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Job summary

Main area
Mental Health
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8a
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
354-CS-21694
Employer
Sussex Partnership NHS FoundationTrust
Employer type
NHS
Site
North West Sussex
Town
Horsham
Salary
£53,755 - £60,504 pa
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
12/05/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Sussex Partnership NHS FoundationTrust logo

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

To work as a member of the clinical service/ team, providing a high quality, specialist applied psychology service to clients, their families or carers. To support psychological practice within the team through consultation, supervision, formulation, leadership and training.

To participate in systematic clinical governance and to offer clinical supervision to assistant, trainee and more junior psychologists and other staff. To utilise research skills for audit, service development and research within the area served by the team/service.

Main duties of the job

To exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the team.

To clinically and/or professionally supervise Band 7 psychologists, assistant psychologists and trainee psychologists and clinically supervise other staff as appropriate.

To carry out specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the service, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources to reach a psychological formulation.

To undertake risk assessment, formulation and management for individual clients with complex presentations and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment, formulation and management.

To be responsible for implementing a range of high-quality specialist psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams, in line with best, evidence-based practice and trust care pathways.

To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients’ formulations, diagnoses and treatment plans.

Working for our organisation

We are an Equal Opportunities Employer operating a no smoking policy.                                                                                                                                                                              

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For a comprehensive understanding and full details of the responsibilities, please refer to the Job Description document. It contains all the necessary information and should provide you with a clear overview of what is expected.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained before 1996 or outside the UK*] as approved by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
  • *For forensic psychologists working in forensic settings: Masters degree (with the award of the British Psychological Society qualification in forensic psychology or equivalent).
  • Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HCPC)

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 teaching, training and/or supervision
  • Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework.
  • Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
  • Experience or demonstrable knowledge of working with the particular client group served by the team/service.
  • 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)

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoNo smoking policyDisability confident leaderDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - BronzeCare quality commission - GoodArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardStep into healthPride In Veterans

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

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Sara Slinger
Job title
CAMHS Service Manager NWSx
Email address
[email protected]
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