Clinical​/Counselling Psychologist

Main area Clinical, Counselling and psychological therapist. Grade NHS AfC:
Band 8a Contract Fixed term: 6 months (October 2026 Maternity Cover) Hours Part time - 22.5 hours per week Job
-PP178-25

Employer NELFT NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Tantallon House, Goodmayes Hospital Town Ilford Salary Dependent on experience Closing 23/02/2026 23:59

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation.

Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

We are seeking a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist, or a Psychological Practitioner with a core profession, to provide maternity cover to join our Acute and Inpatient & Home Treatment Psychology Service. The post is within the Home Treatment Team pathway. This is a fixed-term, 0.6 FTE post until October 2026.

The role is advertised at Band 8a, though Band 7 applicants are encouraged to apply. The job plan will be adjusted in line with Band 7 competencies.

The Acute and Rehab psychology service is an exciting and dynamic team of psychological professionals working in crisis settings – home treatment crisis teams, psychiatric inpatient wards and a range of other settings.

The successful applicant would join our well respected and exciting Acute Psychology Service. We are passionate about tackling social inequalities and making therapy accessible to everyone. Our work focuses on supporting people from marginalised communities. Those who may not usually have the chance to access therapy, and creating welcoming, inclusive spaces where they feel seen and supported.

The team are at the forefront of national developments in inpatient and acute working. We are actively involved in research and keen to recruit people who share that vision of contributing to best practice, national guidelines and an evidence base. For example, a number of our team were involved in contributing to the psychological services for acute adult mental health BPS/ACP-UK guidelines.

We are committed to supporting staff development through our in-house CPD package, and where funding allows, we aim to open up further training opportunities in models like Systemic Family Therapy, EMDR, FLP, and CBT for psychosis.

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.

They are:

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period.

Starting with Us

NELFT places great importance on new starters being properly welcomed into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks, including mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process, new starters will also have the opportunity to meet the executive team, senior managers, and attend several drop‑in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing, and key processes.

The induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes, Essex.

High Cost Area…