Trac proudly powers the recruitment for
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
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.
Clinical Psychologist
Accepting applications until: 09-Apr-2026 23:59
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 09-Apr-2026 23:59
Key details
Location
- Gwefan
- Lansdowne Secure Children's Home
- Tref
- Hailsham
- Cod post
- BN27 1NP
- Major / Minor Region
- West Sussex
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Oriau
- Part time - 30 hours per week
Salary
- Cyflog
- £55,690 - £62,682 Pro Rata
- Cyfnod cyflog
- Yearly
- Gradd
- (NHS AfC: Band 8a)
Specialty
- Prif leoliad
- Mental Health
Come and join us
We’re looking for people who share our values of compassion, accountability and optimism to help us provide high quality care for the patients, carers, families and communities we serve. We specialise in NHS mental health and learning disability services and we’re proud to make a difference every day.
At SPFT we put people first. We’ll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. You’ll have opportunities to learn, grow and gain new experiences to support your career, with access to lifelong learning and professional development.
We actively promote flexible working and understand how important work life balance is, especially in healthcare. Whether it’s part time hours, hybrid working or flexible start and finish times, we’ll explore what works for you and the role.
We recognise that AI is becoming part of daily life and you may choose to use it to help prepare your application. We welcome innovation but ask that anything you submit reflects your own abilities, experience and voice. AI can support how you describe your skills and experience, but it should never replace your own words as we want to get to know you.
We’re shaping a workplace where ideas are encouraged, technology supports you and everyone has a voice in how we improve. If that sounds like the kind of organisation you want to be part of, we’d love to hear from you.
Trosolwg o'r swydd
Are you a Practitioner Psychologist with a clinical or forensic background and a passion for working with children and young people who have experienced early adversity and have complex mental health difficulties?
Are you motivated by a role where you can make a huge difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable individuals in the community?
If so, our Senior Practitioner Psychologist position at Lansdowne Children's Home in Hailsham, East Sussex may be just the role for you!
Lansdowne Secure Children’s Home is 12 bedded social care provision for young people aged 12-17. The young people have complex needs and are described as ‘high need/high vulnerability/high risk’.
The health team's focus is informed by the Framework for Integrated Care (also known as SECURE STAIRS). This aims to support trauma-informed care and formulation-driven, evidence-based, whole-systems approaches to creating change for young people within the Children and Young People’s Secure Estate (CYPSE).
Advert
You will be joining our Integrated Health and Emotional Wellbeing Service (IHEWS) at Lansdowne Secure Children's Home in Hailsham, East Sussex. We are a small and welcoming multi-disciplinary health team whose role is to support both the young people and the residential staff within the centre.
Your main duties will involve being responsible for the assessment of, and some therapy with, the young person; consultation to, and support and training of, the care and education staff group; including supervision of other Psychological Professional staff when applicable (e.g, Practitioner Psychologist, Assistant Psychologist and Trainee Psychologist). You will work closely with the wider multi-disciplinary health team and will receive supervision from a Principal Clinical Psychologist within SPFT CAMHS.
As part of your recruitment to the post we would include discussion around supporting attendance in training in Level 1 Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP).
This is a 30 hours per week role working days will ideally include Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Discussion will take place on appointment.
Gweithio i'n sefydliad
Sussex Partnership provides mental health and learning disability care for all age groups across Sussex and for children and young people in Hampshire.
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, 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
· 77% identifying opportunities to show initiative in their roles
Swydd-ddisgrifiad a phrif gyfrifoldebau manwl
We welcome applications from Clinical or Forensic Psychologists who have experience post qualification in working with children and young people, and experience of supervising other psychological professionals, for example, Assistant Psychologists.
Preceptorship:
This role can be offered as a Band 7-8a preceptorship, providing a structured and supportive transition for newly qualified practitioners. You will receive dedicated mentorship from an experienced practitioner to build your confidence and refine your skills. The preceptorship process typically takes between 20 months and 2 years to complete, enabling you to smoothly progress to a Band 8a position.
Note: The specific band (8a or 7) will be determined based on your qualifications and experience
The setting
Lansdowne Secure Children’s Home is a 12 bedded social care provision for young people aged 12-17. It is in Hailsham, East Sussex and will require the successful candidate to work on site. The young people are placed with us for welfare reasons, secured under the Children's Act (1989), Section 25. They have a history of persistent absconding and are likely to continue to abscond from anything other than secure accommodation, during which episodes they are likely to suffer significant harm, or injure themselves or others.
The funded training
As part of your recruitment to the post you will be funded to attend training in Level 1 Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP). DDP informed parenting is one of the key models of care that informs the practice of the mental health staff in their work with the young people and care staff group. This model was chosen because of its congruence with the Framework for Integrated Care's core principal which is that it is the environment and 24/7 relationships within in that are proposed as the primary agents of change for young people in secure settings. As a model of intervention it is also particularly well suited to young people who have experienced developmental trauma and who as a result are understandably mistrustful of others and may struggle to engage in a reciprocal relationship.
Career Progression: We know that building on your personal and professional development are key to providing the best patient care. We are committed to providing a working environment where you can progress your career, build your knowledge base and develop your skillset.
As part of this role, you will be a member of the Trustwide Psychological Professions (PP) Network and will have access to other specialist PP and Trust Networks. We will support your leadership development by offering access to our Sussex Partnership Psychological Professions leadership development course.
Applicant requirements
Person specification
Qualifications
Meini prawf hanfodol
- 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
Meini prawf hanfodol
- 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.
Further details / informal visits contact
- Enw
- Flora Farmar
- Teitl y swydd
- Operations Manager
- Cyfeiriad ebost
- [email protected]
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