Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation TrustCYP Clinical LeadThe closing date is 29 July 2026Job summaryThe Brighton and Hove Wellbeing Service is recruiting for a Clinical Lead to work within our innovative Children and Young People's (CYP) service in Brighton. We are looking for a Practitioner Psychologist or Psychological Therapist with experience of working with children and young people and providing leadership within mental health settings.
We are looking to find a candidate who can fill this role for 2.5 days per week (18.75 hours per week)/ 0.5 WTE.
Our CYP service provides primary care mental health interventions for children and young people up to 25. We offer a range of short-term interventions tailored to people's presenting needs and age. These include counselling, CBT, low intensity psychological interventions, groups, creative therapies and social prescribing. For more information, please visit: Apply through our website
The CYP service sits alongside our NHS Talking Therapies Service for adults.
Main duties of the jobYou will work closely with our CYP Service Manager, the existing part time CYP Clinical Lead and the wider CYP leadership team.
Together with the existing CYP Clinical Lead you will provide clinical leadership to this important part of our service.
You will support in forming close working relationships with local services, including CAMHS and the Schools Mental Health Service, and provide advice around suitability of referrals / appropriate treatment pathways.
Other responsibilities include:
- Liaising with children and young people, their parents, families and carers
- Working with staff members to ensure effective & practical support for service users.
- Clinical supervision and line management
- Working with the YCMA Service Manager to ensure safe clinical practice, and that safeguarding practice across the CYP service adheres to the current safeguarding policies and procedures
- Working with the YMCA Service Manager to ensure the safe and effective triaging of referrals made to the service
- Delivery of a Psychological Therapy tailored to the needs of children and young people and evidence based national guidelines.
About usThe Brighton and Hove Wellbeing service delivers primary care interventions to adults and children across. Led by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT) working in partnership with YMCA Downslink Group (YMCA), the service provides a community-based range of evidence-based or evidence-informed therapeutic and clinical interventions to support people with mild to moderate mental health needs.
The CYP service is made up of staff working for SPFT and YMCA. In this role you would be able to draw on the strengths of both organisations:
- SPFT provides mental health and learning disability services for children, young people and adults.
- YMCA provides youth advice, community / school counselling services and family mediation services.
Working in Sussex:
- Travel easily between coast and countryside, with a blend of picturesque villages and seaside towns
- Embrace city life with great access to London
- Easy access to Gatwick and Heathrow and excellent railway links across the UK
We'd love you to join SPFT, which is an organisation rated 'good' overall and 'outstanding' for caring by the CQC.
Job responsibilitiesREQUIREMENTS FOR THIS ROLE
This role will require you to:
- Have previous experience in the delivery of mental health assessments and psychological interventions for children and young people
- Be qualified as a Practitioner Psychologist or Psychological therapist
- Have previous experience of providing clinical supervision and line management
- Have previous experience of clinical leadership
We encourage people from the global majority and/or LGBTQ+ communities to apply.
MAIN DUTIES
- To carry out specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the service
- To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of clients' mental health problems
- To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals within and outside the CYP service
- To undertake risk assessment, formulation and management for individual clients
- To promote and participate in multi-disciplinary team working, development and liaison
- To promote actively, user and carer involvement in care planning and service development
- To clinically supervise assistant psychologists, trainees, psychological therapists, counsellors and other CYP staff as appropriate, in addition to offering CBT supervision
- To professionally supervise and, when appropriate, manage clinical staff within the CYP service
- To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the teams operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit, and to advise on those aspects of the CYP service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing
- To provide a qualified, high-quality specialist psychology service to individuals, carers, families and groups, within the CYP service, in line with best, evidence-based practice and trust care pathways
- To use analytical and judgment skills and be responsible for taking clinical management decisions in complex clinical issues
- To provide effective leadership and management to staff which promotes high performance standards both individually and as a team
See attached Job Description and Person Specification for full details.
Person SpecificationQualificationsEssential- Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology as approved by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology
Knowledge/ExperienceEssential- Experience in highly specialist psychological assessment and treatment across outpatient, community, primary care, and inpatient settings.
- Post-qualification experience as a practitioner psychologist with approximately 50 hours of clinical supervision.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, design and complex data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of applied psychology
- Experience working with diverse client groups across the lifespan, addressing a wide range of clinical severities, and maintaining a high degree of professionalism in challenging situations
- Skilled in teaching and training and/or supervision
- Experience of delivering Line Management and Professional supervision
- Experience of applying psychology in different cultural contexts and working within a multicultural framework.
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multidisciplinary care
- Experience or demonstrable knowledge of working with the particular client group served by the team/service.
- Knowledge of relevant national and local guidance, legislation, and mental health frameworks.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialist psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
- High-level proficiency in at least two specialised psychological therapies and neuropsychology, with continued practice or training post-qualification.
- Formal training in supervision of psychologists/ psychological therapists
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
Additional informationDisclosure and Barring Service CheckThis 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 SponsorshipApplications 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 (Opens in a new tab).
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 (Opens in a new tab).
UK RegistrationApplicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
We are an equal opportunities employer. 
