Psychotherapist, Practitioner Psychologist & Psychological Therapist
| Posting date: | 21 August 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £61,631 - £68,623 per annum inclusive of HCAS (Outer) |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 20 September 2025 |
| Location: | Croydon, CR8 2FD |
| Company: | South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7399333/334-CLI-7399333 |
Summary
A Vacancy at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
Are you passionate about promoting psychological approaches to care? Do you have a genuine interest in improving the quality of life of people with dementia and their carers? Do you want to join a dementia pathway where 95% of patients and carers rate their experience as good or very good?
We have two posts available in our dementia pathway for a specialist and highly specialist psychologist or psychological therapist. These posts will play a key role in strengthening our interventions for behaviours that challenge (behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), and ensuring that all service users and carers on the pathway are offered a range of psychological approaches tailored to their needs.
Both posts benefit from strong clinical and professional support and we will seek to provide training opportunities for successful candidates who are enthusiastic and keen to develop their skills.
This post is an 8A post and will work across the Care Home Intervention and Community Mental health Teams in Croydon, also supporting service development in these pathways.
You may also be interested in applying for a band 7 post (see separate ad) which will work across the Care Home Intervention and Community Mental Health Teams in Lambeth and Southwark
The post holder will provide specialist skills to their respective Care Home Intervention multi-disciplinary team, supporting the implementation of an evidence-based approach to understanding and addressing BPSD.
They will undertake clinical work in care homes in the respective boroughs, supporting assessment and formulation of the needs of care home residents referred to the team and working collaboratively with care home staff to implement and evaluate care plans. This will include support with training and upskilling of care home staff, and systemic approaches to improving the quality of care for care home residents
In the CMHTs the postholder will lead and support the care pathway that describes a stepped approach to understanding and addressing BPSD for people living in their own homes. This will include skill development across the wider MDT, as well as consultation and direct work on more complex presentations. The post will include supervision responsibilities for more junior psychological practitioners.
The CHIT and CMHTs are operational Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm, although we can offer some flexibility around working hours. Onsite working and community visits are required for this role.
The care home intervention teams work with people over the age of 65 (or those with younger onset dementia) who are resident in care homes, and who display challenging behaviour in the context of dementia or other mental health difficulties. The teams work on the basis that people’s behaviour, even when challenging, can be understood, and this understanding often leads the way in identifying unmet needs and in developing good care planning and practice, involving the use of psychosocial interventions
The Community Mental Health Teams for Older Adults work with people over the age of 65 with mental health problems, including those with dementia. Approximately 35% of the team’s caseloads are people with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, where there is often risk to harm to self or others, risk of care arrangements breaking down, or other factors which make care arrangements more complex.
The team locations are as follows:
Croydon Care Home Intervention Team: 50 Pampisford Road, CR8 2FD
Croydon CMHT: 122 Selhurst Road, SE25 6LL
Both team locations are easily accessible via public transport so driving is not essential for this role.
Key Responsibilities:
KR 1 Clinical and Client Care
· To provide specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for service users with dementia and behaviours that challenge (Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia).
· To provide culturally appropriate psychological or psychotherapeutic interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
· To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
· To provide reports, including relevant formulation, opinion and interventions, in order to inform referrers and, where appropriate, service users and their families.
· To select and deliver evidence-based specialist therapeutic interventions, drawing from a spectrum of ideas and models, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions as necessary, based on the highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, couple, family or group.
· To promote psychological support for carers (or families as appropriate) of referred clients.
KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning
· To contribute to the effective working of the team or service and to a psychologically/psychotherapeutically informed framework for the service.
· To contribute to the team or service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
· To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
· To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological/psychotherapeutic care of clients.
· To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
· To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
KR 3 Policy and service development
· To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.
· To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.
· To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
KR 4 Care or management of resources
· To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.
· To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.
KR 5 Management and supervision
· To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of more junior psychological practitioners with support from a more senior practitioner.
· To supervise trainee psychological practitioners within own area of specialism having completed the relevant Supervision Training.
· To contribute to the appraisal of more junior psychological practitioners as appropriate.
· To contribute to the recruitment of more junior psychological practitioners as appropriate.
· To provide supervision for the psychological and/or psychotherapeutic work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.
KR 6 Teaching and Training
· To undertake occasional teaching and training of pre and post- qualification psychological practitioners, and specialised training to other professions as appropriate.
· To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within older adults mental health services by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychological therapy and by implementing knowledge gained in practice.
· To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.
KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance
· To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
· To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.
KR 8 Research and development
· To initiate/undertake, support and supervise regular complex service evaluation and audits.
· To initiate or support and collaborate in research focussing on behaviours that challenge in dementia.
· To provide expertise in a specialist research area which will contribute to older adults mental health.
· To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.
KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development
· To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychological therapist according to professional body and Trust guidelines.
· To maintain own Continuing Professional Development in line with Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and professional Standards for Continuing Professional Development.
· To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
· To comply with professional body Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics/Standards of Proficiency.
KR10 General
· To travel to appointments and serve meetingsas appropriate and across the Trust when required.
· To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.
