Clinical/Counselling Psychologist | Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

6 MONTH FIXED TERM POST

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to work on an adult acute psychiatric inpatient ward as part of the Mental Health Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team at Prospect Park Hospital in Reading.

This role would suit a candidate who is keen to apply a broad range of psychological skills, which would include consultation, formulation, behavioural support, therapeutic interventions, and contribution to service development.

We welcome applications for this band 7 or 8a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist role. There are opportunities for flexible working patterns which would include face-to-face clinical work as well as home working. We are also flexible in accommodating requests for part-time working days.

Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team overview

Job satisfaction can come from numerous areas in this diverse role. Under supervision of a Principal Psychologist you will take on a clinical caseload with adults with complex mental health presentations. You will provide regular input to the multi-disciplinary team on your ward in the form of consultation, team formulation sessions, teaching and joint working. You will be part of the Inpatients Psychological Therapies team, supervise the Assistant Psychologist on your ward, and also receive peer support from the other ward Clinical/Counselling Psychologists. You will contribute to and/or lead on service development projects.
• Work on allocated adult acute mental health ward

• Offer psychological consultation to hospital staff (e.g. team formulation, teaching sessions, joint working, supervision and staff support groups).

• Supervise Assistant Psychologist.

• Clinical work with service users and carers involving assessment (including behavioural support assessments), formulation and interventions with varied and complex mental health presentations.

• Contribute to service improvement initiatives in a ward/community team, as well as contributing to projects arising from the Inpatients Psychological Therapies Team.

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, we’re committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire. As an employer, we’re committed to offering an inclusive and compassionate environment where our people share in a sense of belonging and are supported to flourish.

Our values at Berkshire Healthcare are:
• Caring for and about you is our top priority
• Committed to providing good quality, safe services
• Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions

Your wellbeing is important to us. Some of the benefits of working for us include:
• Flexible working options to support work-life balance
• 27 days’ annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
• Generous NHS pension scheme
• Excellent learning and career development opportunities
• ‘Cycle to Work’ and car leasing scheme including electric vehicles
• Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
• Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
• Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities, the environment and armed forces community to support equality
• Generous maternity, paternity, adoption and special leave
• Free parking across Trust sites

FOR SECONDMENT ROLES ONLY - If the secondment role becomes permanent, the successful candidate may be offered the permanent position.

The  “must haves” for you to be considered for this role: 
• Postgraduate doctoral qualification in Clinical or Counselling Psychology (or equivalent)
• You will have experience working with adults and/or older adults with complex mental health problems and have excellent therapeutic and management skills.
• You will enjoy working in teams and providing psychological consultation, teaching and supervision.
• Calm, confident and assertive in emotionally demanding situations, you will be astute at setting and maintaining professional boundaries and will be efficient at dealing with distressing or hostile situations and behaviour.
• Self-motivated and confident, you will show initiative and a determination to support clients and their families through creative engagement. This includes an ability to work integratively in your clinical work.

For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.

We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted.

We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.

Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

This advert closes on Monday 4 May 2026

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A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident .