Head of Psychology and Psychological TherapiesNHS

Job summary

Are you an experienced Clinical Psychologist looking for an opportunity to shape the future of adult mental health services while continuing to make a meaningful difference in clinical practice?

This is a highly influential leadership role within Community Mental Health Services (CMHS), where you will play a pivotal part in driving service excellence, innovation, and strategic development across adult psychology services. As a key member of the Senior Leadership Group, you will provide professional and clinical leadership to psychologists and multidisciplinary teams, helping to deliver compassionate, effective, and evidence-based care for people accessing mental health services.

You will balance strategic leadership with hands-on clinical practice, maintaining a specialist clinical caseload while leading service transformation, workforce development, and quality improvement initiatives. This is an outstanding opportunity to influence service delivery at both local and county-wide levels, work collaboratively with senior leaders and partner organisations, and leave a lasting impact on the future of mental health care.

Main duties of the job

In this role, you will:

• Provide inspirational clinical and professional leadership for adult psychology services across Community Mental Health Services.
• Lead the development and delivery of high-quality, responsive, and evidence-based psychological services.
• Influence strategic planning and service transformation across the Adult Mental Health Directorate.
• Maintain an expert clinical caseload, delivering consultant-level assessment, formulation, therapy, consultation, and supervision.
• Support and develop psychological skills across the wider workforce through training, coaching, consultation, and supervision.
• Lead service improvement, quality assurance, audit, research, and innovation programmes.
• Work collaboratively with senior leaders, service users, carers, clinicians, and external partners to improve outcomes and patient experience.
• Champion safe, effective care by promoting strong governance, risk management, and continuous learning.
• Contribute to workforce planning, recruitment, staff development, and succession planning to build resilient and high-performing teams.
• Represent the service and Trust at senior-level meetings, partnerships, and multi-agency forums.

Job description

This is a unique opportunity to combine strategic leadership, service development, and specialist clinical practice within a forward-thinking adult mental health service.

You will help shape the vision and direction of adult mental health services, ensuring they remain responsive to the needs of service users, aligned with national priorities, and focused on delivering outstanding care. You will work closely with senior operational and clinical colleagues to develop and implement service strategies, improve pathways of care, and create innovative solutions that enhance patient outcomes.

You will play a central role in developing the psychology workforce, creating an environment where staff can thrive through excellent supervision, professional development, mentorship, and support. Your leadership will help strengthen team resilience, promote multidisciplinary collaboration, and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Alongside your leadership responsibilities, you will retain a significant clinical presence, managing a specialist caseload and providing expert consultation on complex and high-profile cases. You will use advanced clinical reasoning and evidence-based approaches to support assessments, treatment planning, risk management, and therapeutic interventions across a range of adult mental health settings.

Quality improvement and service innovation will be a major focus of your work. You will lead audits, research activity, service evaluations, and improvement projects, using evidence and patient feedback to drive meaningful change. You will also contribute to the development of policies, clinical pathways, protocols, and service standards that support safe, consistent, and effective care.

Working collaboratively across the Trust and with external agencies, you will build strong partnerships that support integrated care and improve experiences for patients, carers, and communities. Your ability to influence, inspire, and lead at a senior level will be key to delivering sustainable improvements and ensuring services continue to evolve and meet future challenges.

About us

As an organisation, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust offers employees a wide range of benefits including flexible working, NHS pension scheme, generous annual leave allowance and a commitment to career development.You will be eligible for our Blue Light Card and a wide range of NHS exclusive shopping & leisure discounts.We are proud of our skilled, diverse workforce and as an inclusive employer we welcome applications from all backgrounds.Working in Somerset enables you to enjoy the idyllic countryside, areas of outstanding beauty and stunning coastlines whilst still only being a stone's throw away from bustling city centres like Bristol, Bath and Exeter and only two hours away from London.There are excellent educational facilities in the area and, when compared to other regions, house prices are reasonable.Somerset offers the countryside and the cosmopolitan -- there is truly something for everyone!