Cognitive Behavioural Therapist

North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the North Staffordshire Talking Therapies Service. We are looking for a full-time, qualified Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist to join our well established service.

Band 7, £46,148 - £52,809 per annum, full time 37.5 hours per week.

As part of the Talking Therapies Programme, you will deliver CBT to clients with Anxiety Disorders and Depression, as well as supervising Trainee CBT Therapists and Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners.

You will need to have completed a PG Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and ideally have a core professional qualification in Mental Health (e.g. Clinical or Counselling Psychology, Mental Health Nursing, Occupational Therapy) or have previous experience as a qualified Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner.

North Staffordshire Talking Therapies Service is based in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and treatment is delivered in a hybrid model (remote and face-to-face) to meet the diverse needs of our client group. The service covers both the Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire Moorlands area and some travel between sites may be required.

The service has links with Staffordshire, Keele, and Birmingham Universities, and the posts offer opportunities for both teaching and research.

We are a very friendly and supportive team, committed to staff development and wellbeing, and this post offers a great opportunity for ambitious individuals looking to further their careers within an exciting new service.

Main duties of the job

You will be part of an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service and will provide high intensity interventions - initially cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). You will work with clients who have a range of complex Anxiety and Depression related problems for which CBT is demonstrated to be clinically effective.

You will work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and should be committed to equal opportunities.

1. Accept referrals via agreed protocols within the service.
2. Assess clients for suitability for psychological interventions.
3. Make decisions on suitability of new referrals, adhering to the department's referral protocols, and refer unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referral agent as necessary.
4. Formulate, implement and evaluate therapy programmes for clients. Use highly developed communication skills in working with people to understand their personal and often very sensitive difficulties.
5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment and treatment of clients in line with the service.

About us

As a Trust we remain bold and ambitious with plans for both service and system collaborative transformation over the coming years to improve the health and wellbeing of our local people through high quality care.

We pride ourselves on ensuring our team has their wellbeing put first and as such provide a range of wellness opportunities including flexible working.

We are committed to the Greener NHS national ambition to becoming the world's first 'carbon net zero' national health system by 2045. As part of this, sustainability is embedded in our strategy as one of our four key enablers. In order to deliver on this commitment, we recognise that we need a workforce that is as passionate as we are about achieving these goals, for the benefit of our service users, workforce, local communities and the planet alike. For 2024/2025, we have launched our "Proud to be Green" engagement campaign which is aligned to the targets set out in our Green Plan. As a Trust, you can be assured that we will commit to supporting you in working towards our net zero ambitions, set out in our Green Plan, through our sustainability programme.

The Trust is committed to ensuring that a diverse workforce is representative and inclusive at all levels. We would very much welcome applications from all under-represented groups including women, people with disabilities, people from global majority backgrounds, and those from the lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities.

Job responsibilities

1. Educate and involve family members and others in treatment as necessary, conveying CBT and other psychological formulations with sensitivity in easily understood language.
2. Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the number of client contacts offered, and clinical sessions carried out per week in order to minimise waiting times and ensure treatment delivery remains accessible and convenient.
3. Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or clients in treatment, where appropriate.
4. Complete all requirements relating to data collection within the service.
5. Keep coherent records of all clinical activity in line with service protocols.
6. Work closely with other members of the team ensuring appropriate step-up and step-down arrangements are in place to maintain a stepped care approach.
7. Assess and integrate issues surrounding work and employment into the overall therapy process.
8. Carry out clinical audits of service performance, including service user surveys and evaluations, and help to collate and disseminate the results for feedback.

Person Specification

Experience

• Demonstrable experience of working in mental health services.
• Experience of teaching and liaising with other professional groups.

Qualifications

• Qualification from High Intensity IAPT Course (Post Graduate Diploma) or Equivalent.
• Significant experience working as a psychological therapy practitioner.
• Relevant experience in Primary Care treating anxiety and depression.

Knowledge

• Full range of skills and competencies as laid out in the competence framework for CBT (Roth and Pilling 2007).
• Trained in provision of supervision for CBT.
• Accredited with a professional psychological therapy organisation.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.