Principal Psychotherapist, Psychologist or Psychological Therapist

NHS; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 72,000 - 84,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent mental health service provider in Greater London seeks a Principal Psychotherapist/Lead for the Parenting Well with Psychosis Project. This fixed-term role involves leading a 3-year initiative aimed at bridging CAMHS and Adult Mental Health services, fostering family well-being, and integrating diverse community needs. The candidate will manage clinical responsibilities, engage with parents, and ensure high standards of service evaluation, creating culturally sensitive frameworks. Flexible working options are available.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• Registered with appropriate professional body.
• Post-qualification training in areas relevant to Parenting and/or Psychosis.
• Experience working with marginalized communities.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate the Parenting Well with Psychosis project.
• Engage with parents experiencing significant mental health difficulties.
• Create frameworks for community contribution to the project.
• Manage clinical risks and safeguarding responsibilities.
• Supervise parenting group interventions.

Skills

Cultural sensitivity

Leadership

Clinical supervision skills

Consultation skills

Education

Recognised qualification in mental health profession

Training in clinical supervision

Entry-level qualification in psychological therapy

Job description

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Principal Psychotherapist, Psychologist or Psychological Therapist

The closing date is 29 December 2025

We are seeking a skilled and experienced Lead for the Parenting Well with Psychosis Project (PWP), a 3‑year partnership funded by the Maudsley Charity as part of their Living Well with Psychosis Programme. This is a new exciting opportunity to make a difference and shape future service delivery. The role is for a fixed‑term contract of 3 years. The PWP project aims to bridge the gap between CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and Adult Mental Health services, promoting family well‑being and reducing the intergenerational transmission of mental illness. It brings together the Helping Families Team and SLAM's Early Intervention Psychosis teams across Croydon, Lewisham, Lambeth, and Southwark, with the goal of providing integrated care and support for parents with first episode psychosis. A key aspect of the project is its inclusion of Peer Supporters and lived experience networks in project development, delivery and evaluation. The project includes co‑delivered professional training in “Think Family” principles, focusing on the needs of children and young people impacted by parental mental illness. You will be a strong, compassionate and motivating leader invested in workforce development. You will enable staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment. You will lead the project evaluation, service development, intervention development and research.

Main duties of the job

• Leadership, coordination and systematic provision of the Parenting Well with Psychosis project in partnership with Steering Group.
• Confident and skilled in engaging with parents who are experiencing significant mental health difficulties and are likely to have had significant input from a range of services over a long period of time.
• Create culturally sensitive frameworks to ensure Black and other communities are invited to contribute meaningfully to the project.
• Ability to create supportive, connected, facilitative, influential and purposeful partnerships with families, colleagues and multi-agencies.
• Ability to assess, manage and supervise clinical risk, and child and adult safeguarding.
• Coordination and development of specialist peer‑led parenting group interventions.
• High standard of service evaluation, audit and research.
• Reporting to Maudsley Charity and Stakeholders.
• To create and evaluate the project's outcomes.
• To lead in various stages of the project implementation and evaluate through focus groups, interviews, and quantitative measures, with the aim of fostering long‑term change and integrated care across mental health services.

About us

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is based in the Michael Rutter Centre on the Maudsley Hospital site. Our headquarters is located at Denmark Hill, less than 5 minutes from the train station (zone 2) and within walking distance of the beautiful green spaces of Ruskin Park and the vibrant high‑street that offers great shopping opportunities and a wide range of restaurants. We provide services across Lambeth, Lewisham, Croydon and Southwark. (Due to move to the Pears Maudsley Children and Young People (PMCYP) at the Maudsley Hospital in early 2026) Early Intervention Services: Within the Trust, each of the four boroughs has a stand‑alone Early Intervention service (Lewisham: LEIS; Southwark: STEP; Croydon: COAST; Lambeth: LEO). The teams are located in different sites.

