Devon Partnership NHS Trust logo

Senior Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist


Location
Exeter, England
Salary
£49,387 to £64,750 a year
Profession
Psychologist
Grade
Band 8
Deadline
05 Jul 2026
Contract Type
Permanent
Posted Date
18 Jun 2026
Medical Protection — indemnity for locally employed doctors from £79

Job summary

Preceptee opportunity

We are delighted to be recruiting a 30 hours per week Senior Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist to join our developing Parent and Infant Mental Health offer within Children & Family Health Devon (CFHD).

This role is focused on working with infants aged 0 to 2 years and their caregivers, supporting early relationships, emotional regulation, and development. We welcome applications from those seeking part time hours and are open to flexible working arrangements.

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the growth of a specialist Parent and Infant Mental Health service at a key stage of development, within a compassionate, collaborative, and forward thinking organisation. The post can be based in any of our localities Exeter, Barnstaple or Totnes.

The Parent and Infant Mental Health Team sits within the Mood, Emotions and Relationships (MERs) Pathway, while remaining a distinct specialist service focused on early relational health.

You will join a growing network of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists (CAPTs) across CFHD, with clinical leadership from a Principal CAPT and a strong culture of reflective practice, shared learning, supervision, and CPD

  • A preceptorship opportunity for early career CAPTs to develop into a Band 8a role
  • A friendly, well established CAPT network, with strong links to national professional bodies and local training placements
  • The opportunity to shape and influence a developing Parent and Infant Mental Health model of care

Main duties of the job

  • Provide specialist psychotherapy to infants (0-2 years) and their caregivers, including complex assessments and interventions that promote secure early relationships
  • Offer formulation, consultation, and reflective spaces to colleagues across the multidisciplinary team, supporting psychologically informed care planning
  • Hold a caseload tailored to the unique needs of infants and families, working flexibly across services and systems
  • Contribute to service development, audit, and quality improvement initiatives within early years mental health
  • Work collaboratively with partner agencies and confidently assess and respond to clinical and safeguarding risks
  • Champion inclusive practice, coproduction, and the voice of families, ensuring care is accessible, meaningful, and responsive
  • Engage in regular supervision, CPD, and reflective practice, contributing to your own development and that of the wider CAPT profession within CFHD
  • Provide clinical supervision to trainee psychotherapists, Band 7 colleagues, and, where appropriate, colleagues from other disciplines
  • Use your clinical leadership, audit, and research skills to take a lead in areas of service development and quality improvement

About us

Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD) comprises an Alliance of NHS organisations working together to improve health outcomes for children and young people in Devon.

CFHD provides integrated care and treatment for children and young people across physical and mental health which are provided by Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust and Devon Partnership Trust. We are working closely with other organisations and providers to ensure we deliver locality and county-wide based integrated access to all of our services, based on the i-Thrive Framework.

CFHD works closely with our local universities of Plymouth, Exeter & the Peninsula Medical School where we support students in clinical training placements and in addition support our own staff to undertake post graduate training.

Our integrated care and treatment has been developed and refined in partnership with children, young people and their families/carers.

Our children and young people say

We would like the people who work for Children and Family Health Devon to be understanding, patient and respectful. They should be trustworthy and make us feel safe and comfortable. It is important that they use their skills and experience to listen carefully in a non-patronising and non-judgemental way. When staff are positive and friendly, they help to create an environment that is informal and without pressure.

Details

  • Date posted: 18 June 2026
  • Pay scheme: Agenda for change
  • Band: Band 8a
  • Salary: £49,387 to £64,750 a year pro rata (30 hours per week) Band 7 - Band 8a
  • Contract: Permanent
  • Working pattern: Part-time, Flexible working
  • Reference number: C9369-26-0229-3
  • Job locations: Integrated Childrens Services, Fishleigh Road, Roundswell Business Park, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 3UD, United Kingdom, Lescaze Offices, Shinner's Bridge, Dartington, Totnes, TQ9 6JE, United Kingdom, Evergreen, Victoria Park Road, Exeter, EX2 4NU, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

This is a fantastic opportunity for a Senior or Newly qualified CAPT to play a meaningful role in shaping an evolving Parent and Infant Mental Health service, supporting some of our youngest children and their families at a crucial stage of life.

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Person specification

Other

Essential

  • An Enhanced DBS Check will be required for this role.
  • Ability to travel across Devon.

Experience

Essential

  • Experience of working collaboratively with service users and their families/carers, including using goal-based care and routine outcome measures in practice.
  • Experience of working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team and across agencies
  • Experience of working with a wide variety of child mental health problems, across the whole age range, reflecting all levels of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and verbal abuse
  • Experience of undertaking specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions for children and young people with highly complex mental health problems; including risk assessments
  • Experience in providing effective clinical supervision, teaching, training and assessing in clinical practice.

Qualifications

Essential

  • Doctorate Level ACP accredited training in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
  • Full member of Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP).
  • Post qualification specialist therapy/assessment training relevant to children and young people
  • Post qualification training or proven equivalent experience in supervision.

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Applying for this NHS job

This advert is for Senior Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist with Devon Partnership NHS Trust in Exeter, South West, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Psychologist role. The advertised salary is £49,387 to £64,750 a year. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 05 Jul 2026.

Before you apply, compare the job description with the person specification and mirror the employer's essential criteria in your supporting information. Use the vacancy title, employer, location, salary, contract type, closing date and posted date (18 Jun 2026) to decide whether this role fits your current NHS job search. If the employer can close applications early, prepare the application before the stated deadline rather than waiting for the final day.

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