Senior Clinical Psychologist - Attach Team

Dyddiad hysbysebu:	03 Medi 2025
Oriau:	Rhan Amser
Dyddiad cau:	17 Medi 2025
Lleoliad:	Shoreham-By-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 6GA
Cwmni:	West Sussex County Council
Math o swydd:	Parhaol
Cyfeirnod swydd:	CAFHE05955_1756913319

Crynodeb

The Opportunity

Salary: Pro-rata for 22.2 hours £35,994 to £38,046 per annum / Pro-rata for 29.6 hours £47,992 to £50,728 per annum

FTE Equivalent Salary: Hay B £59,991 to £63,411 per annum

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Pattern: Part-time, Monday to Friday. Hybrid working will be considered. Days are flexible except Tuesdays as this is the team meeting day.

Two part-time roles available:

• 1 x 22.2 hrs per week
• 1 x 29.6 hrs per week

Location: Based at Glebelands, Shoreham-by-Sea but will be required to provide countywide coverage.

Please note: You will need to be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. Pool cars and pool bikes are available and having a driving license is highly desirable.

Interviews: Scheduled for 06 and 08 October 2025

Make a Real Difference to the Lives of Children in Care

• Are you a trauma-informed practitioner, passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people in care?
• Are you looking for an opportunity to develop in a growing, evidence-informed therapeutic service?

• Do you thrive in providing training, consultation and reflective practice to staff groups within Children's Services?
• Do you have experience of providing a range of therapeutic interventions including DDP-informed therapeutic interventions with carers and children in care?

If so, we would love to hear from you.

About the role

In this role, you will have post qualification experience in undertaking evidence based psychological assessments and interventions with children and families. In addition, you will have expertise in trauma-informed practices and relational approaches and ideally experience in working with children in care and local authority partners.

As a senior psychologist in the team the role will involve clinically supporting other staff and taking on some supervision and delegated leadership responsibilities. There will also be opportunities to be involved in service development and training delivery.

The post holders will receive a comprehensive induction which will include opportunities to shadow and to co-work.

The post holders will receive regular clinical supervision from one of two Principal Clinical Psychologists in the Attach Service, in addition to ongoing opportunities for co-working and taking part in regular team case discussions. The team has links to the University of Surrey Clinical Psychology Doctoral programme and the opportunity to provide placements to trainees.

About you

We're seeking confident and compassionate clinicians who have the following key skills and experience:

• Professional Doctorate level training in Clinical Psychology and HCPC-registered as Practitioner Psychologists

• Considerable experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist with children, young people, and their families and knowledge of key legislation.

• Some experience of delivering interventions for Children in Care with a systemic and integrative focus is desirable.
• Has a good understanding of trauma-informed and attachment-based models, and an interest in DDP and PACE.
• Demonstrates a good understanding of the needs of children who present with issues arising from developmental trauma and disrupted early attachments, and the support needs of those who care for them in foster, special guardianship, and residential homes.

• Clinical expertise in delivering psychological assessment and therapy with
  children and young people presenting with a range of complex psychological
  problems and who may be mistrustful of services, alongside support to their
  families and other care providers.
• Excellent communication skills enabling accessible and engaging psychological training to different audiences, to inform and improve the practice across services.

• Has experience and/or interested in delivering consultation, training, and reflective supervision to staff groups
• Has some experience of clinical supervision and able to support colleagues around job planning, managing a range of competing priorities, and a commitment to developing a supportive team culture
• Experience of working with neurodiverse young people and an understanding of the intersection between developmental trauma and neurodevelopmental needs would be an advantage
• Is confident managing risk and complexity in multi-agency environments
• You will need to be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. Pool cars and pool bikes are available and having a driving license is highly desirable.

For more information on the Key Skills, Qualifications and/or Experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached. Please refer to the key skills in your cover letter as these will be used for shortlisting criteria.

About us and what we offer

The Attach Service delivers psychological support into our Children We Care For, Care Leavers, Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking and Special Guardianship teams and includes support to our Residential and Fostering services and into our two specialist projects.

The Attach team delivers a range of evidence-informed support to children in care and the professionals and carers around them, helping them understand and respond to the impact of developmental trauma, disrupted attachment, and hidden emotional needs. Within West Sussex Fostering, there is a drive and vision to deliver therapeutic parenting within foster care and kinship, underpinned by DDP principles and an attitude of PACE. Please see the West Sussex Fostering Vision Statement document for further details of the PACE culture ambition in the Information Pack.

Both 8A posts will be offering clinical intervention and support into the Attach team supporting services to Fostering, In-house Residential, Kinship and Care Leavers.

What we offer:

A welcoming and forward-thinking psychological service embedded within Children's Services influencing how West Sussex supports children in care through compassionate, psychologically informed approaches.

• Hybrid working arrangements to support your work-life balance
• Opportunities to shape an integrated psychological model
• Management and clinical supervision by a Principal Clinical Psychologist in the Attach service
• Peer support and ongoing CPD
• An inclusive and values-driven team culture that supports innovation and reflective practice

For a full list, see our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for these roles is CAFHE05955

We welcome informal enquiries ahead of application to explore how this opportunity might fit your professional goals and values.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Dr Jenny Mount (Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Attach service) at

For any issues or queries regarding your application please contact

To apply: Please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter (CV maximum 4 pages and cover letter maximum 2 pages please). In your cover letter, please outline your motivations for applying and detail the skills, experience and values you can bring to the role (refer to the key skills in the job description) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV.

Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

This post is subject to HCPC registration, an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion, and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.