Closing date: 18 November 2026

Job summary
We are seeking to recruit an enthusiastic, compassionate and motivated Psychological Therapist for a whole-time (1.0 WTE) fixed term post (9 months, maternity cover) in our Forensic Community Service (FCS). The role will be community-based, improving the lives of adult service users as they move from secure hospital care into the community, including the Tilt service, a hostel for men with significant mental health needs and forensic risks. You will play a crucial role in the multi-professional approach to working with service users who have severe mental health and interpersonal issues, often co-occurring with substance dependency or neurodevelopmental disorders, all of whom present a risk that warrants support from forensic services. Travel between the three Oxleas boroughs - Bexley, Bromley, and Greenwich - is essential.

Main duties of the job
This is a clinically focused role. You will offer direct clinical assessment and interventions in complex cases, including individual, group, and family work. In addition, you will provide support to the system around the service user, offering consultation and reflective practice to other professionals, and delivering staff training to clinical and non-clinical staff. There may also be opportunities to supervise trainees, to undertake research, and lead initiatives including how we collaborate with families and carers.

About us
Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes. We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We're Kind
• We're Fair
• We Listen
• We Care

Details
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 7
Salary: £55,524 to £62,652 a year per annum
Contract: Fixed term
Duration: 9 months
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 277-8324249-FOR
Job locations: Bracton Centre, Dartford, DA2 7AF, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
You will be the only psychological therapist in the FCS team but will have links to other forensic psychological therapies outpatient services, including receiving clinical supervision from a psychologist in the Forensic Intellectual and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (FIND) community team. You will also join monthly psychological therapies department meetings. The Forensic Psychological Therapies department provides a breadth of professional opportunities across community, prison and hospital settings and opportunities for research and career progression through ongoing professional development. The post holder will be encouraged to consolidate and further develop their skills and clinical interests in a friendly and supportive multi-professional and multi-agency context. There is access to a network of specialist psychological supervision groups across the forensic directorate. Professionally, psychologists in Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust are highly valued and occupy a variety of directorate and Trust-wide leadership roles, including quality assurance, quality improvement, and operating as Responsible Clinicians.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Doctorate or MSc combined with PG Diploma

Registration
Essential

• Registered with professional regulatory body e.g., HCPC, BABCP, UKCP

Experience
Essential

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies and two assessment methodologies.

Desirable

• Experience in forensic/secure settings

Skills
Essential

• Skills in complex methods of psychological assessment

Desirable

• Knowledge of research methodology/data analysis

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website. From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

Employer details
Employer name: Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Address: Bracton Centre, Dartford, DA2 7AF, United Kingdom
Employer's website: http://oxleas.nhs.uk/

For questions about the job, contact: Principal Psychologist, Hazell Bale, hazell.bale1@nhs.net, 02039276150

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust's privacy notice.