Team Lead / Principal Psychotherapist

Kent & Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust

The closing date is 13 May 2025

Job summary

Are you a passionate and experienced Psychotherapist, Clinical Psychologist, or Counselling Psychologist with management experience seeking a rewarding role that combines direct therapeutic work with service improvement and team leadership? Ash Eton Therapeutic Community in Folkestone is looking for a skilled clinician who will have dedicated clinical time working with our client group in a vibrant therapeutic community, whilst also holding team lead responsibilities. The service provides specialist treatment to adults with complex emotional difficulties within a supportive and innovative therapeutic community setting. We are a well-established and highly regarded service, part of the Community of Communities and recognised for our excellence in mental health care. If you are analytically trained, experienced in group therapy, and committed to relational practice, we encourage you to apply!

The ideal candidate will be a professionally qualified and registered therapist with extensive experience in mental health psychotherapy, particularly group work with adults experiencing complex personality disorders, and proven team leadership expertise. Experience in a therapeutic community setting and/or service development using co-production is highly desirable.

Main duties of the job

As a key member of our team, you will play a vital role in:

Providing clinical leadership to a multi-disciplinary therapy team
Working with colleagues to reach and maintain high quality and performance standards for the service
Overseeing the management of referrals and flow of patients through the phases of treatment
Advising Community Mental Health Teams and Multidisciplinary Teams on referrals, providing supervision and case consultations.
Conducting assessments and running psychodynamic psychotherapy groups for patients preparing to join the Therapeutic Community (TC).
Facilitating small group psychotherapy within the TC and participating in community meetings.
Developing co-produced lecturing and training opportunities.
Contributing to a democratic TC environment, upholding our relational practice values, including co-production and inclusivity.
Working with transference processes and managing complex team and community dynamics.
Managing a caseload of clients with complex needs and potential risk factors.
Organising and prioritising your workload to maintain high-quality standards.

Deputising for the clinical lead and supporting the operational lead

About us

Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life.

We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people in Kent and Medway, as well as specialist services for adults in Sussex and Surrey. We arerated Good overall by the CQC.

Each year we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 people in the community.

We are proud to employ over 3,800 people from 66 nationalities, and to serve an increasingly diverse range of communities across rural and urban areas.

You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones.

The nature of our work attracts kindness and compassion as standard and everyone from our cleaners and porters to the chief executive and chairman are recognised as playing a vital role in providing an exemplary service.

Our strategy

Our mission is what we set out to do every dayWe deliver brilliant care through brilliant people

Our vision is where we want to be in the futureTo provide outstanding care and to work in partnership to deliver this in the right place, for every service user, every time.

Check out our recruitment videos Recruitment - YouTube

Date posted

29 April 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£62,215 to £72,293 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Home or remote working

Reference number

380-WK0265-A

Job locations

Ash Eton

Radnor Park West

Folkestone

CT19 5HL

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical assessment of patients with complex emotional needs
Delivery of a range of therapy groups within the therapeutic community
Clinical case management including risk assessment and care-planning
Line management
Promoting effective working practices in the team that lead to high levels of performance, quality and service user satisfaction
Monitoring and managing referrals and their flow through the phases of treatment

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical assessment of patients with complex emotional needs
Delivery of a range of therapy groups within the therapeutic community
Clinical case management including risk assessment and care-planning
Line management
Promoting effective working practices in the team that lead to high levels of performance, quality and service user satisfaction
Monitoring and managing referrals and their flow through the phases of treatment

Person Specification

Knowledge and qualifications

Essential

Professionally registered psychotherapist/clinical psychologist/counselling psychologist
Evidence of CPD relevant to the speciality
Knowledge of therapeutic community model, principles and values

Desirable

MBT training and experience

Skills and experience

Essential

Minimum of 4 years post registration clinical experience
Significant experience of therapeutic group work with people with complex emotional needs
Experience of line management

Desirable

Therapeutic community experience

Skills

Essential

Ability to assess, create formulations and treatment plans for complex patients
Risk assessment and management
Team leadership skills
Experience of conducting small and large therapy groups

Desirable

Experience of co-production
Experience is using quality and performance data to improve clinical services

Person Specification

Knowledge and qualifications

Essential

Professionally registered psychotherapist/clinical psychologist/counselling psychologist
Evidence of CPD relevant to the speciality
Knowledge of therapeutic community model, principles and values

Desirable

MBT training and experience

Skills and experience

Essential

Minimum of 4 years post registration clinical experience
Significant experience of therapeutic group work with people with complex emotional needs
Experience of line management

Desirable

Therapeutic community experience

Skills

Essential

Ability to assess, create formulations and treatment plans for complex patients
Risk assessment and management
Team leadership skills
Experience of conducting small and large therapy groups

Desirable

Experience of co-production
Experience is using quality and performance data to improve clinical services

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.