Principal Psychologist
Job overview
An exciting position has arisen for a Band 8b Principal Psychologist role at the Rivendell Service at HMP New Hall. Band 8a psychologists with sufficient leadership experience are encouraged to apply for this role, which is an excellent development opportunity.
Health and Justice Services part of the Specialist Service Network for GMMH are working in partnership with HMP New Hall to implement the National Offender Personality (OPD) strategy. The Rivendell team comprises of clinical and forensic psychologists, a project administrator and HMPPS officers working collaboratively to provide a therapeutic environment for service-users presenting with complex personality presentations linked to their offending behaviours.
Rivendell provides an intensive two-year intervention service for up to 16 women. The service prides itself on offering a strong partnership arrangement with HMP New Hall.
This role provides a wide breadth of experience in delivering assessments and therapeutic work, working alongside the clinical lead to provide leadership for the service, partnership working, supervision, training and consultation.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will provide clinical leadership alongside the consultant psychologist and clinical lead for Rivendell. They will work closely with our clinical and forensic psychologists to support the delivery of the service.
The post holder will be expected to support the wider day-to-day delivery of the clinical model, working in partnership with a range of prison staff, wider stakeholders and adhering to the OPD pathway specifications.
The post holder will be responsible for supporting the formulation-driven care for a small caseload of service-users. The completion of risk assessments, formulations and interventions will be a part of the role.
The post holder will be expected to provide highly specialist psychological advice and consultation to non-psychological colleagues within the professional team.
The post holder will take the in lead in managing the referral process and liaising with referrers to consider the most appropriate pathway options.
The postholder will be expected to propose and support service development.
There will be scope for consultation work with other disciplines, to work collaboratively with other agencies to support our client group and to deliver training to prison staff both within Rivendell and the wider prison.
Working for our organisation
Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations.
We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford, Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.
Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.
Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.
Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
See attached job description and job specification.
This role provides a wide breadth of experience in delivering assessments and therapeutic work, working alongside the clinical lead to provide leadership for the service, partnership working, supervision, training and consultation.
Ideally, we hope to attract candidates with existing experience in the area of personality disorder and the criminal justice system.
Person specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential criteria- Doctoral degree in clinical or forensic psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) or Masters degree in Forensic psychology plus experience working in a therapeutic environment. • Current HCPC registration as a clinical or forensic psychologist.
- Further post graduate or specialist training in psychology, mental health practice or therapeutic skills.
Experience
Essential criteria- Further specialist managerial experience and training, including extensive supervision and management of clinical staff. Significant experience of service development and leadership. Experience of developing assessments, formulations and therapeutic intervention to people presenting with complex mental health, personality difficulties or offending behaviours.
- Worked within a trauma-informed environment.
- Experience of working professionally within a custodial or secure environment.
- Worked specifically with the needs of women.
- Experience of providing supervision and training to multi-disciplinary staff
Knowledge
Essential criteria- Knowledge and awareness of the factors that contribute to complex personality presentations, emotional dysregulation and interpersonal difficulties. • Knowledge of psychological models and treatment approaches for working with those presenting with complex personality difficulties.
- Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of psychological approaches to the treatment of the users of forensic mental health and/or criminal justice services. Awareness of the OPD pathway strategy
Important Information about working for GMMH:
All positions within the Trust are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, for further information on the checks required please visit the NHS Employers website www.nhsemployers.org
The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.
Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.
The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities.If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.
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We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.
Sponsorship
We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – click here.
If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.
The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it here.
Do you have experience outside the NHS?
We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.
We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment. Please contact our Recruitment Team for more information.
**Please note, this vacancy may be closed at any time if sufficient applications have been received**