Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or CBT therapist

Transformationunitgm; Hastings; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Part time

Job summary

A leading mental health service provider in Hastings is seeking a Specialist Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to join their multidisciplinary team. This part-time role (22.5 hours per week) offers the opportunity to work within an Adult Mental Health service, providing high-quality psychological support to adults with complex needs. Candidates should have a post-graduate qualification in applied psychology and experience in a relevant setting. Competitive salary between £55,690 - £62,682 pro rata, with flexible working options available.

Benefits

Flexible working

Professional development opportunities

Supportive team environment

Qualifications

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment across care settings.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology and complex data analysis.
• Experience of working in a multicultural framework.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychology services to clients and their families.
• Manage a clinical caseload autonomously.
• Supervise and mentor assistant psychologists and trainees.

Skills

Psychological assessment and treatment

Clinical management decisions

Multidisciplinary team working

Supervisory experience

Research skills

Education

Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology

HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist

Job description

Main area Practitioner Clinical or Counselling Psychologist or CBT therapist Grade NHS AfC: Band 8a Contract Permanent: Part time Hours 22.5 hours per week Job ref 354-AE-21230

• Part time
• Flexible working

Employer Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Cavendish House Town Hastings Salary £55,690 - £62,682 pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 28/12/2025 23:59

Specialist Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or CBT therapist

NHS AfC: Band 8a

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.

Job overview

Highly Specialist psychology professions practitioner - Clinical/ Counselling Psychologist or CBT therapist (BABCP accredited) (Band 8a) 0.6 wte Adult Mental Health, Hastings Assessment & Treatment Service (ATS)

We are delighted to be advertising for a Highly Specialist psychology professions practitioner - Clinical/ Counselling Psychologist or CBT therapist Band 8a. The ATS is a friendly, well regarded multidisciplinary team that delivers specialist support and clinical interventions to adults with severe and complex mental health difficulties. This post provides an exciting opportunity for someone with sound clinical experience, looking to develop and broaden their specialist therapy skills and progress their multidisciplinary team working, supervision, training and leadership roles. The post will offer the opportunity for developing skills in partnership working as we move towards developing our Neighbourhood Mental Health Teams and increase access to psychologically informed interventions as part of community transformation and PT-SMHP developments.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will provide a high quality, specialist applied psychology service to clients, their families or carers, where there are complex and comorbid presentations. They will have assessment, intervention and formulation skills in a range of psychological models, including CBT and attachment-based models. The post holder will be expected to take a clinical leadership roleand to have supervisory experience. They will be responsible for the supervision of Assistant Psychologists, Clinical Trainees and Psychology Graduate Volunteers and will support psychological practice within the wider team through consultation, supervision, formulation and training. They will utilise research skills for audit and research within the area and contribute to service improvement and development.

There will be opportunities to lead on pathway developments as part of the transformation developing the psychological offer and supporting the MDT in psychological thinking. As such we would welcome applicants from anyone with specific interest in psychosis, trauma, emotional intensity or particular therapy approach such as CBT, Family work, CAT or EMDR.

Working for our organisation

Psychological professionals are valued members of the ATS and are encouraged to play a key role in multidisciplinary team working. You would be joining a supportive and cohesive network of Psychologist professionals, clinical trainees and psychology volunteers. You will work closely with psychological professions staff colleagues and the Psychology leads. You will receive high standards of supervision and will be supported by the Principal Clinical Psychologist. We have a valued programme of CPD, peer supervision and reflective practice for Psychology staff.

Applications are welcome from enthusiastic and experienced Psychological professionals with specialist knowledge and skills of working with severe and enduring mental health difficulties such as complex trauma, psychosis and personality difficulties. Equally important is experience in MDT teamworking, teaching and supervision. We are looking forsomeone who has the ability to work autonomously within the context of a busy multi team.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

· To provide a qualified, high-quality specialist psychology service to individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams, in line with best, evidence-based practice and trust care pathways.

· To be responsible for holding and managing a clinical caseload and to exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the planning and prioritising of own workload and the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, within the bounds of the service operational policy.

· To use analytical and judgment skills and be responsible for taking clinical management decisions in complex clinical issues.

· To clinically supervise assistant psychologists, trainee psychologists and junior psychologists, psychological therapists or counsellors and other staff as appropriate.

· To professionally supervise and, when appropriate, manage, assistant psychologists and trainee psychologists

· To provide consultation, mentorship, supervision and advice about psychological issues to other members of the team/service and other professionals working with service users, across a range of agencies/ settings as appropriate.

· To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team.

· To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team’s operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit, and to advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

· To utilise research skills to undertake service evaluation, audit and research as appropriate and disseminate the results in the service and nationally.

· To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the service.

Person specification

Qualifications

• 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.
• Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HCPC).

Knowledge/Experience

• 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 post-qualification 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.

SPFT is committed to building a workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We particularly welcome applications from people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and from disabled candidates, as these groups are currently underrepresented.

Successful candidates are normally appointed to the bottom of the pay scale unless previous NHS experience in a similar role can be evidenced.

SPFT takes its responsibilities for safeguarding children, young people and adults at risk very seriously. We expect all staff and bank workers to share this commitment and complete the relevant safeguarding training for their role.

If you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful. However, we’ll always do our best to keep you informed as we know how much time and care goes into applying for a role.

In the event of a high number of applications, we may close this vacancy early.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.