The Opportunity
Salary: NJC Grade 12 £48,226 - £51,356 per annum
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full time – 37 hours per week. Monday to Friday. Hybrid working will be considered. Office days are flexible except Tuesdays as this is the team meeting day.
Location: Based at Glebelands, Shoreham-by-Sea but will be required to provide countywide coverage.
Please note: You will need to be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. Pool cars and pool bikes are available and having a driving license is highly desirable.
Interviews are scheduled for: Tuesday 14th July 2026
Make a Real Difference to the Lives of Children in Care
- Are you a trauma-informed practitioner, passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people in care?
- Are you looking for an opportunity to develop in a growing, evidence-informed therapeutic service?
- Would you thrive in providing training, consultation and reflective practice to staff groups within Children’s Services?
- Do you have experience of providing a range of therapeutic interventions for children and families?
- Do you have an interest in improving outcomes for children in care?
If so, we would love to hear from you.
About the role
Attach is a psychology-led service supporting children in care that has recently launched within West Sussex County Council. We offer direct assessment and therapy, support for foster and residential carers and reflective supervision and training for social work colleagues with the aim of improving the lives of young people in care. The Attach Projects team support specialist projects aimed at improving outcomes for children in care.
The main projects we work into at the moment are:
- REACH – this is a wraparound service supporting children to step down from residential homes into foster care. REACH also support foster families where there is a risk of placement breakdown and residential care is likely. REACH is a small team of social workers and child and family workers. It is anticipated that the psychologists working into REACH would offer consultation to professional networks, therapeutic parenting support to foster carers and holding a small caseload of direct therapy cases.
- The Children’s Collaborative – this is an innovative project aimed at reducing the number of children that are placed in expensive out of area placements with independent providers. The Children’s Collaborative works with commissioners and independent providers to increase the number of residential placements available locally and offers training and therapeutic support through West Sussex County Council. The ATTACH Projects team will be working with the Children’s Collaborative to provide a therapeutic offer for the residential homes within this project. It is anticipated that this will include therapeutic parenting training/ support for residential carers, reflective practice, consultation and team formulation, as well as holding a small caseload of direct therapy cases.
As the Attach Projects team and the projects that we are working into are relatively new, there are real opportunities for innovation here, including the possibility of shaping a service to fit the needs of the children and services we are supporting. We are looking for clinicians who are passionate about improving outcomes for children in care and who have energy and enthusiasm to help grow and shape a new service.
The role will involve clinically supporting other staff and taking on some supervision of junior colleagues and delegated leadership responsibilities. There will also be opportunities to be involved in service development and training delivery.
The post holders will receive a comprehensive induction which will include opportunities to shadow and to co-work.
The post holders will receive regular clinical supervision from the Senior Clinical Psychologists in the Attach Projects team, in addition to ongoing opportunities for co-working and taking part in regular team case discussions. The team has links to the University of Surrey Clinical Psychology Doctoral programme and the opportunity to provide placements to trainees.
About you
We’re seeking confident and compassionate clinicians who have the following key skills and experience:
- Relevant professional qualifications in either:
- Professional Doctorate level training in Clinical Psychology and HCPC-registered as Practitioner Psychologists, or
- Professional Masters level training Systemic Family Psychotherapy and HCPC registered
- Professional Doctorate level training in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy and HCPC registered
- Experience of working with children, young people, and their families and knowledge of key legislation.
- Some experience of delivering interventions for Children in Care with a systemic and integrative focus is desirable.
- Good understanding of trauma-informed and attachment-based models, and an interest in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP). We have a training budget available and could support further training in DDP if needed.
- Demonstrates a good understanding of the needs of children who present with issues arising from developmental trauma and disrupted early attachments, and the support needs of those who care for them in foster, special guardianship, and residential homes.
- And/or demonstrates a good understanding of the needs of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people, and the support needs of those who care for them in foster, residential or supported lodgings homes.
- Clinical expertise in delivering psychologically informed assessment and therapy with children and young people presenting with a range of complex psychological problems and who may be mistrustful of services, alongside support to their families and other care providers.
- Excellent communication skills enabling accessible and engaging psychological training to different audiences, to inform and improve the practice across services.
- Has experience and/or interested in delivering consultation, training, and reflective supervision to staff groups
- Has some experience of clinical supervision and able to support colleagues around job planning, managing a range of competing priorities, and a commitment to developing a supportive team culture
- Experience of working with neurodiverse young people and an understanding of the intersection between developmental trauma and neurodevelopmental needs would be an advantage
- Confident managing risk and complexity in multi-agency environments
- You will need to be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. Pool cars and pool bikes are available and having a driving license is highly desirable.
For more information on the Key Skills, Qualifications and/or Experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached. Please refer to the key skills in your cover letter as these will be used for shortlisting criteria.
About us and What we offer
The Attach Service delivers psychological support into our Children We Care For, Care Leavers, Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking and Special Guardianship teams and includes support to our Residential and Fostering services and into our two specialist projects.
The Attach team delivers a range of evidence-informed support to children in care and the professionals and carers around them, helping them understand and respond to the impact of developmental trauma, disrupted attachment, and hidden emotional needs. Within West Sussex Fostering, there is a drive and vision to deliver therapeutic parenting within foster care and kinship, underpinned by DDP principles and an attitude of PACE. Please see the West Sussex Fostering Vision Statement document for further details of the PACE culture ambition in the Information Pack.
The Attach Projects team - This Psychological Practitioner role will specifically be linked to the newly created ‘Projects team’ within the Attach Service. See linked attachments for further information about the two main projects we support; REACH and the Children’s Home Collaborative. An experienced Principal Clinical Psychologist dedicated to offering clinical oversight of REACH and the Children’s Collaborative Project, has already been appointed. We will also be recruiting two Senior Clinical Psychologists to this part of the service.
The post holders will receive a comprehensive induction which will include opportunities to shadow and to co-work. The post holders will receive regular clinical supervision from senior colleagues in the Attach Projects team, in addition to ongoing opportunities for co-working, attending a team journal club to keep current with evidence-based thinking, and taking part in regular team case discussions. Practitioners will receive professional supervision appropriate to their core training, and this will be purchased externally where this expertise does not exist within the service. The team has links to the University of Surrey Clinical Psychology Doctorate programme and the opportunity to provide placements to Clinical Psychology trainees. We are also interested in making links with other professional training courses.
What we offer:
- A welcoming and forward-thinking psychological service embedded within Children’s Services influencing how West Sussex supports children in care through compassionate, psychologically informed approaches.
- Hybrid working arrangements to support your work-life balance
- Opportunities to shape an integrated psychological model
- Management and clinical supervision by senior clinicians within the Attach service
- Peer support and ongoing CPD
- An inclusive and values-driven team culture that supports innovation and reflective practice
For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further Information
The reference number for these roles is CAFHE06402.
We welcome informal enquiries ahead of application to explore how this opportunity might fit your professional goals and values.
For an informal conversation or for further information regarding these roles, please contact Dr Katie Wood (Principal Clinical Psychologist, Attach Projects) at [email protected]
For any issues or queries regarding your application please contact [email protected]
Information Pack:
- Job description – Psychological practitioner
- About Us
- West Sussex Fostering Vision statement
- REACH project information sheet
- Children’s Home Collaborative information sheet (CHC)
To apply: To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV (maximum 4 pages) and Cover Letter (maximum 2 pages). In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to HCPC registration, an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.
Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact [email protected].
We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.
Job Reference: CAFHE06402
