Principal Clinical Psychologist

Overview

THERAPEUTIC & EMOTIONAL SUPPORT SERVICE (TESS)

GR6 - £52,431.00 to £64,811.00: (with market supplement) up to £72,311.00 (depending on experience)

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated and enthusiastic Principal Clinical Psychologist, with significant experience of working with childhood trauma and attachment-related difficulties, to join our Therapeutic and Emotional Support Service (TESS) for care experienced children & young people. This new post will expand our existing service provision to support care leavers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people. Post qualification training in attachment and trauma informed approaches and models of therapy (or an enthusiasm to develop knowledge/skills in this area) are desirable.

TESS is a well-resourced and growing service that provides a wide range of support services to children and young people (up to age 25yrs) open to Birmingham Children's Trust, their parents/carers and their professional network. We work in partnership with local mental health, education and community-based services to ensure support is appropriate to meet need.

The post holder will

• Join a friendly, supportive, and highly regarded multidisciplinary team of clinical psychology, systemic family therapy, play therapy, and other therapeutic social workers.
• Work with a wide range of approaches and models (e.g. DDP, CBT, DBT, etc) as part of the service, using the best available evidence base while encouraging evidence-informed, innovative and creative ways of working.
• Engage with children and young people presenting with needs arising from abuse, neglect, attachment disruption, separation, loss, marginalisation, disadvantage and social isolation. Presenting needs may include emotional, behavioural and relationship difficulties, mental health issues, neurodevelopmental differences, learning or executive functioning difficulties, and high risk.
• Be aware that this work can be pressured and emotionally challenging, but also rewarding.
• Undertake a broad range of duties including specialist assessment, developing shared formulations in complex presentations, delivering therapeutic interventions (individual, dyadic, family and/or group), consultation, teaching and training, liaising with partner agencies, supervision, service development, service evaluation and research where appropriate.

Qualifications and development

• Post qualification training in attachment and trauma-informed approaches and models of therapy (or a demonstrated enthusiasm to develop knowledge/skills in this area) are desirable.
• Opportunities to link with other psychologists across the Trust for peer support and access to regular clinical, professional and management supervision.

Application process

If you are a team player who is passionate and experienced in developing and delivering services for care experienced and/or UASC young people, we would love to hear from you. Please include a supporting statement and CV that demonstrates how you meet the competencies required as outlined in the attached person specification.

For more information please contact:

Lee Vince, TESS Head of Service, or

Dr Marie Kershaw, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, or

Important dates and role details

Closing date: Sunday 28 September 2025
Interviews: Tuesday 14 October 2025

We have been rated as 'Good' by Ofsted, following a 2023 inspection. This is a fantastic achievement for Birmingham Children's Trust, with many positive highlights focusing on areas including the quality of staff leadership, partnership working, safeguarding and corporate parenting.

This is a hybrid role based in Birmingham, so you must reside within a suitable commutable distance around Birmingham and have the correct right-to-work documents to work in the UK. Sponsorship is not provided.