Job summary
A senior clinical and leadership role within the Trauma and Dissociation Service, responsible for shaping and delivering specialist psychological care for adults with complex PTSD, trauma and dissociative disorders. The post-holder leads service strategy, clinical governance and a multidisciplinary team while providing expert assessment and therapy. It requires advanced clinical expertise, strong leadership, and the ability to drive service development, research and high-quality, inclusive care.
Main duties of the job
Lead and manage a specialist therapy service, delivering expert assessments, formulations and interventions for complex trauma cases. Oversee team performance, supervision, recruitment and training. Develop and implement service strategy, policy and governance standards. Coordinate care with internal and external partners, ensuring accessible, culturally competent services. Drive research, audit and service improvement while maintaining high professional, ethical and record-keeping standards.
About us
The Trauma and Dissociation Service (TDS) is a national specialist outpatient service providing expert assessment, consultation and treatment for adults experiencing psychological difficulties related to trauma and dissociative disorders. As the only NHS service dedicated to treating complex PTSD and severe dissociative disorders, TDS offers a unique opportunity to work at the forefront of specialist trauma care. Our multidisciplinary team delivers highly tailored, evidence-based interventions within a supportive, collaborative and innovative clinical environment.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Key Responsibilities
Clinical Leadership and Patient Care
Lead the planning, organisation and delivery of a highly specialist psychological therapy service for individuals with complex trauma, PTSD and dissociative disorders.
Provide expert assessments, formulations and evidence-based interventions for highly complex cases, including risk assessment and management.
Ensure services are accessible, culturally appropriate and responsive to the needs of diverse communities, including work with families and carers where required.
Service Delivery and Multidisciplinary Working
Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary team functioning, including chairing meetings and ensuring effective, psychologically informed practice
Work collaboratively with internal teams, external agencies, referrers and GPs to deliver integrated care pathways.
Provide expert advice and consultation on complex psychological care to colleagues and partner organisations.
Strategic Development and Governance
Lead the development and implementation of service strategy, policies and clinical governance frameworks.
Drive service improvement initiatives, ensuring high-quality, efficient and evidence-based care aligned with national and Trust standards
Engage service users in service design and contribute to wider organisational strategy and innovation.
Leadership, Management and Supervision
Provide leadership and operational management to a multidisciplinary team, including recruitment, appraisal and workforce development
Ensure robust clinical and professional supervision structures are in place and deliver supervision and mentoring to staff and trainees.
Deputise for senior leaders where appropriate and manage professional standards within the service.
Teaching, Training and Workforce Development
Lead and deliver specialist teaching, training and clinical placements for trainees and qualified professionals.
Promote continuous learning by embedding current research and best practice into clinical work.
Research, Audit and Service Evaluation
Lead and contribute to research, audit and service evaluation aligned with the service and wider organisational research agenda.
Develop outcome measures and support the use of data to inform service improvement and innovation.
Governance, Resources and Professional Standards
Ensure high standards of record-keeping, information governance and clinical documentation.
Oversee the effective use of resources, including budget awareness, equipment and therapy materials.
Maintain and promote professional standards, ensuring ongoing development and compliance across the team.
General Responsibilities
Contribute to a psychologically safe and supportive working environment, including staff wellbeing initiatives.
Manage complex, emotionally demanding situations and support others in doing so.
Work flexibly across the Trust, including travel for meetings and outreach activity where required.
For further information please see the full job description.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- oEntry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy 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
Experience
Essential
- oEvidence of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision in a trauma focused service
- oExperience of undertaking leadership roles
- oExperience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in a trauma focused service
- oExperience of supervising assistants and trainees having completed the relevant training
- oPost-qualification experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities
Skills
Essential
- oTo deliver specialist therapy across cultural and other differences
- oTo select and administer specialist assessments, interpreting and integrating complex data that require analysis, interpretation and comparison, drawn from several sources, on which expert opinion may differ
- oTo 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
- oTo plan and schedule assessment and interventions for individual clients and groups and carers (and for meetings such as CPA and case reviews where appropriate).
- oWell-developed IT skills
Abilities
Essential
- oAbility to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles
- oAbility to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate
- oAbility to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings
- oAbility to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions, and to deal with unexpected interruptions or changes during these
- oAbility to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive behaviour
Knowledge
Essential
- oKnowledge of the theory and practice of management and leadership
- oAdvanced theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the relevant treatment
- oAdvanced knowledge of the theory of psychological practice/processes and their therapeutic application.
- oAwareness of assessment and clinical psychometrics
- oKnowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities.
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.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details
Employer name
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Maudsley Hospital
Maudsley Hospital
London
SE5 8AZ
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.slam.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)
This listing was aggregated from publicly-available sources. The employer holds an A-rated sponsor licence at the time of this listing, but sponsorship of this specific role is not guaranteed — the employer's offer and UK Visas and Immigration are the final authority. Details may have changed since our last update — verify with the employer via the Apply link.