Band 8b Clinical Psychologist - Rehabilitation Pathway

Band 8b Clinical Psychologist - Rehabilitation Pathway

Inpatient & Community Rehabilitation Willow Ward + Mental Health Rehabilitation Team

Are you an experienced Clinical Psychologist looking for a genuinely meaningful leadership role?

Do you want to shape the future of recoveryfocused mental health services for people with complex, enduring needs?

Join us in Somerset as a senior clinical leader within our evolving Rehabilitation Pathway, where you'll influence practice, develop services, and deliver specialist psychological care that makes a real and lasting difference.

Why You'll Love This Role

• Lead the psychological vision across both inpatient and community rehabilitation
• Shape and develop services as part of a forwardthinking leadership team
• Work autonomously, using your expertise to guide multidisciplinary teams
• Develop others through supervision, consultation, and teaching
• Enjoy a supportive, collaborative culture with strong links to Adult Psychology & Psychological Therapies
• Build a role around your strengths, with opportunities for research, innovation, and strategic development

Main duties of the job

• Deliver highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations, and interventions for people with complex mental health needs.
• Provide expert consultation and advice to the multidisciplinary team across both inpatient and community rehabilitation settings.
• Offer clinical leadership and contribute to the design, development and evaluation of rehabilitation services.
• Lead on psychological thinking within the pathway and ensure the delivery of evidencebased, recoveryfocused care.
• Provide specialist supervision to psychologists, trainees, assistant psychologists and MDT colleagues.
• Contribute to staff training, teaching, and identification of learning needs.
• Manage an autonomous clinical caseload, applying professional guidelines and research evidence in practice.
• Support service data, audit, policy development and quality improvement activities.
• Build and maintain strong multiagency partnerships and effective communication pathways.
• Deputise for senior colleagues where required and contribute to leadership meetings and strategic planning.

About us

At Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, we're committed to supporting our employees with a range of benefits designed to enhance your professional and personal life. We offer:

• Flexible working options to help you balance work and life
• NHS pension scheme for long-term financial security
• Generous annual leave allowance to recharge and relax
• A strong focus on career development to help you grow and achieve your potential

Additionally, you'll gain access to our Blue Light Card, unlocking exclusive discounts on shopping, dining, and leisure activities, as well as NHS-specific perks to support you both inside and outside of work.

We are proud to foster a diverse, skilled, and inclusive workforce, and we encourage applications from all backgrounds.

Why Somerset? Somerset offers the perfect blend of idyllic countryside, outstanding areas of natural beauty, and breathtaking coastlines, with vibrant cities like Bristol, Bath, and Exeter just a short drive away - and only two hours to London.

The region is home to excellent educational facilities, and with affordable housing compared to other parts of the country, it's a great place to build both your career and your future.

Somerset truly has it all - the peaceful countryside and cosmopolitan city life, with something for everyone to enjoy.

Job responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

• Provide highly specialist psychological assessments using a range of methods and evidencebased approaches.
• Formulate and implement treatment plans for individuals with severe, complex and enduring mental health difficulties.
• Deliver direct therapeutic interventions, tailored to service users' needs and recovery goals.
• Guide MDT staff through psychological formulation and intervention planning.
• Maintain responsibility for autonomous clinical decisions, including complex risk assessment and management.

Leadership, Supervision & Consultation

• Lead psychological practice across Willow Ward and the Mental Health Rehabilitation Team.
• Provide specialist supervision to psychologists, trainees, assistant psychologists and MDT colleagues.
• Offer expert consultation to internal teams and partner agencies on assessment, formulation and intervention.
• Support a psychologically informed culture through teaching, reflective practice and skill development.
• Contribute to service leadership by supporting capacity monitoring, workload planning and service priorities.

Service Development & Quality Improvement

• Play a key role in shaping service pathways, models of care and strategic development.
• Participate in and lead service evaluation, audits and research projects.
• Ensure practice reflects national policy, local priorities, and evidence-based frameworks.
• Identify opportunities for innovation and collaborate with senior colleagues to implement changes.
• Support the development of consistent and effective rehabilitation models across inpatient and community settings.

Training & Education

• Identify training needs within the pathway and contribute to the development of training plans.
• Design and deliver teaching sessions for MDT colleagues and partner organisations.
• Support the development of psychological skills among staff to enhance the quality of care.

Professional & Administrative Responsibilities

• Work autonomously within HCPC professional standards and Trust policies.
• Maintain accurate and timely clinical records using digital systems.
• Participate in clinical governance activities including supervision, CPD, and mandatory training.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of Trust policies and procedures.

Communication & Partnership Working

• Communicate complex and sensitive information with clarity and compassion to service users, carers and professionals.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with VCSE partners and external agencies.
• Support smooth transitions between services and ensure continuity of care.
• Represent the service at internal and external meetings when required.

Person Specification Qualifications

• Doctoral Clinical Psychology qualification or equivalent level qualification in another psychological professionRegistration with the relevant provisional body such as the Health Professions Council
• Relevant specialist CPD qualification (Diploma/Masters etc.) for example specialist therapy training.Management training/ qualificationClinical supervision training

Experience

• Significant specialist post qualification experience in the field of severe mental illness.Experience of work across service settings and agencies.Supervision experience with all grades of staff.Experience of Service Development/Project Work
• Consultancy work in multi-professional settings.Service development/ project work.R&D work in specialist area.Experience managing Services

Additional Criteria

• Own transport available for work purposes.Full UK driving licence.
• Accreditation in NICE approved therapy, e.g. CBT or CAT
• Significant experience and competence in Neuropsychological Assessment

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.