Senior Practitioner Psychologist or CBT therapist

Job overview

This full-time post offers a great opportunity for a newly qualified therapist on a preceptorship pathway.

You’ll complete trauma-informed assessments and formulations, helping service users and teams understand how past trauma shapes present challenges and guiding care planning. You’ll hold a small caseload, delivering trauma-focused therapies including TF-CBT, Compassion Focused Therapy, EMDR, and co-facilitating a schema therapy group.

Alongside direct clinical work, you’ll provide leadership, training, supervision, and consultation to colleagues and external services. If you’re interested in developing psychoeducational resources for staff, service users, and carers, you’ll be a perfect fit.

Based in Peterborough, you’ll join a close-knit team and collaborate with colleagues across Peterborough and Cambridge. The service is clinically led by an 8C psychologist, supporting a dynamic and compassionate team culture.

https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/the-psychological-skills-service-/

Main duties of the job

You will have a small caseload of service users and will be delivering therapies focused on trauma processing (TF-CBT and EMDR) and will have opportunities to co facilitate a schema therapy group.

You will also be providing leadership (leading on areas of the service such as our trauma stabilisation group), training, supervision, and consultancy to staff within the team and to other services who refer into this pathway. We are keen to continue to develop more psychoeducational materials that could be available for staff service users and carers so someone interested and experience in creating content would be a great fit for this post.

You will undertake risk assessments related to psychological interventions and manage risks in accordance with best practice guidelines and organizational policies.

Working for our organisation

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high-quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high-calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Conduct comprehensive psychological assessments and develop individualized trauma informed treatment plans
• Deliver evidence-based therapies for people who have complex PTSD and other difficulties relating to complex trauma (e.g. EMDR/ TF-CBT) using practice-based evidence with service users who have difficulties where there is not an established evidence base.
• To provide individual and group supervision to more junior staff in the team and to staff in other services who also work with this population
• To promote and support the implementation of Trauma Informed Care in all aspects and areas of their work
• To supervise assistant psychologists and CAPs delivering group and structured short term interventions addressing gaps in services
• Deliver therapeutic interventions in group and individual format in therapies including TF-CBT, EMDR, CFT, CAT, Schema and DBT.
• Take autonomous responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, adjusting treatment plans as necessary.
• Be available to junior members of the team for ad hoc advice regarding risk, boundaries and responses to service users
• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to provide holistic care and support to service users.
• Contribute to service development, research, and evaluation to enhance the quality of care provided, leading on specific working groups developing interventions or materials
• To attend interface meetings with community teams, the IAPT and personality disorder services to help think through the best services to provide treatment and support to individuals
• To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals.

• Undertake risk assessments related to psychological interventions and manage risks in accordance with best practice guidelines and organizational policies.
• Ensure appropriate action is taken to mitigate risks and safeguard service users.

Person specification

Education / Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology AND Registered as Practitioner Psychologist with HCPC. OR PG Dip in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (or its equivalent eligible for BABCP accreditation) AND Eligible for BABCP accreditation.
• Professional training which supports the ability to provide high intensity clinical interventions ; OR Post graduate qualifications / training in trauma-focussed psychological therapies e.g.TF-CBT, EMDR (Level 3), NET, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy or other.

• Undertaken training in the supervision of trainee clinical psychologists.
• Undertaken post-qualification further training in
• Acceptance and Commitment therapy
• Compassion focused therapy
• Working with ASD
• CAT -Schema therapy
• Accreditation in EMDR

Experience

• Substantial experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of service users across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
• Experience of working with service users with complex trauma
• Experience of supervising Trainee Clinical Psychologists and/or other psychological therapists

• Experience of supervising assistant psychologists and trainees
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of working with people who are neurodiverse and adapting interventions

Skills & Abilities

• Excellent assessment and formulation skills in regards to C-PTSD, with a thorough understanding of up-to-date theory. High level of competency in trauma-focused psychological therapies.
• 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.

• Proven ability in carrying out clinical audits.

Knowledge & Understanding

• Specialist knowledge of complex trauma
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the service user group and the setting, and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group.

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies to patients specifically ACT, compassion focused therapies, CBT

Other

• Ability to travel in the local area
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, enabling formation of networks with professionals within the Trust and from other agencies to promote effective team working with clients

Here at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) we are dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion. We deliver many of the NHS services that are provided outside of hospital and in the community such as physical, mental health and specialist services.

We are a health and social care organisation, offering a wide range of services, including:

• Integrated physical and mental health services for adults and older people;
• Specialist mental health and learning disability services;
• Children and young people’s mental health services;
• Children’s community services in Peterborough;
• Social care;
• Ground-breaking research

We strongly encourage applications from all sections of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people and members of our ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ communities. For further information about our positive equality, diversity and Inclusion work, please visit https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/equalityanddiversity.

CPFT is looking to build upon its pool of temporary workers with Temporary Staffing Services (TSS). You will be asked at interview if you would be willing to register with TSS. This is an excellent opportunity for those looking to take on additional hours that are flexible around your personal circumstances.

Please be advised that in line with the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List, 2020 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust currently are unable to accept applications from overseas candidates whose country of residence is classed as a ‘Red List’ country.

Applicants who require entry into the UK will be required to provide a valid police certificate from the relevant authority from each country (except the UK) where the applicant has been present for 12 months or more, 10 years before the date of visa application, while aged 18 or over.

If you are successful at interview you will be subject to pre-employment checks, including a DBS (if appropriate), references and Occupational Health. To ensure a smooth process please bring all identity documents to your interview. A list of required identity documents will be attached to your interview invitation.

All communications will be sent to you via TRAC Systems. By applying for this post you are agreeing to CPFT transferring the information contained in this application to TRAC. If you are made an offer, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.