Band 8a Highly Specialist Adult Psychotherapist | West London NHS Trust

An opportunity has arisen for the successful applicant to be appointed to a new 0.5 w.t.e. 8a post in Adult Psychotherapy in the Hammersmith and Fulham Psychotherapy Service.

The H&F Psychotherapy Service serves the adult population of Hammersmith and Fulham and provides psychotherapy expertise to primary care and mental health services operating within the borough. It has a longstanding tradition of close joint working with community psychiatry colleagues for the provision of outpatient psychotherapy treatment for patients with complex needs. It has an ethos of integrating psychotherapy treatment and psychoanalytic thinking with psychiatric care. It provides a range of direct clinical care through individual, group and systemic psychotherapy.

The Psychotherapy service is situated in the Claybrook Centre, an outpatient community psychiatry building. The post holder joins an experienced team comprising of a Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, a part time Principal Adult Psychotherapist, two part-time Principal Psychotherapists in Group and Systemic Psychotherapy and a part-time Highly Specialist Adult Psychotherapist.

The successful applicant will offer psychotherapy assessment and psychodynamic psychotherapy to patients from primary care but also patients who are in general psychiatry.

The post holder will also have an opportunity to take active role in linking and providing consultation to the community psychiatry MINT teams and primary care about the management of complex cases.

There are opportunities for further development in reflective practice, supervision, teaching and audit according to the post holder’s interests.

It is essential that the post holder is able to work at the Department on Thursday as this is the day of the department team meetings.

To contribute to the development of a high quality, responsive and accessible service for the patients referred and treated in the department

To provide specialist assessments for psychodynamic psychotherapy for referred patients, including risk assessment, making appropriate use of complex data from a variety of sources including referral information, liaison with other teams and agencies. To communicate in a timely way, the outcome of the assessment and therapy to the patient, the referrer, the multidisciplinary team and other involved agencies as appropriate.

To provide individual psychodynamic psychotherapy treatment and management for patients with severe and complex needs using sensitivity, skill and an understanding of unconscious processes

To provide expert clinical consultation to clinicians across the service (MINT) and primary care regarding the psychoanalytically informed care of patients.

To engage and contribute to the team’s meetings.

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.

Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for 2024-25 is over £500m.

The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.

The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

This advert closes on Wednesday 24 Sep 2025