8B Principal Clinical Psychologist - CONNECT & Therapeutic Fostering

8B Principal Clinical Psychologist - CONNECT & Therapeutic Fostering Band 8b

Main area Looked After Children Grade Band 8b Contract Permanent Hours

• Full time
• Flexible working

Site Child Treatment Centre Town Ipswich Salary £66,582 - £77,368 pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 20/07/2026 23:59

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience

Clinical Lead for Suffolk CONNECT and Therapeutic Fostering Service

We are seeking an experienced, innovative and compassionate Principal Clinical Psychologist to provide clinical leadership across two highly regarded and impactful services:

• CONNECT - Suffolk's specialist mental health service for children in care and care-experienced young people.
• Suffolk Therapeutic Fostering Service - Supporting foster carers, children and young people, and their social workers through trauma-informed approaches, therapeutic parenting, consultation and specialist psychological support.

We are looking for a psychologist whose values align with our commitment to care-experienced children and young people and who is passionate about improving outcomes for some of the most vulnerable children in our communities. The role requires compassion, resilience, curiosity, creativity and the ability to think systemically in the face of complexity.

This role spans both Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and Suffolk County Council, offering a rare opportunity to work across organisational boundaries and shape practice, culture and service development across health and social care.

Join us and help create the conditions in which care-experienced children, young people and foster families can thrive — while shaping the future of trauma-informed practice across Suffolk.

The successful applicant will provide psychological and clinical leadership across both services, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based and trauma-informed care. You will support the continued development of psychologically informed and relationship-based practice, helping services respond effectively to the complex needs of children and young people who have experienced developmental trauma.

Alongside direct clinical leadership, a significant and exciting aspect of the role involves workforce development, training and consultation. You will lead the development, delivery and evaluation of high-quality training programmes.

We are particularly interested in applicants who are enthusiastic about developing innovative training offers and psychologically informed learning opportunities that strengthen trauma-informed practice across systems. This includes identifying emerging needs, co-producing new training programmes, and building the confidence and capability of professionals working with care-experienced children and families.

This role therefore provides a unique opportunity not only to support individual children and their networks, but also to create lasting impact through influencing the knowledge, skills and culture of the wider workforce.

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

Why Norfolk…