Job summary
- Main area
- Acute Psychological Practice
- Grade
- Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent: Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Pscyhologist/Psychotherapist
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 380-AC0848
- Employer
- Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Littlebrook Hospital, Bow Arrow Lane, Stone, Dartford, DA2 6PB
- Town
- Dartford
- Salary
- £49,387 - £56,515 per annum, plus High Cost Area allowance
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 01/11/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologist/Psychotherapist
Band 7
We are the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We offer a range of ongoing benefits to our valued workforce. From an active health and wellbeing programme to regular recognition events, we work hard to provide varied benefits that make a difference to your work-life balance.
Here are some clips of our Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust staff, speaking about their role and why they enjoy working for us
Would you like to work flexibly? In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you.
Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement.
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Job overview
Are you an enthusiastic and energetic Psychologist or Psychotherapist looking for a rewarding role in Acute Mental Health?
We are seeking a compassionate clinician to join our dynamic service. In this supportive, fast-paced environment, you will have ample space to grow your therapeutic and systemic skills while bringing creative, evidence-based ideas to patient care. Working at the heart of our service, you will deliver high-quality psychological interventions, foster strong reflective practices for our staff, and act as a key liaison to support smooth patient transitions between services.
If you are passionate about applying psychology across individual, group, and organizational levels—and keen to develop your leadership and consultation expertise—we would love to hear from you.
Main duties of the job
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Clinical Assessment & Treatment: Deliver specialist psychological assessments, individual treatments, and psychological formulations tailored to acute inpatient needs.
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Group Interventions: Facilitate evidence-based group work, including Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)-informed skills groups and structured patient support sessions.
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MDT Consultation & Systemic Support: Work closely with the multi-disciplinary team, offering psychological consultation, advice, and systemic insights to guide holistic care.
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Staff Support & Reflective Practice: Lead reflective practice sessions and case discussions for ward staff, helping the team process complex care environments and maintain professional well-being.
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Service Development & Innovation: Contribute to creative, evidence-based improvements in how our care is delivered, bringing new ideas to team processes and ward-based groups.
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Liaison & Service Transitions: Build strong working relationships across internal and external teams to ensure safe, seamless transitions for patients moving between services.
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Family & Carer Engagement: Provide psychological guidance and intervention formats that involve families, carers, and wider care networks where appropriate.
Working for our organisation
We are Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway and are rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Our teams support children, young people and adults with a wide range of mental health needs. We also provide specialist services, including all-age eating disorder services and neurodevelopmental assessments for children and young people, such as autism and ADHD.
Because we work across the whole county and across hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the people we serve.
Our vision is simple: we are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It’s why we’re passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. Everything we do is guided by our values: caring, inclusive, curious and confident.
Join us if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that’s working well together.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification
What is High Cost Area Allowance?
The High-Cost Area (HCA) allowance, also referred to as London Weighting is a payment made to employees who work in London and the surrounding areas.
As this post is based in Dartford, Gravesham or Swanley, the successful applicant will receive an additional payment each month.
· 5% of basic salary, subject to a minimum payment of £1,346 per year and a maximum payment of £2,270 per year (the agreed annual amount will be divided into 12 equal amounts and paid monthly) (2026/27 figures)
We are serious about diversity and inclusion, and we are working hard to build this into our DNA. We warmly welcome applications for any of our roles from people from diverse backgrounds, and we are proactively encouraging applications from under-represented communities for our more senior roles, like this one.
Person specification
Training, qualifications & registration
Essential criteria
- HCPC/UKCP registered
Desirable criteria
- Doctoral level training in psychology
Skills & Knowldege
Essential criteria
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management
- Ability to contain, explore and formulate an understanding of high levels of distress
- Excellent communication skills
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies(Psychosis, EUPD, Biploar)
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working with psychosis & EUPD
- Experience of working in an acute care setting
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Application numbers
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Belinda Demirbasa
- Job title
- Deputy Lead Acute Psychological Practice
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07826530911
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