Trac proudly powers the recruitment for
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
Consultant Psychologist
Accepting applications until: 13-Oct-2025 08:00
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 13-Oct-2025 08:00
Key details
Location
- Site
- Brighton Probation
- Address
- Lancaster House, 47 Grand Parade
- Town
- Brighton
- Postcode
- BN2 9QA
- Major / Minor Region
- West Sussex
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Fixed term: 13 months (FTC/Secondment Maternity Cover to January 2027)
- Hours
- Part time
- Flexible working
Salary
- Salary
- £76,965 - £88,682 pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS AfC: Band 8c)
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.
Job overview
The Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) programme is a jointly commissioned initiative by NHS England and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, that aims to provide a pathway of psychologically informed services for a highly complex and challenging offender group who are likely to have severe personality difficulties and who pose a high risk of harm or a high risk of reoffending in a harmful way.
Our OPD Pathways service offers a consultation and formulation service to offender managers across 9 Surrey and Sussex probation offices. The Intensive Intervention & Risk Management Services (IIRMS) forms part of the wider Offender Personality Disorder Pathway.
You will lead a cross counties service covering Sussex and Surrey. You will provide professional and clinical leadership to a dedicated and skilled multi-disciplinary and multiagency team.
You will also be required to work closely and collaboratively with regional senior probation officers, and Kent, Surrey and Sussex (KSS) provider collaborative colleagues in similar posts.
The role will also provide supervision to the Clinical Leads for Brighton and Crawley Primary Care Mental Health Treatment Requirement team (Reflect Service), based at Brighton and Crawley Probation offices.
Advert
Provide professional and clinical leadership to OPD and IIRMS teams providing consultations to offender managers and (in IIRMS) direct clinical support to a high-risk group with offending histories
· Ensure contractual KPI performance and reporting, and clinical governance
· Take a lead on representing the Forensic CDS and SPFT in negotiations, collaborations and strategy development with the general manager and Probation Service senior colleagues
· Deliver comprehensive, accessible and evidence-based training plans
· Continually develop and support a competent, skilled and psychologically informed offender manager workforce working with people with offending backgrounds, presenting with high risk/challenging behaviours and complex personality difficulties.
Working for our organisation
At Sussex Partnership we are committed to providing opportunities for flexible working. If you would like to work differently or different hours to as advertised, please get in touch to discuss this in more detail.
If you haven't thought about living in Sussex before then you should consider the following:
- Journey from the coast to the countryside in minutes
- Enjoy a lifestyle where there are renowned cycle routes and picturesque walks, including the famous South Downs Way in the South Downs National Park!
- Embrace taking time to discover all the miles of scenic coastline, including Hastings, Bexhill on Sea and Eastbourne
- Easy access to airports - Gatwick and Heathrow are both within 90 minutes of the county, providing links to Europe and beyond
- Brighton and Hove or London are within easy reach via local and national bus routes and national mainline stations
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
You will be an applied psychologist with a core professional qualification recognised by the HCPC, and significant experience of working at a Principal or Consultant Level or similar, preferably in a service working with people with offending histories and / or high risk / challenging behaviours and presentations and complex personality challenges.
You will be able to demonstrate excellent consultation, communication and collaboration skills, and a successful / effective approach when working with a range of stakeholders / agencies within Health and Criminal Justice contexts. You will also be able to demonstrate experience in leadership roles, and will be an effective teacher, trainer and mentor to the staff you lead and support.
See Attached JD and PS for full details of role
For further details about this role or to arrange an informal visit, please contact:
Dr Michael Lawson
Lead for Psychology and Psychological Therapies
Forensic Healthcare CDS
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
07471217851
(Mon – Thurs)
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
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 HPC, 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).
- Post doctoral / post-qualification training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice relevant to the specific Care Group/Service
- HCPC Registered as a practitioner Psychologist
Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level knowledge of applied psychology including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct models of psychological therapy and lifespan developmental psychology.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology
- Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological practice
- Assessed extensive experience of working as a qualified psychologist, including significant post qualification experience within the Specific Care Group/Service.
- Demonstrable knowledge of the theory and practice of leadership and management in mental health services
- Extensive experience of providing successful clinical leadership within a multidisciplinary mental health provider context
- High level knowledge of national policy frameworks and initiatives and the mental health economy within which the Trust services are provided
- Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological practice
- Experience of the successful professional management of qualified and pre-qualified applied psychologists
- Experience of successfully representing the profession and/or services in local or regional policy forums, across services or at equivalent level.
- Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Experience of multi-professional management of teams or services within the designated care group
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of severity, across the full range of care settings including out-patient, community, primary-care, in-patient and residential care settings 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 exercising full clinical responsibility for service users’ psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Christina Silver
- Job title
- Service Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07391016134
- Additional information
Celia Lesquerre, [email protected]
Start your application
Sign in
Create an account
Create your account and apply for your new job!