Job summary
- Main area
- Mental Health
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Job share
- Job ref
- 354-AC-21123
- Employer
- Sussex Partnership NHS FoundationTrust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Oaklands Centre for Acute care
- Town
- Chichester
- Salary
- £53,755 - £60,504 pa
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 28/05/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Senior Practitioner Psychologist
NHS AfC: Band 8a
Come and join us
We're looking for people who share our values (compassion, accountability and optimism) to help us provide high quality care to the patients, carers, families and local communities we serve. We specialise in providing NHS mental health and learning disability services.
So what can we offer you in return?
We're an organisation which puts people first. We'll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. We'll help you learn, acquire new skills and gain further experience to support your career development. And we'll provide the opportunity for you to bring your fresh ideas to work about how we can do things differently and continue improving.
You will also be joining a health and care system committed to working together to do the best we can for the communities we serve. Above all, at Sussex Partnership you'll have the chance to make a difference to the lives of the patients, carers and families across our communities.
As a Trust we are committed in making a difference. Your development is important to us, so don't forget to ask us during interview what opportunities we can offer. We can offer fully funded lifelong learning opportunities such as an apprenticeship from GCSE to Masters level.
If you like the sound of that, then come and join our team.
Job overview
We are looking to recruit HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist(s) (Clinical/Forensic/Counselling) to join our psychology teams within Working Age Adult services.
The role covers two in-patient units, Oaklands acute inpatient ward, and Connolly House, inpatient rehabilitation service.
Applications are welcome from suitably qualified candidate(s) for this post;
as one fulltime position covering both units
OR
as two part time positions, each position covering one unit
The successful applicant(s) will have opportunities for training for example in family interventions in psychosis; CBT for psychosis - in particular 'Feeling Safe' (Freeman et al), Slow-Mo (Garety et al)).
Oaklands Ward is a 16 bedded purpose built acute inpatient psychiatric unit which provides a service to working age adults with acute mental health problems.
Connolly House is a 12 bedded purpose built in-patient psychiatric rehabilitation unit which provides holistic individualised recovery focussed care. The unit has close links with other inpatient Rehabilitation units in the trust and the Rehabilitation hub.
Both units are in Chichester and within walking distance of each other. Both have well established and consistent Multi-disciplinary teams.
Main duties of the job
As a Senior Practitioner Psychologist, you will work closely with the MDT in both Oaklands and Connolly House to ensure a trauma-informed, therapeutic culture is promoted and embedded with collaborative service user engagement. You will work closely with the 8b Principal Psychologist to provide leadership around the implementation of evidence-based interventions.
The role includes providing individual and group evidence-based interventions for people with severe and enduring mental health difficulties. Formulation skills will be an important part of the role as you lead on team formulation which is valued part of MDT working and care planning.
Working for our organisation
We provide mental health and learning disability care for children, young people and adults across Sussex and for children and young people in Hampshire.
Working in Sussex:
· Travel easily between coast and countryside, with a blend of picturesque villages and seaside towns there’s always new experiences to be enjoyed
· Embrace the city life with great access to visit Brighton and London
· With easy access to Gatwick and Heathrow and excellent railway links across the UK there is plenty of opportunity for adventure
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
As a senior member of our Psychological Therapies team in West Sussex, you will be required to offer supervision to psychological therapists within the service as well as contributing to the senior leadership team. You will have regular clinical and professional supervision including specialist clinical supervision (i.e. EMDR, DBT, CBT). We have a strong network of diverse and supportive psychology colleagues who meet regularly as part of peer networking across West Sussex and the wider SPFT.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or outside the UK], including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, approved by the HPC
- Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HPC)
Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
- Demonstrate specialist experience gained postqualification of working as an applied psychologist with evidence of having received a substantial amount of clinical supervision (normally in the region of approximately 50 hours)
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
- Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework
- Knowledge of guidance and legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc)
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HPC
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Lucy Delaney
- Job title
- Clinical Operations Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07765806893
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