Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Psychologist Leading FERN Service

The closing date is 18 March 2026

Job summary

This role is offered on a permanent basis. The hours are part-time, 22.5 hours per week.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the complex emotional needs service that is established in Gloucestershire. The service sets out to improve responding where ever people present, using trauma informed awareness and a commitment to reducing re-traumatisation across systems.

This post is a newly developed post that will be dedicated to leading the FERN - Frequent engagement response network, a service specifically set up to support emergency services and to help individuals experiencing distress to co-create person centred response plans drawing on psychological formulation.

The post holder will be working with lived experience practitioners, assistant psychologists, specialist practitioners, multi-agency safeguarding leads and emergency services to coordinate appropriate responses and to ensure that the clients voice is at the centre of any decision making. Additionally, the post holder will coordinate monthly multi-agency clinical concerns meetings where referrals are discussed and decisions made.

Main duties of the job

To take an Applied Psychologist stance to working with individuals, teams and organisations in order to inform psychological ways of working within and across services.
To directly provide and co-ordinate highly specialist psychological assessment and intervention services to individuals/ groups/organisations, using a variety of applied psychology models.
To provide clinical supervision for pre-qualified psychology staff according to experience and general/specialist psychological model. To provide placements and supervision to Doctoral Clinical Psychology trainees and other psychological practitioners in training.
To participate in relevant research and audit activity andto utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development
To take an active role in promoting psychologically informed assessments through systemic interventions supporting a wide range of partner agencies along with friends, families and accommodation-based staff.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

About us

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Date posted

06 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £62,682 a year per annum (pro rata)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time, Flexible working

Reference number

327-26-155-A

Job locations

Eastgate House

121-131 Eastgate

Gloucester

GL1 3PX

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical

To carry a caseload and provide a direct service for psychological issues which demand more than a standard therapeutic approach (e.g. basic CBT may have been tried unsuccessfully, methods may need significant adaptation, particular challenges exist in maintaining a therapeutic relationship).

To draw appropriately from a range of assessment tools and methodologies. To interpret and integrate complex data and information from a variety of sources to develop psychological formulations and identify the most relevant intervention strategy. To monitor and evaluate progress, refining formulations and interventions as necessary. To assess and manage risk within an appropriate psychological framework.

To plan and prioritise workload, exercising autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based care plans.

If applicable: works primarily within a multi-disciplinary approach/team where a variety of opinion and expertise is brought to bear on a situation.

To evaluate and make decisions about assessment and treatment options taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models, highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group, and the views of other professionals involved.

Maintains appropriate records in electronic or hard copy in line with Trust policies and professional guidelines. Includes workload data and using word processing skills to produce client related reports.

Leadership and management

In partnership with the Lead Psychologist for CEN, leads on day to delivery of a psychological service within the team.

Manage own time and workload.

To provide clinical supervision to Psychology assistants and trainees. Plan and monitor their client and research and development workload and hold delegated management for specified assistants.

CPD and professional standards

Accountable for own professional actions guided by the Professions standards including the BPS Code of Conduct, Ethics Guidelines for Chartered Psychologists.

Exercises own expert clinical judgement in all aspects of work including where there is insufficient or conflicting data.

Exercises appropriate judgement on the sharing of confidential information with other professional colleagues and agencies under Vulnerable Adult/ Child Protection policies, etc.

To carry out CPD activity to maintain knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and wider psychological practice. To record CPD activity to enable provision of a log to HCP as required.

To maintain standards which are required for professional registration and to maintain Registration.

Research activities, service evaluation and development

Uses professional skills and knowledge including research, service evaluation and audit to suggest ways to improve and develop practice.

Ensures reflective scientist-practitioner approach in own practice and that of supervisees.

To provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.

To supervise and where necessary organise the research activities of Assistant Psychologists, Doctoral trainees and other staff.

Teaching, Training, Supervision and Consultancy

To ensure that other staff, multidisciplinary teams and managers across the range of services have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of clients of the service, through provision of specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation and the sharing of psychological research and theory.

To provide training to others as relevant to service need.

To provide training on the Clinical Psychology Doctorate Course as agreed.

This role is not eligible for sponsorship as per the Governments UK VISA and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information please visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical

If applicable: works primarily within a multi-disciplinary approach/team where a variety of opinion and expertise is brought to bear on a situation.

Leadership and management

In partnership with the Lead Psychologist for CEN, leads on day to delivery of a psychological service within the team.

Manage own time and workload.

To provide clinical supervision to Psychology assistants and trainees. Plan and monitor their client and research and development workload and hold delegated management for specified assistants.

CPD and professional standards

Accountable for own professional actions guided by the Professions standards including the BPS Code of Conduct, Ethics Guidelines for Chartered Psychologists.

Exercises own expert clinical judgement in all aspects of work including where there is insufficient or conflicting data.

Exercises appropriate judgement on the sharing of confidential information with other professional colleagues and agencies under Vulnerable Adult/ Child Protection policies, etc.

To maintain standards which are required for professional registration and to maintain Registration.

Research activities, service evaluation and development

Uses professional skills and knowledge including research, service evaluation and audit to suggest ways to improve and develop practice.

Ensures reflective scientist-practitioner approach in own practice and that of supervisees.

To provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.

To supervise and where necessary organise the research activities of Assistant Psychologists, Doctoral trainees and other staff.

Teaching, Training, Supervision and Consultancy

To provide training to others as relevant to service need.

To provide training on the Clinical Psychology Doctorate Course as agreed.

Person Specification

practicality

Essential

Driving licence and use of car to get around county efficiently with occasional need to drive patients

Desirable

Ability to adapt style and/or assessment and intervention strategies to meet the challenges of complex clients / situations.

Qualifications

Essential

Post Graduate doctoral level training in Clinical or Counselling Psychology, as accredited by the B.P.S.

Desirable

Significant experience working at highly specialist level in a directly relevant area. Includes successful working in a multi-disciplinary context and having held responsibility for a largely autonomous and systematic service provision

Experience

Essential

Experience of maintaining working relationships and a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical aggression
Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues, both within and outside the NHS. Well organised and an effective team player

Desirable

Care coordination or equivalent role with people with highly complex psychological needs

Experience

Essential

Willingness to work in non clinical settings including people's homes, community settings and potentially in ED and at Custody
Experience of working in non clinical settings to deliver psychological interventions

Person Specification

practicality

Essential

Driving licence and use of car to get around county efficiently with occasional need to drive patients

Desirable

Ability to adapt style and/or assessment and intervention strategies to meet the challenges of complex clients / situations.

Qualifications

Essential

Post Graduate doctoral level training in Clinical or Counselling Psychology, as accredited by the B.P.S.

Desirable

Significant experience working at highly specialist level in a directly relevant area. Includes successful working in a multi-disciplinary context and having held responsibility for a largely autonomous and systematic service provision

Experience

Essential

Experience of maintaining working relationships and a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical aggression
Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues, both within and outside the NHS. Well organised and an effective team player

Desirable

Care coordination or equivalent role with people with highly complex psychological needs

Experience

Essential

Willingness to work in non clinical settings including people's homes, community settings and potentially in ED and at Custody
Experience of working in non clinical settings to deliver psychological interventions

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Additional information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Eastgate House

121-131 Eastgate

Gloucester

GL1 3PX

Employer's website

https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/who-we-are/jobs/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Eastgate House

121-131 Eastgate

Gloucester

GL1 3PX

Employer's website

https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/who-we-are/jobs/ (Opens in a new tab)