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Sussex Partnership NHS FoundationTrust

About

We provide NHS care and treatment for people living in south east England. Our mental health services provide care and treatment for people with conditions such as psychosis, depression, anxiety, dementia and personality disorder. Our vision is to provide outstanding care and treatment you can be confident in.

Contact

Address: Swandean; Arundel Road; Worthing; West Sussex; BN13 3EP
Contact Number: 01903 843000

Find out more

Jobs Website

Closed

Ref: 354-AC-21087-A Vacancy ID: 7309751

Senior Practitioner Psychologist

Closed for applications on: 14-Jul-2025 00:03

Vacancy status: Closed

Closed for applications on: 14-Jul-2025 00:03

Location

Site: Swandean
Town: Worthing
Postcode: BN13 3EP
Major / Minor Region: West Sussex

Contract type & working pattern

Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week

Salary

Salary: £53,755 - £60,504 pa
Salary period: Yearly
Grade: (NHS AfC: Band 8a)

Specialty

Main area: Mental Health

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.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This post is ideal for someone with a strong interest in multidisciplinary working with service users experiencing mental health crises. The role involves:

Supporting individuals with complexity and significant risk who require acute care.
Contributing to service development initiatives, including staff wellbeing and reflective practice.
Participating in staff training and providing case formulations for teams.
Engaging in valuable supervision and CPD opportunities to support professional development.

Why Join Us?
This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to service developments at Meadowfield Hospital, a unit leading innovation in Sussex and nationally. Current initiatives include:

Complex Emotional Needs Pathway: Meadowfield has introduced and is measuring a new care pathway for individuals with complex emotional needs, with potential for wider implementation across Sussex.
Psychologically Informed Crisis Teams: In collaboration with the Psychological Professional Lead for Acute Services, Meadowfield is advancing more psychologically informed crisis teams locally, aligning with the QNCRHT review.

The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in these initiatives while working alongside a supportive, forward-thinking Acute and Urgent Care leadership team dedicated to best practices.

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.

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.

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.
Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.

Documents

Further details / informal visits contact

Name

Dr Bree Macdonald

Job title

Consultant Clinical Psychologist

Email address

[email protected]

Telephone number

07810 506729

Additional information

We are happy to talk to prospective candidates about the service and about their ideas for the role. We would therefore strongly encourage you to make contact for an informal discussion.