Main area Mental Health Grade NHS AfC: Band 8a Contract Fixed term: 12 months (One year maternity cover) Hours Part time - 18.75 hours per week Job ref 354-AB-20952
Employer Sussex Partnership NHS FoundationTrust Employer type NHS Site Community Mental Health Centre Town Brighton Salary £55,690 - £62,682 pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 07/09/2025 23:59
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
Applications are invited from Practitioner Psychologists registered with the HCPC for a one-year secondment to cover maternity leave (starting in October 2025), based at the East Brighton Community Mental Health Centre, Brighton General Hospital.
As the psychologist within the Mental Health Homeless Team (MHHT), you can make your own powerful contribution by helping us support some of the most vulnerable, disadvanta ged and marginalised people in society. Our service works with rough sleepers and insecurely housed individuals across Brighton and Hove, who have a severe and enduring mental illness and who may have additional substance misuse problems.
The MHHT is an exciting community mental health service that collaborates with colleagues from the housing department, health workers and VCS organisations.
You will join a friendly, highly-skilled and enthusiastic multi-disciplinary team of
mental health nurses, social workers, an STR worker and a consultant psychiatrist.
We invite applications from people who are already in an 8a post and who are motivated to work with this population, as well as suitable applicants who are currently in a Band 7 role for whom this could be an opportunity to gain experience in an 8a role.
Main duties of the job
As a Senior Practitioner psychologist, you will;
* Apply skills and expertise in psychological assessments.
* Hold a caseload of clients.
* Offer individual and group psychological interventions to clients and their families/carers.
* Collaboratively develop formulations and care plans.
* Provide case consultations and formulation sessions to other agency partners in the community.
* Deliver reflective practice sessions for staff (to support staff wellbeing).
* Contribute a psychological perspective and advice in MDT meetings where appropriate and contribute to complex clinical decision making about clients.
* Provide teaching, training and supervision, to assistant and trainee psychologists.
Working for our organisation
Sussex Partnership provides mental health care for all age groups across Sussex.
We encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/ life balance brings about huge health-related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, home-working, part time hours, flexible start/ finish times or anything else. If it works for you and works for the role, we'll do our best to make it happen.
We’d love you to join our Trust, rated ‘good’ overall and ‘outstanding’ for caring by the CQC. Our staff agree, in our recent staff survey 82% told us that they recognise that care for patients is our top priority.
Other key survey results:
* 70% highlighting flexible working as a key point for satisfaction at work
* 79% reporting feeling able to make suggestions to improve the work in their team
o 77% identifying opportunities to show initiative in their roles
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Job Description document for full details of the role and responsibilities.
For further information regarding the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust please visit our website www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk
Person specification
Qualifications
* 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
* 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.
Sussex Partnership NHS FT is committed to supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. Our workforce is currently under-represented from Black and Minority, Ethnic and disabled communities and we would welcome applications from these communities.
We regret that we are unable to advise candidates if they have not been shortlisted. If you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date please assume that you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.
In the event of an excessive number of applicants the Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy earlier than indicated.
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust takes its responsibilities for the safeguarding and protection of children and young people and vulnerable adults very seriously and expects this of all its employees and bank workers. The Trust works with adult and children’s social care to ensure that the integrated service has systems in place to equip staff and bank workers with the knowledge and skills to recognize abuse, and take action to safeguard and protect vulnerable adults and children and young people. It is expected that all staff and bank workers familiarise themselves with the appropriate structures and policies and with the Sussex child protection and safeguarding procedures and the Sussex multi-agency policy and procedures for safeguarding vulnerable adults and undertake the relevant essential training and further training appropriate to their role.
Successful candidates are normally offered salaries at the bottom of the relevant salary range. However, where previous or equivalent NHS experience in a similar role can be demonstrated and evidenced, this may be taken into consideration when setting the starting salary.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
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