· To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations (such as challenging behaviour, abuse etc) and to support others involved in such situations through Trust-wide approaches including Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve.
· To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics or Saturday working, within the overall Job Plan.
This advert closes on Thursday 4 Sep 2025
Are you passionate about promoting psychological approaches to care? Do you have a genuine interest in improving the quality of life of people with dementia and their carers? Do you want to join a dementia pathway where 95% of patients and carers rate their experience as good or very good?
We have two posts available in our dementia pathway for a specialist and highly specialist psychologist or psychological therapist. These posts will play a key role in strengthening our interventions for behaviours that challenge (behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), and ensuring that all service users and carers on the pathway are offered a range of psychological approaches tailored to their needs.
Both posts benefit from strong clinical and professional support and we will seek to provide training opportunities for successful candidates who are enthusiastic and keen to develop their skills.
This post is an 8A post and will work across the Care Home Intervention and Community Mental health Teams in Croydon, also supporting service development in these pathways.
You may also be interested in applying for a band 7 post (see separate ad) which will work across the Care Home Intervention and Community Mental Health Teams in Lambeth and Southwark
The post holder will provide specialist skills to their respective Care Home Intervention multi-disciplinary team, supporting the implementation of an evidence-based approach to understanding and addressing BPSD.
They will undertake clinical work in care homes in the respective boroughs, supporting assessment and formulation of the needs of care home residents referred to the team and working collaboratively with care home staff to implement and evaluate care plans. This will include support with training and upskilling of care home staff, and systemic approaches to improving the quality of care for care home residents
In the CMHTs the postholder will lead and support the care pathway that describes a stepped approach to understanding and addressing BPSD for people living in their own homes. This will include skill development across the wider MDT, as well as consultation and direct work on more complex presentations. The post will include supervision responsibilities for more junior psychological practitioners.
The CHIT and CMHTs are operational Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm, although we can offer some flexibility around working hours. Onsite working and community visits are required for this role.
The care home intervention teams work with people over the age of 65 (or those with younger onset dementia) who are resident in care homes, and who display challenging behaviour in the context of dementia or other mental health difficulties. The teams work on the basis that people’s behaviour, even when challenging, can be understood, and this understanding often leads the way in identifying unmet needs and in developing good care planning and practice, involving the use of psychosocial interventions
The Community Mental Health Teams for Older Adults work with people over the age of 65 with mental health problems, including those with dementia. Approximately 35% of the team’s caseloads are people with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, where there is often risk to harm to self or others, risk of care arrangements breaking down, or other factors which make care arrangements more complex.
The team locations are as follows:
Croydon Care Home Intervention Team: 50 Pampisford Road, CR8 2FD
Croydon CMHT: 122 Selhurst Road, SE25 6LL
Both team locations are easily accessible via public transport so driving is not essential for this role.
Key Responsibilities:
KR 1 Clinical and Client Care
· To provide specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for service users with dementia and behaviours that challenge (Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia).
· To provide culturally appropriate psychological or psychotherapeutic interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
· To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
· To provide reports, including relevant formulation, opinion and interventions, in order to inform referrers and, where appropriate, service users and their families.
· To select and deliver evidence-based specialist therapeutic interventions, drawing from a spectrum of ideas and models, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions as necessary, based on the highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, couple, family or group.
· To promote psychological support for carers (or families as appropriate) of referred clients.
KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning
· To contribute to the effective working of the team or service and to a psychologically/psychotherapeutically informed framework for the service.
· To contribute to the team or service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
· To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
· To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological/psychotherapeutic care of clients.
· To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
· To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
KR 3 Policy and service development
· To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.
· To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.
· To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.
KR 4 Care or management of resources
· To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.
· To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.
KR 5 Management and supervision
· To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of more junior psychological practitioners with support from a more senior practitioner.
· To supervise trainee psychological practitioners within own area of specialism having completed the relevant Supervision Training.
· To contribute to the appraisal of more junior psychological practitioners as appropriate.
· To contribute to the recruitment of more junior psychological practitioners as appropriate.
· To provide supervision for the psychological and/or psychotherapeutic work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.
KR 6 Teaching and Training
· To undertake occasional teaching and training of pre and post- qualification psychological practitioners, and specialised training to other professions as appropriate.
· To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within older adults mental health services by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychological therapy and by implementing knowledge gained in practice.
· To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.
KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance
· To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
· To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.
KR 8 Research and development
· To initiate/undertake, support and supervise regular complex service evaluation and audits.
· To initiate or support and collaborate in research focussing on behaviours that challenge in dementia.
· To provide expertise in a specialist research area which will contribute to older adults mental health.
· To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.
KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development
· To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychological therapist according to professional body and Trust guidelines.
· To maintain own Continuing Professional Development in line with Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and professional Standards for Continuing Professional Development.
· To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
· To comply with professional body Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics/Standards of Proficiency.
KR10 General
· To travel to appointments and serve meetingsas appropriate and across the Trust when required.
· To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.
· To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations (such as challenging behaviour, abuse etc) and to support others involved in such situations through Trust-wide approaches including Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve.
· To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics or Saturday working, within the overall Job Plan.
This advert closes on Thursday 4 Sep 2025