Introduction
As head/director of psychological therapies, you will be the lead for all the psychological therapies across all care groups within the organisation.
You will work closely with the chief executive/chief operational officer, medical and nursing leads, and the chief finance officer to ensure the delivery of safe and effective psychological therapies in the organisation.
As a director, you will be responsible with other directors for the overall management and practice of the organisation.
Salary, hours and benefits
| Average salary |
|
| Typical hours | Standard hours are usually around 37.5 hours per week. |
| You could work | – |
| Benefits |
|
| Career Framework level | 9 |
What you’ll do
Day-to-day tasks
Your day-to-day duties may include:
- representing psychological therapies at board/executive level and within wider systems,
- establishing and maintaining effective relationships with other directors/lead, other agencies, people who use services, and their families,
- ensuring that psychological therapies are an integral part of all areas of the organisation,
- undertaking service development to develop psychological therapies, including working with the organisation and commissioners on funding of services,
- ensuring that psychological therapies meet all the requirements as laid out in the NHS plan, commissioning agreements, and organisation standards,
- promoting the undertaking of clinical audits and research, and maintaining current knowledge of research findings and development,
- taking on other responsibilities as a director of the organisation.
Working environment
The majority of head/director of psychological therapies work in the NHS, with some opportunities in private healthcare providers.
Characteristics and skills required
You’ll need to:
- be motivated to improve performance while maintaining focus on challenging goals and high-performance culture,
- be aware of leadership theory and practice and have extensive leadership experience,
- raise awareness of the ‘big picture’ and generate energy for change,
- have experience of a full range of professional and general management activities, including workforce planning, budget management, recruitment and retention, and performance management,
- facilitate organisational change at scale and support innovation,
- work with diverse viewpoints and bring people together in partnership working,
- understand government requirements and apply these to your setting,
- be an excellent communicator,
- share your knowledge and experience through work with local systems,
- keep calm under pressure and enable others to do the same.
Restrictions and requirements
You’ll need to pass enhanced background checks and be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council.
Career path and progression
There are a very limited number of head/director of psychological therapies. Other career opportunities include operational director posts.
| Career Framework level | Role | Degree? |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Assistant Psychologist An assistant psychologist seeks to improve lives and promote health and independence for people with learning disabilities by providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions, and assisting in clinically related administration, the conduct of audits, the collection of outcome statistics, and/or other project work as appropriate under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist working within the service. | Yes |
| 5 | Trainee Clinical Psychologist Trainee clinical psychologists work with people of all ages and in a variety of settings in physical and mental healthcare. The role contributes to the core work of clinical psychologists, and provides a training ground with regular supervision in which to practice and develop skills as a clinician and researcher. | Yes |
| 6 | Specialist Clinical Psychologist Working as a band 7 clinical psychologist within a learning disability service is a varied role that involves working both with adults diagnosed with learning disabilities (defined as a reduced intellectual ability that impacts the person’s ability to complete everyday activities) and the systems around them. This could include families, carers, and staff teams, in addition to other health professionals. | Yes |
| 7 | Highly Specialist Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologist Qualified psychologists apply psychological knowledge and skills to help individuals and those who support them to have a good quality of life. Psychologists working in the field of learning disability use a wide range of clinical skills, including formal assessment, formulation, therapeutic interventions, teaching, and consultation. | Yes |
| 8 | Consultant Clinical/Counselling/Forensic Psychologist As consultant psychologist, you will be a leader, for example lead for learning disability psychology across a whole NHS trust, although in some cases a consultant psychologist may cover one geographical or specialist area. | Yes |
| 8 and 9 | Head / Director of Psychological Therapies As head/director of psychological therapies, you will be the lead for all the psychological therapies across all care groups within the organisation. You will work closely with the chief executive/chief operational officer, medical and nursing leads, and the chief finance officer to ensure the delivery of safe and effective psychological therapies in the organisation. | Yes |
How to become a Head / Director of Psychological Therapies
You can get into this job through:
- having a degree in psychology (usually at 2.1 and above), which gives you Graduate Basis for Registration with the BPS,
- following relevant work experience, completion of a doctorate,
- having significant experience of working as a qualified psychologist,
- demonstrating extensive leadership experience and competence.
Work
The head/director of psychological therapies will work across the organisation to lead the work of all psychological therapies professions. They are responsible for designing, developing, directing, and delivering safe, flexible, cost-effective psychological therapies services for all care groups, in line with the trust strategic and business plans, national policy, and directives, and which enhances the quality and effectiveness of multidisciplinary working. They will represent the psychological therapies at board/executive team level, and within wider systems locally, regionally, and nationally.
The head/director of psychological therapies will provide professional leadership for psychologists and other psychological therapists, and liaise with trust professional leads for other professions, providing specialist therapies to ensure systematic governance of clinical practice, including managerial and clinical supervision. They will ensure that there are systems are in place for effective recruitment, appraisal, and continue professional development.
The head/director of psychological therapies will develop and manage systems for monitoring, evaluation, and development of psychological therapies services, and for disseminating good practice locally and nationally.
As a director you will be responsible with other directors for the overall management and practice of the organisation.
Volunteering and experience
The candidate will need to have extensive experience in leadership roles, service development, and people management.
From within health and social care
If you are already working in the health and social care sector and you are looking for a new challenge, then you can change career to become a psychologist within learning disability and autism support and care. To qualify, you will need a degree in psychology (usually at 2.1 and above), which gives you Graduate Basis for Registration with the BPS.
From outside health and social care
If you want to work in health and social care and you are looking for a new challenge, then you can change career to become psychologist within learning disability and autism support and care. To qualify, you will need a degree in psychology (usually at 2.1 and above), which gives you Graduate Basis for Registration with the BPS.
Current opportunities
Jobs in the UK
The NHS jobs service can help you with your search for jobs and send alerts when new jobs become available. Currently available jobs can be found at NHS jobs.
Other roles can be found through job boards including the British Psychological Society and adverts in the Health Service Journal.