Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist/Psychotherapist

Job overview
We are excited to be offering a secondment opportunity for an 8b Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or Psychotherapist to act as Operational Lead to our MHT/ MHT+ Specialist Psychological Therapies Service for working age adults with severe and complex mental health difficulties in South Kent Coast. The post is a fixed-term secondment until 27th July 2026.
You will be working closely with the Clinical Lead for East Kent. We would be particularly keen to hear from those with experience of working with adults with severe and enduring mental health problems, those with operational and managerial experience, and those in established 8a or 8b posts and ready to develop these competencies and skills. You will join a dynamic team of 4 qualified psychotherapists.

Main duties of the job

• You will have operational lead responsibilities for the service, and manage those in the team.
• Your will have your own caseload of assessment, individual and group interventions.
• Experience of Mentalization Based Psychotherapy, Structured Clinical Management and EMDR are welcome in addition to core training competencies. Formal HEE funded training will be available for those interested. In addition to delivery of psychological therapy you will have leadership roles supporting the Transformation, and collaborating for Psychological Therapies to deliver training and supervision to Mental Health Together and Mental Health Together + colleagues.
• You will be working closely with the service manager for MHT+ and the wider team in line with the Community Mental Health Framework and the Transformation in order to develop these agendas.

As the service works closely with the wider team there is ample opportunity to learn about organisational dynamics and delivery of care. As a senior team member you will be part of the Psychological Therapies leadership team, representing our service in local meetings, discussing appropriateness of referrals with the wider community team and influencing service delivery.

Working for our organisation
We are the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway. Our teams support adults with a wide range of mental health needs. Because we cover the whole county and both hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the 1.8 million people of Kent and Medway. Rated 'Good' by the CQC, we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 in the community each year.
Our vision is simple: We are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It's why we're passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. And everything we do is guided by our values caring, inclusive, curious and confident.
Join us - if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that's doing well together.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The successful candidate will hold a doctoral qualification in clinical or counselling psychology, or equivalent post-graduate qualification for psychotherapists, experience in secondary care and management, and have membership with relevant organisation such as HCPC, BABCP, BPC or UKCP.
Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification
We are serious about diversity and inclusion, and we are working hard to build this into our DNA. We warmly welcome applications for any of our roles from people from diverse backgrounds, and we are proactively encouraging applications from under-represented communities for our more senior roles, like this one.

Person specification

Essential

Essential criteria

• Achieved Grades
• Years of Experience in Secondary Care
• Management Experience
• Leadership Experience/Qualities
• Competency in Service Development
• Operational Experience
• Supervision skills
• Skills for working under pressure

Desirable

Essential criteria

• Experience of Teaching
• Understanding management of service delivery/of information/audit
• Experience of Conflict Management
• Experience conducting group work

Important Information:
In cases where we receive a high volume of applications for a post, it may be necessary to bring the closing date forward. Please submit your completed application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
Due to the high volume of applications received, it is not possible to respond individually to your application. Should you not hear from us within six weeks of the vacancy closing, please assume that your application has not been successful.

Probation Period. New employees external to the trust are subject to a six-month probationary period.
To deliver an effective service it is essential in some of our roles that you are able to travel between work bases in a timely manner.
Production of false or forged documents/qualifications in order to obtain employment is a criminal offence and will be reported to the Police.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check.
Certain roles are subject to criminal record checks called Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Therefore, you will be required to submit a completed Disclosure form to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust are signed up to NHS England's Sexual Safety in Health Care Organisational Charter
The trust takes a systematic zero-tolerance approach to tackle any unwanted, inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviours within the workplace and in our care provision. We are committed to sexual safety which encompasses prevention, support and decisive action against perpetrators. We are committed to keeping you and our patients safe.

Use of AI when writing job applications
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AI cannot truly understand the specific job you're applying for or what makes you a good fit. Therefore, it's crucial to personalise any AI-generated content to accurately reflect your skills, experiences, and aspirations.
Relying solely on AI to write your application may result in generic, impersonal, and potentially inaccurate content. Always review and refine any AI-generated text to ensure it effectively communicates your experience, skills, accomplishments, and aspirations, and demonstrates your suitability for the position.