Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist, Clinical Lead | Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
| Posting date: | 27 April 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £66,582 - £77,368 Per Annum |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 27 May 2026 |
| Location: | Greater Manchester, OL6 7SR |
| Company: | Pennine Care NHS FT |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7944403/311-T666-26 |
Summary
Are you
A clinically skilled psychological therapies lead, motivated by improving patient care and supporting the wellbeing of the workforce?
Committed to integrated, multidisciplinary working ?
Passionate about addressing health inequalities and improving access of psychologically -informed care?
Comfortable working with complexity and able to translate psychological and systemic approaches into practical, accessible interventions ?
Open to thinking beyond traditional service boundaries and support an integrated, trauma-informed model of mental health care that is dynamic, responsive, and innovative to meet the recommendations of the Community Mental Health Transformation Framework??
If so, then we would welcome an application from you.
The Band 8B Clinical Lead post is part of a new leadership structure for Psychological Therapies in Specialist Community Mental Health Services further to a recent and extensive restructure of services. You will be part of a developing leadership network within Psychological Therapies.
You will work alongside two other 8b clinical leads in this structure as a cohesive team, contributing to shared leadership across the Trust and collective problem-solving in the context of Transformational change and innovation. You will be expected to engage constructively with this evolving model, bringing your clinical expertise, while also being open to new ways of organising care and leadership.
As a clinical lead you will
Provide senior clinical leadership and supervision to practitioner psychologists and psychological therapists within Specialist Mental Health Teams ( formerly CMHTs) supporting the integration of psychological therapies within a biopsychosocial model of care.
Offer consultation on a range of complex presentations, including psychosis, bipolar and complex emotional and relational needs (CERN).
Support Specialist Mental Health Teams to increase access to psychological interventions and therapies, identifying solutions to improve access and contribute to reducing unwarranted variation.
Support practitioner psychologists and psychological therapists within Specialist Mental Health Teams to embed psychologically-informed practice within MDT working. Foster a strong clinical MDT for the benefit of service-users and their carers/ families.
Play an active role in supporting the MDT delivering on the recommendations of the Psychological Therapies for Serious Mental Health Problems (PT-SMHP) framework.
Contribute job-planned time to Trust-wide priorities, aligned with Community Mental Health Transformation and the NHS 10-Year Plan. We would particularly welcome applicants with experience of working with service users with a diagnosis of psychosis and bipolar affective difficulties and a passion for creating innovative, psychologically-informed pathways to address their needs as well as increase their access to evidence-based psychological therapies.
We are proud to provide high quality mental health and learning disability services, both inpatient and in the community across five boroughs of Greater Manchester - Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside and Glossop.
Our vision is for a happier and more hopeful life for everyone in our communities and our staff work hard to deliver the very best care for the people who use our services. We’re really proud of our #PennineCarePeople and do everything we can to make sure we’re a great place to work.
All individuals regardless of race, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership are encouraged to apply for this post. We would also encourage applications from individuals with a lived experience of mental illness, either individually or as a carer.
If you come and work for us we will offer a range of benefits and opportunities, including:
• Generous annual leave entitlement for Agenda for Change and Medical and Dental staff.
• Flexible working opportunities to support your work/life balance
• Access to Continued Professional Development
• Involvement in improvement and research activities
• Health and Wellbeing activities and access to an excellent staff wellbeing service
• Access to staff discounts across retail, leisure and travel
As a principal clinical/ counselling psychologist, the post-holder will
• Provide a high level of specialist expertise with complex and, or challenging cases within the secondary care adult psychological therapies service/ community pathway.
• Provide clinical leadership and supervision to the psychological practitioners working in specialist mental health teams across boroughs , ensuring provision of a high-quality specialist psychology service to service users referred within the community pathway. This will also incorporate some operational management duties.
• Support colleagues in the management of referrals to the service and applying appropriate criteria in assessing suitability
• Contribute to the delivery of the Community Transformation work and to the implementation of defined transformation initiatives, such as addressing health inequalities and increasing access to psychological therapies and interventions for those underrepresented in psychological therapies.
Please see Job Description for more details
This advert closes on Monday 11 May 2026