Senior Clinical Psychologist - ATTACH

West Sussex County Council; Shoreham-by-Sea; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 51,000; Full time

Job summary

A local government authority seeks Specialist Senior Clinical Psychologists to provide psychological support within children's services. This role involves delivering evidence-informed interventions, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, and shaping the future of psychological services. The ideal candidate will hold a Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and have experience working with children in complex care situations. A hybrid working model is available.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• Post qualification experience working with children and families with complex needs.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Experience in delivering Dyadic Developmental Informed Psychotherapy.

Responsibilities

• Deliver psychological support to children in care and their families.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to innovate service models.
• Champion a trauma-aware approach within the system.

Skills

Trauma-informed practice

Psychological assessment

Therapeutic interventions

Consultation

Clinical supervision

Education

Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

Job description

Note: Please apply directly through the West Sussex County Council website. Link below in "Supporting Links"

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.

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

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 Childrens Services?
• Do you have experience of providing a range of therapeutic interventions including DDP-informed therapeutic interventions with carers and children in care?

Main duties of the job

As Specialist Senior Clinical Psychologists for our services, you will:

• Deliver evidence-informed, integrative, and systemic interventions.
• Work closely within a multi-disciplinary/multiagency environment to designand implement innovative service models.
• Champion a compassionate, trauma-aware, relational approach at all levelsof the system.
• Help shape the future of our Psychological Services Hub, contributing to itsgrowth and impact.

About us

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.

Note: Please apply directly through the West Sussex County Council website. Link below in "Supporting Links"

Job responsibilities

Following the successful TUPE transfer of our specialist psychological servicesinto the local authority last year, we are embarking on an exciting journey torealign and integrate a range of specialist social care and psychologicalinterventions under one roof in our Psychological Hub. This transformation offersa unique opportunity to innovate and deliver creative, impactful services whilstbuilding on established, collaborative relationships between psychologicalservices and the social care workforce. We have a wide range and depth ofexpertise and experience within the services and a strong ethos of workingtogether to meet the needs of these vulnerable groups of children and families.

The Psychological Hub is led by two consultant clinical psychologists each leadingin one of the two service areas: The Community Psychological Service (Restore)and the Children We Care for Therapeutic Service (ATTACH).

The ATTACH service provides psychological support for our Children We CareFor, Care Leavers, Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking young people, and SpecialGuardianship teams and the support extends to our Residential and Fosteringservices. We are looking to recruit four senior clinical psychologists to join theteam to expand our reach.

As a therapeutic team, ATTACH offers a reflective space for social workers toconsider the impact of developmental trauma on children and young peoplesemotional well-being. We focus upon co-constructing a shared understanding(formulation) with colleagues and carers to understand complex presentationsand hidden emotional needs, supporting children in recovering fromdevelopmental trauma and forming meaningful attachments.Our service assists carers in implementing therapeutic parenting and supportssocial workers in delivering relationship-based social work, while appreciatingthe personal impact of this work on both carers and professionals themselves.Additionally, we provide direct assessments and therapeutic interventions forfoster care and special guardianship families, as well as for young people livingin West Sussex residential care homes.

The team will develop and deliver bespoke trainings to colleagues across thechildrens social care workforce also.

As Specialist Senior Clinical Psychologists for our services, you will:

• Deliver evidence-informed, integrative, and systemic interventions.
• Work closely within a multi-disciplinary/multiagency environment to designand implement innovative service models.
• Champion a compassionate, trauma-aware, relational approach at all levelsof the system.
• Help shape the future of our Psychological Services Hub, contributing to itsgrowth and impact.

Person Specification

Experience

• Experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist taking full clinical responsibility for your own practice, including post qualification experience working with Children and families with complex needs using complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation, and delivering psychological therapy to children and young people.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Experience of identifying and addressing barriers to inclusion and of

Qualifications

• Professional Doctorate level training in Clinical Psychology, including highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological practice, lifespan developmental psychology, clinical psychometrics, and neuropsychology.

Experience

• 1. You will have post qualification experience in undertaking assessments and therapeutic interventions with children and their families. Ideally, you will also have good experience of working with children who are placed in the care of the local authority, and/or those placed with special guardians. This will include a detailed understanding of the needs of children who present with issues arising from developmental trauma and the support needs of those who care for them in foster, special guardianship, and residential placements.
• 2. Specific expertise in delivering Dyadic Developmental Informed
• Psychotherapy, PACE-based interventions and delivering PACE-based
• training, would be an advantage. Opportunities to receive further training in this area will be provided.
• 3. Detailed understanding of the intersections of developmental trauma with neurodiversity and other psychological/emotional needs will be essential.
• 4. Candidates will also have a passion for working with care experienced
• children and young people, and a drive to play a key role in developing
• therapeutic offers for the wider social care workforce, to enhance the lives of these young people.
• 5. Having extensive experience of providing consultations to professionals and working with multi-agency networks is essential.
• 6. Good working knowledge of the population within the service or similar.
• 7. 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.
• 8. Skills in clinical supervision.
• 9. Ability to communicate effectively presenting information that is accessible, engaging, and accurate.
• 10. Skills in providing consultation to other professionals.
• 11. Skills in designing and delivering accessible and engaging psychological training to different audiences, to inform and improve the practice across services.
• 12. Ability to provide appropriate support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
• 13. An interest and ability to present a wide range of data and information about the service in accessible formats.
• 14. Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group.
• 15. Skills in self-management including time management.

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.