Consultant Clinical/Counselling Psychologist

The Role

We have an exciting opportunity for an Consultant Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to join our Veteran’s First Point (V1P) service on a twelve month fixed term basis.

V1P Lanarkshire is a specialist service for military Veterans and is hosted within NHS Lanarkshire. Service provision includes individualised packages of care to address social, welfare, and mental health needs. The service is part of 6 Regional bases within the V1P network and adheres to this model, whilst adapting this locally to best fit a Lanarkshire context. The service is a member of the Quality Network for Veterans Mental Health Services (QNVMHS), Royal College of Psychiatrists having formally being awarded accreditation in September 2023.

The post holder will take a lead role on the clinical and strategic delivery of V1P Lanarkshire; and operational management of all psychological therapy and peer support worker staff in the team. There are considerable opportunities for local service development and quality improvement, and contribution at a National level.

Interviews will be held on 13/11/2025

NHS Lanarkshire

Have you always wanted to work with NHS Lanarkshire? Then this might be the opportunity for you to join Team Lanarkshire!

Here at NHS Lanarkshire, we put the patient at the heart of everything we do. Each colleague within the organisation plays a key role in how we deliver our healthcare services.

We proudly serve a population of 655,000 across rural and urban communities in both North and South Lanarkshire. NHS Lanarkshire is comprised of Acute Services (which currently provide hospital based services over 3 main sites), Corporate & Property & Support Services, North and South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnerships which provide integrated primary healthcare and social care services to local communities and surrounding areas.

What we'll need you to bring

Minimum Qualifications:

• To be eligible for Registration as a Chartered Clinical or Counselling Psychologist as per the requirements laid down by the British Psychological Society (BPS). That is,

EITHER

• hold a post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology, which includes academic, research and clinical components

OR

• be granted statement of equivalence by the BPS with respect to qualifications gained oversea

OR

• meet the requirements by having attained chartered status via the “grandparenting” route.
• Experience in the management or co-ordination of personnel delivering clinical services.
• Specific courses in the theory and practice of management and leadership.
• Experience in policy design and implementation, and service planning at both the local and national level.
• Post qualification training in specialised psychological therapies
• Broad understanding of all relevant professional issues

Knowledge

Foundation knowledge of:

• Classification and epidemiological issues, including major classification systems the speciality detailed in the role profile (AAMR, DSM-IV, ICD-I0) and basic knowledge of the classification of other mental disorders.
• Psychopathology in general, and of how psychiatric disorders manifest in individuals attending the service.
• Relevant professional papers such as BPS to the service user group the post relates to.
• Lifespan development issues, including: theories of adult development, individual and family life cycle issues.
• Relevant biological and neurological issues.
• The broader context of service delivery, including the history of, and ideologies surrounding services for people with a (including normalisation, social role valorisation, the political economy, human rights, consumerism and advocacy and quality of life models).
• Social and cultural issues such as gender and ethnicity and their particular impact on service users.
• Relevant legislation including: the Mental Health (Scotland) Act and the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act.

Extensive knowledge of:

• Issues most frequently addressed by psychologists, including: mental health problems, behavioural difficulties, trauma, distressed behaviours, adjustment disorders, bereavement, abuse, life problems, and skills development.
• The major assessment techniques used with holder people and how to address varying levels of impairment, and standard assessment procedures and how these may require modification when used with a person attending the service.
• Intervention approaches which include non-aversive, behavioural, cognitive, cognitive-behavioural, ACT, Schema, IPT, EMDR, humanistic, constructional and systemic, and how standard approaches might need to be modified when used with certain service user groups.
• The use of descriptive, inferential, univariate and multivariate statistics, the principles of standardised test construction, the application of descriptive statistics (including measures of central tendency and dispersion), inferential statistics (including standard error of measurement, and the statistical significance of difference scores) to test interpretation and validation constructs (including reliability and validity).
• Service and policy contexts, including: Government policies; the National Review; current patterns of service provision for the service user group; local variations in service provision for service users. Extent of knowledge of social policy will vary according to the psychologist’s grade and experience

Please note for all vacancies where a driving licence is required this must be a full UK/EU/EEA licence.

