Clinical Psychologist - (Full time, no sponsorships available)

We are looking for an experienced, compassionate and motivated Clinical Psychologist to join our team, supporting six children’s homes caring for up to 14 children and young people.

This is an exciting opportunity to bring your clinical expertise into a residential setting, helping children feel safe, understood and supported while empowering the staff who care for them to provide consistent, nurturing and psychologically informed care.

About the role

As our Clinical Psychologist, you will play a central role in developing and embedding a therapeutic approach across our children’s homes.

You will work directly with children and young people, helping them understand their experiences, develop emotional regulation, build resilience and form positive relationships. Alongside this, you will work closely with our home managers and residential teams to ensure psychological understanding informs everyday care.

Rather than focusing solely on individual therapy, this role offers the opportunity to influence the wider environment in which children live, helping create homes where therapeutic principles are reflected in relationships, routines, boundaries and responses to behaviour.

You will have the opportunity to develop a consistent therapeutic culture across all six homes, supporting both the children and the teams around them.

What will you be doing?

Providing direct psychological support

• Undertaking psychological assessments and formulations to understand children’s individual needs, strengths and experiences.
• Delivering appropriate, evidence-based psychological interventions tailored to each child.
• Supporting children to develop emotional awareness, resilience, positive relationships and strategies for managing distress.
• Contributing psychological advice to care planning, risk management and placement stability.

Developing a therapeutic community

• Helping embed trauma-informed, attachment-aware and psychologically informed practice across all six homes.
• Supporting staff to understand the reasons behind children’s behaviour and respond with empathy, consistency and appropriate boundaries.
• Helping create environments where children feel safe, valued, understood and able to develop.
• Contributing to the development and evaluation of therapeutic approaches across the organisation.

Empowering and supporting our teams

• Delivering training to strengthen staff understanding of trauma, attachment, emotional regulation and relational care.
• Facilitating reflective practice and case consultations to help staff explore challenges and improve their responses to children.
• Supporting home managers with psychological advice, care planning and the implementation of therapeutic strategies.
• Helping teams reflect and learn following significant incidents or periods of difficulty.

Promoting safe, effective practice

• Contributing to clinical governance, safeguarding and psychological risk formulation.
• Working collaboratively with social workers, health professionals and other agencies.
• Maintaining high standards of clinical documentation, professional practice and continuing development.
• Monitoring outcomes and identifying opportunities to improve the quality of care across our homes.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for someone who combines strong clinical knowledge with the ability to engage, influence and support others.

You will be a qualified Clinical Psychologist who is HCPC registered, with relevant post-qualification experience working with children and young people experiencing complex emotional, psychological or behavioural needs.

You will bring:

• Strong knowledge of child development, trauma-informed practice and attachment-aware approaches.
• Experience of psychological assessment, formulation and therapeutic intervention.
• The ability to translate psychological theory into practical guidance that residential staff can use every day.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
• Confidence working collaboratively with managers, care teams and external professionals.
• A reflective, compassionate and non-judgemental approach.
• The ability to manage a varied workload across multiple homes while maintaining professional standards.

Experience in residential childcare or with looked-after children would be particularly valuable. We would also welcome applications from Clinical Psychologists with relevant experience in CAMHS or other children's services who are interested in applying their skills within a residential setting.

What makes this opportunity different?

The chance to make an organisation-wide impact. You will be able to influence therapeutic practice across six homes, rather than working with children in isolation.

A balance of clinical work and service development. Combine direct work with children with consultation, training and the development of a therapeutic culture.

The opportunity to empower care teams. Help staff build their confidence and understanding, so children benefit from psychologically informed support throughout their everyday lives.

A varied and meaningful role. Work alongside home managers and residential teams, contributing to individual children's progress and the quality of care across the organisation.

Application question(s):

• Do you have a current HCPC registration as a Clinical Psychologist?
• Do you have a strong knowledge of child development, trauma-informed practice and attachment-aware approaches?