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Job summary

Main area
Psychology
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8d
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week
Job ref
395-CC340-25
Employer
NELFT NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Kent & Medway Adolescent Hospital
Town
Gillingham
Salary
£91,342 - £105,337 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
18/11/2025 23:59
Interview date
24/11/2025

Employer heading

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust logo

Deputy Director of Psychological Professions

NHS AfC: Band 8d

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

NELFT’s senior Psychological Professionals’ leadership team is excited to advertise a Deputy Director role within Kent CAMHS. The successful candidate will be part of the most senior team of Psychological Professionals within NELFT led by the Director of Psychological Professions and will have peers covering Redbridge, Havering, Waltham Forest, Barking and Dagenham, Talking Therapies and our Acute and Rehabilitation Directorate. The role will include oversight of all psychological provision for Children and Young Peoples Mental Health and Neuro Development Services within Kent. The post holder will become a core member of the directorate’s multidisciplinary senior leadership team and will lead a group of Psychological

Now is an important time to be joining NELFT. We are a patient and clinically led organisation which is operationally enabled. NELFT’s cohort of Psychological Professions hold a vision which centres on coproduction, trauma informed care, building a community of psychological professionals and delivery of inclusion and parity of access to all residents in the areas we serve. We strive to provide inclusive, accessible and individualised offers of care in a timely manner; to reduce health inequalities; and to recognise the harm caused by social injustice in the communities we serve. We are committed to working with integrity, authenticity and courage to deliver the best possible psychological care to those using our services.

 

Main duties of the job

In recent years, there has been major investment into Psychological Professions and clinical leadership within NELFT. This has resulted in a vastly expanded senior Psychological Professional leadership team and a major transformation. This work is within the implementation phase and looks at several areas, including the creation of parity between bandings of Psychological Professionals in different areas of NELFT; ensuring that the care delivery is trauma informed for both people who use services and staff; and the integration of siloed psychological offers of care into multidisciplinary secondary care adult mental health provision. The transformation also included the coproduction of an accountability framework in which clinical and operational colleagues work collaboratively and in partnership in order to deliver the best care for people who use services, their carers, family members and supporters. This offer is in line with NELFT’s commitment to being patient and clinically led, whilst being operationally enabled.

 

 

 

 

Working for our organisation

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

 

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should sufficient applications be received.

 

 

On-call payment

This post will be required to participate in the Trust on-call rota and attracts payment of 0.75% of the basic salary.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Now is an important time to be joining NELFT. We are a patient and clinically led organisation which is operationally enabled. NELFT’s cohort of Psychological Professions hold a vision which centres on coproduction, trauma informed care, building a community of psychological professionals and delivery of inclusion and parity of access to all residents in the areas we serve. We strive to provide inclusive, accessible and individualised offers of care in a timely manner; to reduce health inequalities; and to recognise the harm caused by social injustice in the communities we serve. We are committed to working with integrity, authenticity and courage to deliver the best possible psychological care to those using our services.

 

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

 

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.

 

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology
  • Post-graduate qualification in psychology or a psychological therapy (e.g. clinical or counselling psychology, psychotherapy)
  • BABCP accredited or meeting eligibility criteria for BABCP accreditation
  • Post Graduate training in psychodynamic psychotherapy as accredited by UKPC or BPC.

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Detailed and advanced knowledge of a range of evidence based therapeutic interventions and their practical application in a range of mental health therapeutic settings
  • A robust and broad understanding of national health and social care strategy and policy, in relation to developing services for secondary care
Desirable criteria
  • Knowledge of strategic planning process
  • Comprehensive knowledge of mental health policy

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Evidence of leading groups of psychological professionals working in NHS services
  • Open, participative, dynamic and supportive leadership and management style
  • Ability to build alliances and secure ownership of proposals across organisational boundaries
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, featuring: breadth of outlook and political skill necessary to establish effective working relationships with staff at all levels within and outside the organisation
  • Ability to identify, define, promote, communicate and achieve clear organisational values and goals, effective management processes and rational and timely decision making
  • Ability to work in partnership with other key professionals within and outside the organisation and a partnership approach to work across agencies
  • Ability to analyse complex issues, to think and plan to achieve both tactical and strategic objectives and to exercise sound judgement in the face of conflicting pressures
  • Effective in conflict resolution and management
  • Ability to present complex information to a diverse audience
Desirable criteria
  • positive outcomes of service

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Employers for CarersApprenticeships logoAge positiveDisability confident employerHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - GoldEmployers Network for Equality & InclusionTop 10 Employer 2023

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
Rachel Hussey
Job title
Interim Director of Psychological Professions
Email address
[email protected]
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