We recruit enthusiastic practitioners interested in undertaking honorary psychodynamic psychotherapist posts within the Psychodynamic Psychotherapy teams. These form part of the secondary care Psychology and Psychotherapy teams in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, which include psychology, trauma therapy, Cognitive Analytic Therapy and other modalities.
Our services can offer honorary psychodynamic psychotherapist placements to:
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Trainee Psychodynamic Psychotherapists on a registered psychodynamic psychotherapy training course
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Counselling psychologists in training (some placements only, see details below)
- Qualified registered psychodynamic or psychoanalytic psychotherapists
You will need to have 50-100 practice hours as a psychodynamic therapist working with adults. We are unable at present to offer placements to integrative psychotherapy practitioners. We are also unable to offer information about CBT placements or placements in other modalities.
Our patients are offered 12 months of weekly psychodynamic psychotherapy. You will be given weekly supervision and you will be able to observe assessments.
If you are interested and would like to gain experience of working in the NHS within a cross-modality team, please forward your CV with a covering letter to the borough service you wish to apply to. Contact details are listed below and we will be happy to discuss placements prior to application. Please do not contact services who do not have current vacancies.
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Croydon: We have vacancies at the moment for trainee or qualified candidates from a fully psychodynamic training (September 2025). Please contact Caroline Sutcliffe: Caroline.Sutcliffe@slam.nhs.uk
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Lambeth: No current vacancies for trainees or qualified.
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Lewisham: Please contact Michelle Washington: michelle.washington@slam.nhs.uk
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Southwark: No current vacancies for trainees. Qualified psychotherapists interested in gaining NHS experience can contact us in 2026.
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Parent-infant Psychotherapy: No current vacancies for trainees. We have a limited number of spaces for qualified psychotherapists interested in gaining experience in parent-infant psychotherapy. Please contact Renee Thurston: Renee.Thurston@slam.nhs.uk.
Honorary Placements at the National Self-Harm Service
There are vacancies for honorary psychotherapists in the specialist national Self-Harm Outpatient Service (SHOPS) at the Maudsley Hospital.
The service sees people who have long term interpersonal difficulties and who are enduring emotional problems linked to adverse experiences in early life. We provide consultation, assessment and two years of intensive long-term psychotherapy for adults experiencing problems related to self-harm and other forms of self-destructiveness.
We are looking to recruit honorary psychotherapists to join the team based at the Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill. The placement offers an excellent opportunity for continuing professional development; weekly supervision from senior psychotherapists, clinical discussion groups and reduced fee enrolment for the Institute of Psychoanalysis lectures at the Maudsley.
These honorary posts would be particularly suitable for qualified and accredited psychotherapists who are looking to advance their psychotherapy practice in this area of work and for experienced mental health professionals including nurses, occupational therapists, psychiatrists and psychologists who are interested in psychotherapy.
For further information please email Dr Emma Hotopf via Emma.Hotopf@slam.nhs.uk or Susan White via Susan.White@slam.nhs.uk
