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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.
Senior Specialist Psychological Therapist / Senior Psychologist
Accepting applications until: 20-Jul-2026 23:59
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 20-Jul-2026 23:59
Key details
Location
- Site
- Woodside Annex
- Address
- The Drive
- Town
- Hellingly
- Postcode
- BN27 4ER
- Major / Minor Region
- West Sussex
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 22.5 hours per week
Salary
- Salary
- £57,528 - £64,750 pro rata
- 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 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 tools like AI are becoming part of everyday life and you may choose to use them when preparing your application. We welcome this, as long as what you submit reflects your own experience, skills and voice. AI can be helpful for structuring or refining your answers, but it should not replace your own examples or create content that isn’t based on your real experience.
Our recruitment process is designed to get to know you, and we’ll explore your examples further at interview, so it’s important your application genuinely represents what you bring. You can read more about using AI in applications and interviews on our recruitment process page.
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.
Job overview
This is a very exciting opportunity to join our highly regarded and award-winning Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service (SPMHS) which operates over the whole of Sussex.
The Specialist Perinatal Mental Service (SPMHS) within Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust now requires a Senior Psychologist or Psychological Therapist in Perinatal Mental Health. The post is for 22.5 hours a week. Applicants must demonstrate substantial post-qualification experience working within a specialist perinatal mental health service, or in a clearly defined specialist perinatal mental health role.
This post provides opportunities to develop highly specialist clinical skills within the perinatal service, with scope for senior responsibilities and leadership development. This may include liaison and consultation with the wider perinatal network and partners in the maternity, acute trust and community/children's services.
Days of the week are negotiable but are likely to include Wednesdays - hours are 9-5
The post holder will be based in East Sussex and may be expected to travel across Sussex. The post holder will report to the Principal Clinical Psychologist within their team.
The postholder will be given regular supervision and close support from highly skilled professionals within the service as well as opportunities for professional development.
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The post holder will have a training in Clinical Psychology and will be responsible for delivering NICE concordant perinatal psychological therapies to women, their babies and their families.
The Psychologist in the specialist community perinatal mental health service will work with the main community service treatment pathway and the bereavement pathway (neonatal loss and stillbirth) which forms our Maternal Mental Health Service (MMHS) commitment.
Within the larger community service, the postholder will be responsible for typical and atypical perinatal mental health presentations, alongside specific formulation of parent-infant relationships. The postholder will need to have an up to date knowledge of adult and infant safeguarding practices and thresholds. A working knowledge of DBT is desirable and an interest psychoanalytic thinking. The postholder will be responsible for contributing to, or leading on complex case discussions, peer learning and staff training.
Within the bereavement pathway, the postholder will be responsible for providing a highly responsive individualised therapy and support for women and their families who have experienced the death of a baby from 24 weeks gestation to one month after birth. A knowledge of trauma informed interventions for individuals, couples and family would be desirable but specialist supervision regarding bereavement and traumatic loss will be provided.
Working for our organisation
The Long-Term Plan for Mental Health sets out national and local ambitions to improve care for people in pregnancy through the first stages of their babies life who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, mental health difficulties or emotional crisis.
One in five women experience post or ante natal depression, anxiety or in some cases psychosis, during pregnancy or in the first year after childbirth.
Perinatal community mental health services provide specialist care for women (and their babies) with moderate to severe mental illness, such as bipolar disorder or severe unipolar (postnatal) depression and/or difficulties bonding with their babies. This kind of specialist care provides early help and support to parents and babies with a range of perinatal issues including parent infant relationships and adjustment to parenting.
The Bereavement pathway (BP) is one of the key 'flexible deliverables' in the LTP, called therein as the 'Maternal Mental Health Service's (MMHS). Each service-based iteration is designed to meet local needs and wider maternal health pathways, while at the same time, forming a continuity of care the national design of the MMHS cohorts. Our BP is focussed on providing high calibre individualised care to women, their partners and their families who have experienced neonatal loss or still birth, defined as loss at 24 weeks or after.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Our four multidisciplinary teams include Psychiatrists, Administrators, Nurses, Clinical Psychologists, Early Years workers, and some specialist Midwives and Health Visitors who are all trained in adult and infant mental health. The Service has extremely good working partnerships with a wide range of primary and secondary care professionals, including Midwives, Health Visitors, Social Care, CAMHS and Adult Mental Health Services across Sussex and is a key member of the South East Coast Strategic Network.
You will join a multi-disciplinary service, comprising four separate teams, providing specialist care for women with moderate to serious mental health crisis such as perinatal psychosis, bipolar disorder or severe uni-polar depression whilst they are pregnant or in the first 12 months after birth. This is also a rare opportunity contribute to the skilful delivery of psychology and psychological therapy (PPT) interventions to the bereavement pathway. These are likely to be individual, couple and family-based therapies for trauma and loss.
Within the main service you will offer the four core PPT offers; birth trauma/PTSD, Maternal OCD, post MBU interventions and parent infant psychotherapy (PIP). Our PPT group also offers DBT and is developing CFT group work. We have a specialist Couples Therapy offer, and low intensity PIP which can include video work. You may also join an active perinatal research and audit group who have already had several publications accepted.
Please see the job description for outlines of the main duties and responsibilities of this post, and the person specification which lists the requirements necessary to perform the job. Candidates will be assessed according to the extent to which they meet the specification.
Please note: we do not provide EMDR within the service, and do not provide any individual opportunities for applicants with previous training to provide EMDR within their job plans.
Applicant requirements
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Recognised accredited post graduate level training in a psychological therapy as specified in the Appendix
- Professionally registered as specified in the appendix
Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria
- Substantial post-qualification/accreditation experience of specialist psychological therapy (assessment, formulation and treatment), as specified in the Appendix, maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
- A high level of competence in applying a psychological therapy to complex difficulties appropriate for this therapy with the client group served by the post, and a proven track record of delivering positive outcomes in this therapy
- Experience of offering teaching, training and supervision within a demanding organisational context
- A clear and theoretically informed approach to supervision
- Experience of representing psychological therapy within the context of multi-disciplinary care within a complex organisational context
- Significant experience of working with the particular client group served by the team/service
- Knowledge of guidance and legislation in relation to the client group
- A high-level specialist knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapy as specified in the appendix, as applied to the client group using this service
- Experience of the application of psychological therapy in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Kate Alexander
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
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