Senior Clinical/ Counselling/Forensic Psychologist
Job summary
This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and energetic Senior Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to work in the A & E of Mental Health. You will be working in a very dynamic environment, which will provide you with many opportunities to learn and develop your therapeutic and systemic skills. There will also be an opportunity to be creative and innovative within the role, bringing new ideas, incorporating evidence-based practice into how the service is delivered.
You will support and assist the core aims within the service, both in direct clinical work and as a positive member of the multi-disciplinary team and wider service, having an important strategic and liaison function supporting the transition of patients between services.
Main duties of the job
- You will provide psychological assessment and treatment within a multi-disciplinary team and offer consultation and treatment for our more complex cases.
- You will offer clinical supervision to assistant psychologists and trainees, as well as Band 7 Psychologists and our multi-disciplinary colleagues.
- There will be an opportunity to take a lead role in service development-oriented research and publishing research.
- To ensure the clinical effectiveness of own practice and of service functioning by undertaking research and development activities relevant to the service area
- To be regularly responsible for providing training placements for trainee clinical/counselling psychologists in this specialism.
- To undertake high quality direct (assessment and therapeutic) and indirect (consultative, advisory and evaluative) specialist psychology interventions in these services taking substantial professional responsibility and exercising autonomous judgement in their professional practice.
About us
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.
Details
Date posted
04 December 2025
Pay scheme
Agenda for change
Band
Band 8a
Salary
£55,690 to £62,682 a year per annum, pro rata
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Part-time
Reference number
380-AC0756-A
Job locations
Priority House Hospital
Hermitage Lane
Maidstone
ME16 9NZ
Job description
Job responsibilities
- To provide specialist psychological assessment of clients with complex, severe and enduring mental health difficulties referred to Acute services, utilising information from a broad range of structured psychometric and semi-structured clinical methodologies and integrating it into a psychological formulation of the client and the psychosocial environment, drawing on a range of psychological theoretical perspectives.
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.
Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification
Job descriptionJob responsibilities
- To provide specialist psychological assessment of clients with complex, severe and enduring mental health difficulties referred to Acute services, utilising information from a broad range of structured psychometric and semi-structured clinical methodologies and integrating it into a psychological formulation of the client and the psychosocial environment, drawing on a range of psychological theoretical perspectives.
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.
Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification
Person Specification
Training & Qualifications
Essential
- Registration with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) as Practitioner Psychologist
Desirable
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists
Experience
Essential
- Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist at speciality level. Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity.
Desirable
- Experience and expertise in acute mental health
Skills & Knowledge
Essential
- Evidence of specialised psychological therapeutic skills as used in complex cases within acute psychology settings.
Desirable
- Specialist skills in DBT, psychosis and applying this to an acute setting.
Training & Qualifications
Essential
- Registration with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) as Practitioner Psychologist
Desirable
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists
Experience
Essential
- Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist at speciality level. Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity.
Desirable
- Experience and expertise in acute mental health
Skills & Knowledge
Essential
- Evidence of specialised psychological therapeutic skills as used in complex cases within acute psychology settings.
Desirable
- Specialist skills in DBT, psychosis and applying this to an acute setting.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional informationDisclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details
Employer name
Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust
Address
Priority House Hospital
Hermitage Lane
Maidstone
ME16 9NZ
Employer's website
https://www.kentmedwaymentalhealth.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)
Employer details
Employer name
Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust
Address
Priority House Hospital
Hermitage Lane
Maidstone
ME16 9NZ
Employer's website
https://www.kentmedwaymentalhealth.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)
Salary range
- £55,690 - £62,682 per year