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
We are delighted to announce the substantive recruitment of this senior strategic and clinical role to lead Kent’s All-Age Eating Disorders Service.
The postholder will lead a team of over 80 staff members offering life span eating disorders services for the population for Kent and Medway.
North East London NHS Foundation Trust All-Age Eating Disorders Service is based in the County of Kent. We have a strong focus on training and research and team members benefit from excellent training and CPD opportunities. We have well developed links with NHSE and access to up-to-date training within transformation therapies and Leadership. We have close links to Christchurch University and its Clinical Psychology Doctoral Training, as well as close links to nursing, family therapy and child & adolescent therapy trainings.
Main duties of the job
We are ideally looking for a post holder who is an experienced Clinical Psychologist or CBT Therapist or Family Therapist who has worked in Eating/feeding Disorders and Mental Health Services (Community and/or inpatient), who will bridge the gap between Community and Inpatient Services for Children, Young People and Adults and demonstrate clear leadership skills within these pathways. You will need to be passionate about delivering high quality care to complex mental health service users and be innovative in your approach to helping us in developing new pathways within the NHS transformation agenda.
Prospective post holders are encouraged to find out more about this exciting role. Please contact Dr Annie Cardinal in the first instance
Working for our organisation
Our Values 2025 - 2030
Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.
They are:
We are kind. We are respectful. We work together with our communities.
These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.
On-call payment
This post will be required to participate in the Trust on-call rota and attracts payment of 1% of the basic salary.
Probationary Period
This post will be subject to a probationary period.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Applicants will need to meet the job description requirements and be able to demonstrate substantial experience of working as a senior psychological professional in children and young people's mental health services, a passion for prevention and early intervention of emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties, and substantial leadership experience.
The applicant needs to have substantial experience of working in children and young people's mental health at Band 8b or equivalent and hold an appropriate psychological professional qualification, registration and training as laid out in the job description.
Certificates of Sponsorship
Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.
Use of AI
Please see attached document regarding acceptable use of AI during the recruitment process.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. 3 plus years 8b experience
Desirable criteria
2. Research and development experience
expereince
Essential criteria
3. Evidence of working with CYP MHG services
Expereince
Essential criteria
4. Demonstration of leadership within current or previous role
Experience
Essential criteria
5. Knowledge of Early intervention and preventative services
Benefits
We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:
6. A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
7. A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
8. Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
9. Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.