Senior High Intensity Therapist

A 0.6 WTE, fixed term for 1 year, Senior Cognitive Behavioural Therapist / Senior High Intensity Therapist/Counselling Psychologist / Clinical Psychologist post has arisen in Hammersmith and Fulham NHS Talking Therapies.

Hammersmith and Fulham Talking Therapies service are seeking to recruit a part-time Senior High Intensity Therapist to join our team on a fixed term basis to cover a maternity leave post. This post is suitable for a qualified and experienced Clinical/Counselling Psychologist, Clinical Health Psychologist, High Intensity Therapist or CBT Therapist.

Hammersmith and Fulham Talking Therapies is a well-established and high performing Talking Therapies service provided by West London NHS Trust in partnership with West London Centre for Counselling. You will work in a very friendly, supportive and well-resourced service with close links to Clinical Psychology Doctorate and Talking Therapies training programmes. The service places a particular emphasis on supporting all clinicians and there is a dedicated programme to promote and improve the wellbeing of the team members.

Main duties of the job

The post will involve a mix of direct clinical work, clinical supervision and taking a key role in the leadership and operational management of the service. The post holder will also provide direct line management to team members, including High Intensity therapists and trainees.

Our primary therapy is CBT, but we also offer Talking Therapies centralised training in secondary modalities (such as DIT, EMDR, IPT or BCT), specialist MBCT, PTSD, LTC and Supervisor training, plus our own in-house masterclasses, such as on imagery rescripting, BDD and cross-cultural therapy.

We have received positive feedback from staff for our approach in supporting staff who are working parents or carers. Our service has won awards for its focus on wellbeing and we have a sociable and friendly team. As a result, we develop long-lasting and committed relationships with our staff.

About us

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.

Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for 2024-25 is over £500m.

The Trust is rated as 'Good' overall by the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as 'Outstanding'.

The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.

Job responsibilities

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached.

Person Specification

TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical or counseling psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, or post graduate training in another core mental health profession (nursing, Occupational therapy) plus 1 post graduate diploma or higher degree in CBT.
• Accredited as a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist by the British Association of Cognitive & Behavioural Psychotherapies (BABCP) or nearing completion of accreditation process.
• Professional registration with the appropriate Health Professions Council (HPC), if applicable to core professional training.
• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Specialist training/experience of CBT demonstrated through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist psychological therapist or practitioner psychologist over a minimum of 18 months, or an alternative agreed by the Head of Psychology and psychological therapies.
• Experience of working within an NHS Talking Therapies service and delivering to agreed service targets (e.g. clinical contact hours, percentage recovery).
• Experience of supervising cognitive-behavioural therapy interventions.
• Experience of the application of CBT in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of working with two distinct psychological therapies including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
• Experience of supervising both low intensity and high intensity workers within a Talking Therapies service.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Skills in the use of complex methods of cognitive-behavioural assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS or relevant professional body.
• Formal training in supervision of other clinical staff.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities or long-term physical health conditions etc).
• High-level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.

Other

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Personal experience of mental health problems.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.

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.

Hammersmith and Fulham Talking Therapies

£61,927 to £68,676 a year per annum pro rata inclusive HCAS (Inner)

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

222-LS-PMS-454

Job locations

Hammersmith and Fulham Talking Therapies