Principal Applied Psychologist / PsychotherapistNHS

Job summary

We have an exciting opportunity for a Principal Applied Psychologist / Psychotherapist to join our team. This role uniquely blends advanced specialist clinical practice with senior clinical leadership to deliver compassionate, high-quality, and psychologically informed care for older adults.

Working with a high degree of professional autonomy across community, inpatient, and residential settings, you will oversee and deliver evidence-based care for individuals experiencing severe and enduring mental health difficulties, including those living with dementia and cognitive impairment.

The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).

Please note, Visa Sponsorship is unavailable for this post.

Main duties of the job

• Specialist Clinical Practice: Deliver advanced psychological assessments, formulations, and evidence-based interventions for complex clinical presentations, adapting approaches for individuals with cognitive impairments.
• Consultation & Decision-Making: Offer expert advice to multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), bringing a strong psychological perspective to complex care planning, risk management, and clinical decisions.
• Leadership & Supervision: Supervise, train, and support the professional growth of psychological practitioners and trainees within the service.
• Service Improvement: Drive service development, clinical audits, research, and evaluation to continuously elevate care standards and promote psychologically informed practice across the locality.

Job description

Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification

We are serious about diversity and inclusion, and we are working hard to build this into our DNA. We warmly welcome applications for any of our roles from people from diverse backgrounds, and we are proactively encouraging applications from under-represented communities for our more senior roles, like this one.

About us

We are Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway and are rated 'Good' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Our teams support children, young people and adults with a wide range of mental health needs. We also provide specialist services, including all-age eating disorder services and neurodevelopmental assessments for children and young people, such as autism and ADHD.

Because we work across the whole county and across hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the people we serve.

Our vision is simple: we are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It's why we're passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. Everything we do is guided by our values: caring, inclusive, curious and confident.

Join us if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that's working well together.