Flexible working: As one of the few Trusts in London we are proud to offer flexible working as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to discuss flexible working at the interview stage. In this role you will be able to work Monday to Friday in the time frames from 8 am to 6 pm giving you the very best of good work life balance. (This may include working early mornings, later evenings or Saturdays as part of the core working hours/working pattern for this post)

Job responsibilities

The Parenting Well with Psychosis Project is a 3‑year partnership funded by the Maudsley Charity’s Living Well with Psychosis Programme. The charter supports families and carers. The Lead will develop, co‑ordinate and ensure the systematic provision of the culturally sensitive Parenting Well with Psychosis project. Responsibilities include leadership, strategy, supervision, finance and clinical governance. The Lead will also be able to work clinically within the Helping Families Team and within the partnership holding a small caseload, depending on previous experience and clinical interest. The program emphasizes diversity and inclusion, promoting access to parenting resources for marginalized communities. The Lead will commit to ensuring families from local Black communities, who are disproportionately affected by a diagnosis of psychosis, are invited to contribute to the design, delivery, evaluation as well as be in receipt of the programme as part of their care plan. Create and co‑lead the Steering Group alongside service users, peer supporters, community members, community organisations and Trust leads. The team will follow the Think Family Strategy. Develop and deliver Think Family professional training focusing on empowering practitioners to consider the needs of children and young people impacted by parental mental illness. Coordinate delivery and supervise Being a Parent‑Enjoying Family Life parenting groups, an evidence‑based, 10‑week parenting group intervention for parents dealing with mental health difficulties co‑delivered by peer supporters and clinicians. The intervention will empower parents by building family resilience, supporting them to mentalise their experiences of being a parent and increasing their confidence in parenting their children. To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment. Lead on the evaluation of the project alongside peer supporters and service users. To undertake service evaluation, audit, research and policy development. To ensure that systems are in place and working effectively for the clinical and professional supervision and support of other psychologists and multi‑disciplinary colleagues within the Parenting Well team. Clinical responsibility for child and adult safeguarding and clinical risk management of families being supported by the project.

Qualifications

• To have undertaken a recognised qualification in one of the core mental health professions, e.g. psychiatric nursing, clinical psychology, medicine, social work and occupational therapy or to have equivalent relevant experience and demonstrable competence to work in the mental health field in the NHS. (A/I)
• Entry‑level qualification in applied psychological therapy/mental health/social welfare profession or equivalent and demonstrable practice in this field (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level/supervised practice/additional training) that has been accepted for the purposes of professional registration. (A/I)
• Completed training course in clinical supervision and/or accredited to supervised qualified psychological practitioners in relevant discipline. (A/I/R)
• Registered with professional body as appropriate to discipline HCPC/ACP/BPC/UKCP/BACP/BABCP/ADMP-UK. (A/I)
• Post‑qualification training in areas relevant to Parenting and /or Psychosis.

Experience

• Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision in parental mental health or areas that align with parental mental health. (A/I)
• Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision in parental mental health or areas that align with parental mental health. (A/I)
• Post‑qualification experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities. (A/I)
• The Trust encourages and welcomes applications from people with lived experience of mental health challenges. We see this as valuable and recognise the positive impact this experience can have on the work we do. (A/I)
• Experience of group delivery.
• Experience of working alongside and championing colleagues with lived experience.
• Post‑qualification experience of specialist assessment and intervention for adults with Psychosis; Mood disorders; Personality Disorders and/or parents with neurodivergence.

Knowledge

• Theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the relevant treatment of adults, children and young people, and families impacted by mental health challenges. (A/I/R)
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities. (A/I/R)
• To deliver psychological/psychotherapeutic therapy across cultural and other differences. (A/I/R)
• Advanced understanding of the Family Partnership model, Helping families Programme, and Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities evidence‑base and models.
• Advanced understanding of Early intervention Psychosis evidence‑base and models.

Skills

• To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information. (A/I/R)
• Skills in providing teaching and training to other professional groups. (A/I/R)
• Consultation skills to work with the multi‑professional team or other professional groups and sensitively managing, a number of people’s needs simultaneously within the context of therapeutic work/consultation. (A/I/R)
• Advanced skills in professional supervision; including skills for offering live supervision of multi‑disciplinary colleagues. (A/I/R)
• Project Leadership including recruitment, budget management, project management, reporting, dissemination. (A/I)
• To adapt evidence‑based models to improve service provision and service user acceptability. (A/I)
• To value and be able to work in partnership with peer supporter and people with lived experience. (A/I)

Abilities

• Ability to work effectively within a multi‑disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles. (A/I/R)
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate. (A/I/R)
• Ability to manage highly complex situations involving multiple difficulties, and competing/conflicting views about those difficulties; and to help create contexts that develop systemic engagement, and harness the strengths and abilities of those involved to work towards solutions. (A/I/R)
• Ability to understand and work with marginalised communities and families who have experienced significant levels of grief and trauma, including loss of a family member. (A/I)
• Ability to working Partnership with families, colleagues and multi‑agency professionals. (A/I)

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offences 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.

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

£72,921 to £83,362 a year pro rata, per annum inclusive of HCAS pro rata.