Highly Specialist Psychotherapist

NHS; City Of London; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in London is seeking a Band 8a Psychotherapist. In this role, you will deliver evidence-based psychotherapy, conduct complex assessments, and support colleagues in providing care. Qualifications include being BPC or UKCP registered and having substantial psychotherapeutic experience. This position offers a salary between £64,156 to £71,148 with supportive training opportunities.

Benefits

Monthly supervision

Access to training opportunities

Annual personal development plans

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in psychotherapeutic assessments and treatment.
• Registered as a psychotherapist with BPC or UKCP.
• Experience supervising individual psychotherapy.

Responsibilities

• Deliver high-quality psychotherapy to service users.
• Conduct psychodynamic assessments and develop treatment plans.
• Provide clinical supervision to junior clinicians.

Skills

Clinical risk assessment

Empathy under pressure

Organizational skills

Psychodynamic psychotherapy

Education

Professional qualification in core mental health or social work

BPC or UKCP registration

Job description

Go back Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Highly Specialist Psychotherapist

The closing date is 13 November 2025

TheKensington and Chelsea Adult Psychotherapy Service [KCAPS] is seeking an experienced and dynamic Band 8a Psychotherapist to join our specialist team.

This is a rewarding opportunity to work within a small but highly regarded psychotherapy service embedded in secondary care adult mental health services. KCAPS re-opened to referrals in January 2023 and offers a combination of longer and shorter term, individual and group treatments to adults experiencing complex and enduring mental health difficulties, often related to early trauma, relational issues, and personality difficulties.

Main duties of the job

As a Band 8a Psychotherapist, you will:

• Deliver high-quality, evidence-based psychotherapy to service users in K&C
• Provide specialist psychodynamic assessments, developing complex formulations and assessing suitability for psychotherapy.
• Work closely with the community mental health hubs in the North and South of the borough, supporting psychologically-informed care planning and offering consultation and supervision to colleagues.
• Contribute to the ongoing development of KCAPS, including audit, research, and teaching activities and supervision of honoraries.
• Participate in team meetings, manage referrals and contribute to the overall psychological culture of the service.

About us

Kensington and Chelsea Adult Psychotherapy Service is a single service that serves patients in both the North and South Kensington and Chelsea Hubs.

We are looking for a passionate, reflective, and skilled clinician who values psychodynamic thinking, multidisciplinary collaboration, and person-centred care.

Along with the fully established benefits such as Monthly supervision; Annual personal development plans/appraisals; Support and guidance with Revalidation; Hidden Gem and annual award ceremonies. We are also able to offer access to a full range of internal and external training opportunities across our services.

Job responsibilities

Key Post Requirements

Clinical Responsibilities

a) Be responsible for the treatment of patients with complex and challenging mental health difficulties. This includes managing difficult emotional situations with sensitivity, skill and an understanding of unconscious processes.

b) Manage, independently, the organisation of a highly complex clinical caseload in line with targets agreed with the Line Manager and Lead Psychotherapist.

c) Undertake highly specialised assessments of referrals for psychodynamic psychotherapy based upon knowledge, understanding, the integration of psychoanalytic concepts and evidence-based practice, and the range of treatments available. These will involve:-

i. Determining whether psychodynamic psychotherapy would be an appropriate treatment;

ii. When psychotherapy is deemed the treatment of choice, formulating a care plan that recommends a mode of treatment for the local Psychotherapy service to deliver (including individual psychodynamic psychotherapy, dynamic interpersonal therapy, group psychotherapy or mentalization-based therapy)

iii. In the light of the assessment, match severity of patient need to the required level of experience of therapist

iv. Communicate to patients, in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, including formulations of the patients difficulties and the basis for the treatment recommendations;

v. Discuss complex assessments in the weekly Psychotherapy Clinical Meeting;

vi. Consult with and communicate to referrers and other clinicians a specialist psychodynamic formulation of the patients difficulties, as well as recommendations for their future management and treatment. Where this is appropriate, recommend alternative treatment and support, taking into account other treatment options and therapeutic models.

vii. Undertake specialised risk assessments and risk management with individual patients in line with the principles of psychodynamic psychotherapy and provide advice on aspects of risk to other clinicians and services, as necessary and based on psychodynamic understanding.

d) To manage the psychotherapy referral process within the context of the Community Therapies pathway.

