commitment to reflective practice, supervision and continuing professional development
- Willingness and ability to work in person across Depaul UK’s Islington sites and within agreed on‑site procedures
Experience
- At least two years post‑qualification experience working psychologically with adolescents and young adults with a range of emotional and mental health difficulties in community‑based or equivalent settings.
- Experience of working with young people affected by trauma, homelessness, care experience, migration, refugee or asylum experiences, placement instability, social exclusion or multiple disadvantage.
- Experience of providing consultation, training and/or reflective support to staff teams.
- Experience of supporting staff teams to embed psychologically informed or trauma‑informed approaches in day‑to‑day practice.
- Experience of working collaboratively in partnership with voluntary sector, housing, youth, supported accommodation or multi‑agency services.
- Experience of contributing to service development, monitoring, evaluation or outcome measurement.
- Experience of working in hostels, supported accommodation, homelessness services or PIE settings.
- Understanding and experience of issues related to refugee care and homeless young people.
Knowledge and Skills
- Knowledge of trauma‑informed, attachment‑informed and psychologically informed approaches in work with vulnerable young people
- Ability to provide psychologically informed consultation and guidance to staff supporting young people with complex needs
- Ability to deliver high‑quality clinical supervision, reflective practice and training
- Ability to formulate complex emotional, relational and systemic presentations clearly and usefully
- Ability to support staff to think psychologically about trauma, adversity, transition, rupture, endings and move‑on
- Ability to advise on referral pathways and the psychological aspects of risk without losing sight of professional boundaries and role remit
- Knowledge of safeguarding, confidentiality, consent, information governance and professional boundaries in partnership and multi‑agency settings
- Understanding of homelessness, supported accommodation and the developmental needs of young people moving towards independence
- Ability to communicate complex psychological ideas clearly, accessibly and appropriately to different audiences, including frontline staff, managers and partner professionals
- Ability to maintain appropriate records and contribute to data collection, monitoring and reporting
- Knowledge of culturally responsive, anti‑discriminatory and inclusive practice
- Knowledge of the Psychologically Informed Environment model and its application in supported accommodation or related settings
Qualifications
- UK recognised postgraduate training in clinical or counselling psychology, child & adolescent psychotherapy qualified to doctorate level or with equivalent experience.
- Registered as clinical/counselling psychologist with the HCPC, or child & adolescent psychotherapist / adult psychotherapist registered with relevant professional body (e.g. ACP; BACP; UKCP; BPC).
- Additional formal training since qualification in an area relevant to the post such as trauma‑informed practice, consultation, supervision, group facilitation or psychologically informed environments.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
#J-18808-Ljbffr…