It would be great if you also have

• Post Qualification training/CPD in Leadership
• Experience in Leadership role within patient / client group setting
• Post qualification experience of working with Veterans
• Large theoretical knowledge base about various psychological models that can be utilised to assess, formulate and treat psychological/mental health problems in individuals across the life span
• Keep up to date with research developments in field and to inform and update their clinical practice accordingly – highlighting training requirements including budgetary considerations to Head of Psychological Specialities
• Pursue understanding and knowledge in wider professional issues at national levels relevant to clinical/counselling psychology
• Knowledge of and adhere to the British Psychological Society’s Professional practice guidelines and the divisions of Clinical and Counselling Psychology Code of Conduct and relevant HCPC guidelines
• Maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to patient/client group and mental health
• Knowledge around theory and practise of leadership and management
• Knowledge and experience of policy design and implementation of Service planning
• Requirement for a range of non-clinical skills including computer skills, statistical knowledge and abilities

Contract type

Fixed Term or Secondment 12 months from Dec 2025

Part Time

33.3 hours

Please note this is a part time post and the salary for this position will be pro-rata.

Please note this is a fixed term post 12 months from Dec 2025 Where a post only has temporary funding and an existing member of NHS Lanarkshire staff wishes to apply, this will be treated as a secondment. The employee MUST already have written agreement from their line manager to be released on a secondment before applying for the post.

Location and Working Pattern

This role will be based in MH&LD within Houldsworth Centre .

The working pattern for this role To be confirmed

Whilst this advertisement may be for a specific post(s) in a particular location, applicants who are shortlisted for interview may be considered for similar vacancies in alternative locations.

Looking to find out more?

If you’re looking to find out more, then we would love to hear from you!

Please contact Joanne Waine , Head of Psychological Specialities on Joanne.Waine@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk

For enquiries regarding the application form or recruitment process, please contact Adnan Saddique, Recruitment Administrator on adnan.saddique@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk (Please remember to include the job title and reference number in your email)

Why NHS Lanarkshire?

Join us and you will discover a supportive environment where you will have the chance to add to your skills and further your career.

Some of NHS Lanarkshire’s benefits include:

• A minimum of 27 days annual leave increasing with length of service

• A minimum of 8 days of public holidays

• Membership of NHS Pension Scheme, with life insurance benefits (for more information on the NHS Pension Scheme visit the Scottish Public Pension)

• Paid sick leave increasing with length of service

• Occupational health services

• Employee counselling services

• Work-life Balance policies and procedures

NHS Lanarkshire have a range of support services on topics that can impact both on your working and personal life including occupational health, spiritual care and independent counselling. This support can be accessed using the links on this page.

Further Information

For more information on the role, please refer to the Job Description. If you’re looking for more information on the recruitment process, organisation or the services we provide, please refer to our information pack, or our recruitment webpage.

Additional Information for Applicants

• Posts close at midnight on the indicated date. However, if there are a high level of interest in this position, we may close the advert once sufficient applications are received. Please complete and submit your application early.
• For help to complete an application on Jobtrain please follow this link: https://www.careers.nhs.scot/how-to-apply/application-process/
• Please check your e-mail regularly (including junk & spam folders) as well as your Jobtrain account for updates.
• We recommend using the Internet Browser "Google Chrome" or "Microsoft Edge" when using Jobtrain
• Once you have submitted your application form you will be unable to make any amendments

NHS Lanarkshire is dedicated to building a diverse workforce where everyone can thrive, develop, and succeed based on their skills, knowledge, and talent—regardless of race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, or care experience* or any other dimension that can be used to differentiate people from one another.

*Care experienced applicants include those who have lived with foster parents, kinship carers, or in residential/secure children’s settings.

Candidates should provide original and authentic responses to all questions within the application form. The use of artificial intelligence (AI), automated tools, or other third-party assistance to generate, draft, or significantly modify responses is strongly discouraged. By submitting your application, you confirm that all answers are your own work, reflect your personal knowledge, skills and experience, and have not been solely produced or altered by AI or similar technologies. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in your application being withdrawn from the application process.

Right to Work within the UK

NHS Lanarkshire has a legal obligation to ensure that it does not employ any worker who has not been granted the relevant permission to work in the UK.

We are required to check the entitlement to work in the UK of all prospective employees, regardless of nationality or job category. UK Visas & Immigration rules are available at www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to check eligibility in advance of applying for vacancies in NHS Lanarkshire.

Please note that all Band 1 and Band 2 posts are not eligible for sponsorship through the Skilled Worker route.