Principal Applied Psychologist

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 25 October 2026

We're seeking an exceptional, experienced CBT practitioner and psychological leader to join our Wellbeing in Mind Team (WiMT) service as Principal Psychologist and CBT Lead for Children and Young People's Mental Health Services across North Yorkshire and York. WiMT is the local name for our Mental Health Support Teams.

This is a unique opportunity to combine strategic leadership, clinical expertise and service development within one of the country's largest MHST footprints. As a senior member of the WiMT Leadership Team, you will provide psychological and therapeutic leadership across a rapidly expanding service.

The successful candidate will be an HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist with current BABCP accreditation and extensive experience of delivering and supervising evidence-based CBT interventions with children and young people. You will provide expert clinical consultation, oversee therapeutic governance and lead the development of CBT practice.

Alongside your psychological leadership responsibilities within WiMT, you will act as the CBT Lead for Children and Young People's Mental Health Services, promoting high-quality CBT practice, workforce development and clinical excellence.

This role offers the opportunity to influence practice at scale, shape future service development and ensure children and young people receive high-quality, evidence-based psychological support within schools, colleges and community settings.

As Principal Psychologist and CBT Lead, you will provide psychological leadership, leading the development and implementation of psychologically informed, evidence-based practice. You will ensure high standards of clinical governance, quality assurance and therapeutic delivery, working closely with operational leaders and system partners.

Key responsibilities include:

• Acting as the senior psychological adviser within WiMT and providing professional leadership for psychological practice and governance.
• Leading the development of psychologically informed approaches across the service.
• Acting as CBT Lead for Children and Young People's Mental Health Services across North Yorkshire and York.
• Providing expert consultation on complex clinical presentations, service pathways and therapeutic practice.
• Delivering and overseeing supervision for EMHPs, Senior Wellbeing Practitioners and other clinicians delivering CBT interventions.
• Leading service evaluation, clinical effectiveness, quality improvement and research activity in partnership with others.
• Influencing service transformation, policy implementation and strategic planning while building strong relationships with schools, colleges, local authorities, other services, public health teams and wider system partners.

This role would suit an experienced, innovative clinician passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people through strategic and clinical leadership.

We are the Mental Health & Learning Disability NHS Trust for County Durham and Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.

From education and prevention, to crisis and specialist care âour talented and compassionate teams work in partnership with our patients, communities and partners to help the people of our region feel safe, understood, believed in and cared for.

We nurture the recovery journey of anyone in need of our help. In Our Trust, everyone has a say in how they are supported and treated because we listen to every person in our care until they feel understood. Our patients, their families and carers work together with us towards better mental health.

We're committed to new thinking that improves the wellbeing of our region. We connect with our communities and partners to get mental health care right, in areas that really need it.

We won't rest until everyone in our region has the mental health care they need, to lead their best possible life.

WiMT continues to expand significantly across North Yorkshire, York and Selby to meet national requirements of supporting 100% of education settings by 2030. This has created exciting opportunities for senior clinical leadership. This role has been established to provide strategic psychological oversight and specialist CBT leadership across a growing and increasingly complex system of care. The post is designed to ensure that service development, clinical governance,…