Staff Wellbeing Lead Psychological Therapist

Job summary

We are looking for an experienced, motivated and forward-thinking Principal Psychological Therapist to lead a new staff wellbeing initiative focussing on staff affected by racially motivated abuse and violence.

The post is for a fixed term of 12 months. For applicants already working at South West London & St. George’s NHS Mental Health Trust, they may wish to apply for this post as a secondment. We are happy to consider job share arrangements for this post.

We particularly welcome applications from candidates from Global Majority backgrounds, including those with lived experience of racialised behaviour, as this experience would bring valuable insight to the role.

The band 8B psychological therapist will lead this project with support from a project coordinator and an Assistant Psychologist, and the post holder will report directly to and be supported by the Trust Head of Psychology & Psychotherapies.

Main duties of the job

The lead psychological therapist will establish a trauma-informed response pathway following incidents of racial abuse offering early intervention and flexible access including brief one-to-one trauma-informed psychological support on wards and services, working with multidisciplinary teams to strengthen their ability to respond constructively to racially motivated incidents.

The lead psychological therapist will work closely with Evolve, the trust’s Global Majority Staff Network and the trust’s Health and Wellbeing Manager at all stages of the co-design of the response pathway, the design of the support provided to staff and the evaluation framework for the project. This will be an essential part of the role.

In addition, the post holder will work closely with the Health and Wellbeing Manager and other Trust stakeholders to ensure this role complements and strengthens existing wellbeing support and violence reduction and prevention activity across the Trust. The project will build on the Trust’s graduated staff wellbeing offer, including self-help resources, Professional Nurse Advocates, chaplaincy, the Employee Assistance Programme and local talking therapies, recognising lower uptake of formal support among Global Majority staff.

Person Specification

Training & Qualifications

Essential

• Recognised qualification and registration in one of the core mental health professions e.g. psychiatric nursing, psychology, medicine, social work and occupational psychology, or other significant relevant experience and demonstrable competence to work in the mental health field in the NHS
• Recognised advanced and highly specialist post-graduate training in psychotherapy at a clinical doctorate level accredited by and /or leading to registration with either the Health & Care Professions Council, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, UKCP, British Psychoanalytic Council or British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the appropriate professional registration body

Desirable

• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
• Post-doctoral training in a formal psychological therapy

Experience

Essential

• Assessed and extensive experience of working as a qualified psychological therapist, including substantial post qualification experience within the designated specialty where the post is located (this will be post holder’s existing area of clinical work)
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity

Desirable

• Experience of contributing to prequalification training and development of clinical psychology trainees
• Experience of supervising and supporting the development of Assistant Psychologists

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management, including evidence-based treatments
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information both within and outside the NHS
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology

Desirable

• Knowledge of change management techniques that support new service developments
• Ability to manage complex projects

Closing Date: 9 August 2026