Job summary
- Main area
- Mental Health
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 22.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 354-AB-20959
- Employer
- Sussex Partnership NHS FoundationTrust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Mill view Hospital
- Town
- Hove
- Salary
- £55,690 - £62,682 pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Senior Practitioner Psychologist/Senior Psychological Therapist
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
Applications are invited from HCPC-registered Applied Psychologist or Psychological therapist to fill a newly created post at Mill View Hospital. This is an exciting opportunity for an innovative, motivated, creative and enthusiastic applied practitioner interested in working within adult acute care, to join our skilled and motivated multidisciplinary team based at Mill View. The ward is part of a service implementing a new clinical model - aiming to deliver therapeutic and trauma informed care in an acute setting.
The post provides psychology input into a new female acute ward, and the successful applicant will work closely with the psychologists and therapies team across the unit. Applicants must be registered with the HCPC.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be a key member of the acute clinical team and must have a strong commitment to multi-disciplinary working. The role will include direct assessment and formulation of people with complex presentations, working with the whole team to develop formulations and care plans, direct interventions with service users and their families, supporting the wider team in the application of psychologically-informed approaches and supervision of colleagues. We are looking for someone with leadership skills appropriate to the grade such that you will be able to work alongside others to innovate and implement service improvements. The post-holder will ideally be familiar with working in an NHS setting. Experience in working with people with severe and complex mental health difficulties in crisis (across the age span) is required.
We will support you in this role and provide regular clinical and professional supervision. We know the best way to provide outstanding care to our patients is through team work and sharing our ideas. We are also very fortunate to have a neuropsychologist working in our service who provides group supervision in neuropsychology which provides an excellent opportunity for developing your skills in this area. Brighton and Hove has an active psychology network and strong psychology leadership.
Working for our organisation
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health, learning disability and substance misuse services in and across Sussex. It aims to realise the potential of everyone who uses its services and to enable staff to do a great job. Sussex Partnership has teaching status and is developing into one of the country’s leading teaching mental health trusts. Working here offers continued training and development, variety and a rewarding challenge, plus all the benefits of living in Sussex. Our staff tell us they love living and working in Brighton and Hove due to its diversity, quality of life, vibrant city and peaceful South Downs. There is something for everyone here and we would love you to join us in caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our community and start your career in a dynamic and beautiful location.
We are committed to supporting staff well-being, developing new roles in teams, and have a thriving Recovery College. We have close links with the Clinical Psychology training schemes at Salomons and the University of Surrey. This is an opportunity to join an organisation which sets a high priority on the development of services in collaboration with experts through experience and carers and to work with dedicated and supportive colleagues. The trust is committed to strong integrated, collaborative leadership between managers and clinicians.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
You will be working as part of MDT, providing specialist assessments, formulations and interventions.
Please refer to the attached job description for more details about the role.
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)
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies
- High level of knowledge and skills in neuropsychology and evidence of further practice and/or training since qualification
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
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
- Dr Tina Hart
- Job title
- Principal Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Additional information
Please contact to arrange an informal discussion or visit.
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