Clinical Lead for Suffolk CONNECT and Therapeutic Fostering Service
We are seeking an experienced, innovative and compassionate Principal Clinical Psychologist to provide clinical leadership across two highly regarded and impactful services:
- CONNECT - Suffolk's specialist mental health service for children in care and care-experienced young people.
- Suffolk Therapeutic Fostering Service - Supporting foster carers, children and young people, and their social workers through trauma-informed approaches, therapeutic parenting, consultation and specialist psychological support.
We are looking for a psychologist whose values align with our commitment to care-experienced children and young people and who is passionate about improving outcomes for some of the most vulnerable children in our communities. The role requires compassion, resilience, curiosity, creativity and the ability to think systemically in the face of complexity.
This role spans both Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and Suffolk County Council, offering a rare opportunity to work across organisational boundaries and shape practice, culture and service development across health and social care.
Join us and help create the conditions in which care-experienced children, young people and foster families can thrive — while shaping the future of trauma-informed practice across Suffolk.
The successful applicant will provide psychological and clinical leadership across both services, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based and trauma-informed care. You will support the continued development of psychologically informed and relationship-based practice, helping services respond effectively to the complex needs of children and young people who have experienced developmental trauma.
Alongside direct clinical leadership, a significant and exciting aspect of the role involves workforce development, training and consultation. You will lead the development, delivery and evaluation of high-quality training programmes.
We are particularly interested in applicants who are enthusiastic about developing innovative training offers and psychologically informed learning opportunities that strengthen trauma-informed practice across systems. This includes identifying emerging needs, co-producing new training programmes, and building the confidence and capability of professionals working with care-experienced children and families.
This role therefore provides a unique opportunity not only to support individual children and their networks, but also to create lasting impact through influencing the knowledge, skills and culture of the wider workforce.
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.
Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.
Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you’ll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We’re an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.
Please see attached the job description which outlines key responsibilities and requirements of the role. You will play a key role in:
Providing clinical and professional leadership across CONNECT and Suffolk Therapeutic Fostering.
Supporting the development of psychologically informed systems and services.
Leading on complex assessment, formulation and intervention for children, young people and carers.
Promoting trauma-informed, attachment-aware and relationship-based practice.
Developing workforce capability through consultation, supervision, teaching and reflective practice.
Supporting service development, quality improvement and innovation.
Building strong partnerships across health, social care, education and the wider children's workforce.
Contributing to strategic developments relating to care-experienced children and young people across Suffolk.