Clinical Supervision, Training and Teaching

b) Provide clinical supervision in small groups (for both individual and group treatments, if appropriately qualified) for clinicians employed within the service, including Honorary Psychotherapists, as required.

b) Plan, organise, and lead other teaching and training activities of the Service, such as Psychotherapy half-day workshops, short conferences and lectures.

Consultation and Liaison

c) Provide clinical consultations for Honorary Psychotherapists, Psychotherapists and other clinicians when difficult and challenging issues of assessment, treatment and risk management arise.

c) Liaise, as appropriate, with clinicians and managers outside of the service over clinical and other issues, while remaining within the boundaries and parameters of psychodynamic psychotherapy.

c) Undertake highly specialist consultation regarding organisational dynamics of teams within the Trust. This will include providing specialist consultation and critical incident debriefing to staff groups to progress the development of services within the Trust.

Research and Service Development

d) Facilitate the development and maintenance of a strong research culture in order to encourage staff to evaluate their practice critically and undertake ongoing research that may lead to publication.

d) Seek to develop and promote the evaluation of psychodynamic psychotherapy in the NHS setting in order to try to improve the range and quality of treatment offered to patients and to maintain the research profile of the service.

d) Utilise theory, current literature and research to support evidence-based practice in direct clinical work, and in supervision, teaching and consultations with other clinicians and staff groups.

d) Keep up to date with advanced and specialist research in the field of psychodynamic psychotherapy regarding the psychoanalytic understanding of human nature and development, and the principles of psychoanalytic practice.

Clinical Governance

d) Ensure the development, maintenance and dissemination of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD, training and development programmes.

d) Initiate and participate in audit and service evaluation with colleagues within the service and the Trust to help develop and improve services to patients.

d) Work in accordance with the principles of psychodynamic psychotherapy and within the parameters of good practice, in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Clinical Governance Framework, and, where necessary, seek advice regarding these matters.

d) Maintain high standards of clinical and professional practice by undergoing Continuous Professional Development in accordance with the policy of the relevant registration body e.g. UKCP/BPC/BAPC

Management

b) Manage the work of the clinicians undertaking psychodynamic psychotherapy under the post holders supervision.

b) Regularly attend and fully participate in the monthly Business meeting.

Working Relationships

g) Communicate clearly and effectively with Honorary and Adult Psychotherapists within the Service, and clinicians within the Trust and elsewhere on matters relating to the clinical care of patients, to ensure that high standards of assessment and treatment are maintained and that the requirements of clinical governance are met.

g) Work with the Line Manager, Clinical Director, Borough Director, Community Mental Health Hub Managers and clinicians within Harrow and the Trust, in formulating policies for the Service, in accordance with Trust policies and objectives.

g) Work with the Lead Clinician and other staff within the service, with regard to key service issues, service aims and objectives, service developments, and other managerial issues to ensure the effective operation of the Service.

g) Communicate and liaise effectively with Medical Psychotherapists within CNWL.

g) Liaise with and participate in the work of national bodies in the field of psychodynamic psychotherapy in order to remain familiar with developments in the field, to ensure that the highest standards of contemporary practice are adhered to and to contribute to the promotion and development of dynamic psychotherapy services both locally and nationally.

g) Liaise with the Services administrative staff, with regard to key service issues, service aims and objectives, service developments, and managerial issues to ensure that these matters are clearly understood and effectively realised.

g) Liaise and work with Senior Managers in Kensington and Chelsea and within the Trust to ensure that psychodynamic psychotherapy continues to make its contribution to the aims and objectives of the Trust and to promote the understanding of the psychoanalytic perspective.

