Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Lead Consultant Practitioner Psychologist / Professional Lead for Psychological Professions
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Lead Consultant Practitioner Psychologist / Professional Lead for Psychological Professions
NHS AfC Band 8d
£94,356 to £108,814 per annum (pro rata)
Permanent | Part time, 30 hours per week
Based at The Firs, Hellingly
Closing date: 1 October 2026
Could you provide strategic leadership for psychological professions across forensic services in Sussex?
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced senior psychological professional to become our Professional Lead for Psychological Professions within Forensic Health Services.
This is a significant leadership opportunity within our Specialist Division, offering the chance to shape services, influence culture and strengthen the contribution of psychological professions across a diverse range of forensic pathways.
Working alongside senior operational and clinical leaders, you will provide strategic leadership across low and medium secure services, Forensic Outreach Services, the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway and Mental Health Treatment Requirement services, helping to ensure psychologically informed practice is embedded throughout the patient journey.
The opportunity
This role offers the opportunity to influence care at both service and system level. As a core member of the Forensic Health Services leadership team, you will bring a distinctive psychological perspective to service development, transformation, governance, workforce planning and partnership working.
You'll work closely with the Director of Psychological Professions and senior colleagues across nursing, medicine and allied health professions to ensure evidence-based, formulation-driven and trauma-informed approaches remain central to the delivery of forensic care.
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This is a rare opportunity to shape the future direction of psychological professions within a large and evolving forensic service.
What you'll be doing
- Providing strategic and professional leadership for psychological professions across Forensic Health Services
- Supporting service development, transformation and business planning across forensic pathways
- Leading systems for supervision, professional governance, appraisal, CPD and workforce development
- Providing expert consultation on complex psychological care, formulation, risk and service design
- Supporting recruitment, retention and development of a highly skilled psychological professions workforce
- Championing psychologically informed, trauma-informed and culturally responsive practice
- Strengthening reflective practice, staff wellbeing and psychologically safe working environments
- Leading and contributing to research, audit, teaching, service evaluation and quality improvement activity
- Maintaining a specialist clinical caseload to support professional credibility and leadership
About you
We're looking for an experienced and compassionate senior psychological professional with a strong track record of leadership, service development and professional influence.
You will bring senior clinical credibility alongside the ability to lead strategically across complex services and systems.
Applications are welcomed from practitioner psychologists, psychotherapists and psychological therapists who meet the professional requirements of the role.
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Most importantly, you'll be passionate about developing psychologically informed services, supporting multidisciplinary teams and improving outcomes for people with complex mental health needs, offending histories, trauma and risk-related presentations.
Why join Sussex Partnership?
Sussex Partnership provides mental health, learning disability and neurodevelopmental services across Sussex and works closely with partners across health, social care, probation and criminal justice services.
Within Forensic Health Services, you'll join a team that values the contribution of psychological professions and is committed to strengthening compassionate, reflective and evidence-based practice.
We offer:
- Flexible working opportunities
- Access to leadership development and professional networks
- Strong support for research, service evaluation and innovation
- Commitment to staff wellbeing and psychologically safe workplaces
- Opportunities to shape strategic direction across specialist forensic services
- A culture that values trauma-informed, inclusive and recovery-focused care
Make your mark on forensic psychological services
If you're looking for a senior leadership role where you can influence workforce development, clinical practice and service strategy while maintaining a strong professional voice, we'd love to hear from you.
Click Apply to view the full job description and person specification and complete your application through our recruitment system.
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