General Responsibilities

c) Work within the requirements of the service and be responsible for knowing and implementing its procedures and policies as required.

c) To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice and Trust policies and procedures.

c) Maintain the strictest standards of confidentiality, in accordance with the standardsof psychodynamic psychotherapy and the policies of the Service and within the requirements of effective risk management.

Legislation and Policy Guidance

Maintain up to date knowledge of relevant National and Local NHS guidelines legislation and policy in respect of: Child Protection, Mental Health, Disability, Race Relations, Equal Opportunities and Human Rights, etc.

Health and Safety

b) Assist in the implementation of arrangements and to maintain a standard of safety in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act.

b) Carry out the duties placed on employees by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, i.e.:

iii) Take responsibility for the health and safety of themselves and of other persons who may be affected by acts or omissions at work

iii) Co-operate with their employer as far as is necessary to meet the requirements of the legislation

iii) Not intentionally or recklessly to interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interest of health and safety or welfare in the pursuance of any of the relevant statutory provisions.

Person Specification

Training and Qualification

• Professional qualification in a core mental health or social work discipline or agreed equivalent, with post qualification experience
• BPC or UKCP registered psychotherapist(psychodynamic) and/or BPC registered psychoanalysis and/or BACP accredited psychotherapist (psychodynamic).
• Training in one or more additional areas of psychotherapeutic practice, especially: - UKCP registration level training in group analysis or group psychoanalytic psychotherapy. - DIT Practitioner -MBT Practitioner -Training in Supervision

Experience

• Extensive experience in highly specialist assessment for individual and group, time-limited and longer term work with a wide range of patients
• Experience of carrying own psychotherapy caseload as an Adult Psychotherapist
• Experience of supervising individual psychotherapy
• A personal therapy experience of sufficient intensity, depth and duration to be able to work psychotherapeutically with the most difficult and demanding cases.
• Work within a variety of multi-disciplinary team settings, including inpatient, day patient and out- patient settings.
• Clinical work with patients drawn from a wide range of diagnostic groups and ethnic backgrounds
• Clinical, management and caseload supervision of mental health clinicians.
• Experience of successfully delivering training in psychodynamic/psychoanalytic psychotherapy at introductory and intermediate level.
• Evaluating and researching the efficacy and practice of psychodynamic psychotherapy
• Experience of delivering Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT)
• Experience of delivering group analytic psychotherapy
• Experience of delivering Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT)
• Experience of clinical leadership
• Training for and experience of working with a range of other therapeutic models

Knowledge

• Comprehensive knowledge of the psychodynamic theory of human behaviour, development and psychopathology.
• Comprehensive knowledge of psychodynamic theories of intervention and technique
• Understanding of the role of psychodynamic psychotherapy in a modern NHS mental health service
• Knowledge of Mentalization Based Treatment
• Knowledge in other psychotherapeutic models
• Comprehensive knowledge of psychiatric diagnoses and treatments
• Comprehensive awareness of mental health provision in statutory and voluntary sectors
• Knowledge of audit and research methodologies
• Knowledge of legislation and policy and their implications for clinical practice, professional management and service development

Skills

• Organise and manage a complex caseload of patients who are suffering from severe difficulties and who require highly specialist psychodynamic psychotherapy
• Remain calm and maintain an empathic approach under pressure
• Undertake psychodynamic risk assessment and management with highly disturbed patients
• Understand and interpret unconscious processes in a timely and sensitive manner
• Highly developed skills in providing consultation to adult psychotherapists and other clinical and managerial groups
• The ability to supervise the work of specialist dynamic psychotherapists working with patients suffering from the most complex and severe difficulties
• The ability to lead seminars and lecture to trainees at all levels of specialisation

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.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

£64,156 to £71,148 a yearpa inc. HCAS pro rata