Band 8a Psychological Therapies Trainer - Bristol

NHS; Bristol; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Part time

Job summary

A mental health service provider in Bristol is seeking a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist for a part-time position. The successful candidate will develop and deliver training programs focused on NICE recommendations for Psychosis interventions, particularly CBT. The role requires advanced training in CBT and significant experience in training delivery. This position will involve working with various teams across the BNSSG area, contributing to service transformation and enhancing training quality in mental health services.

Qualifications

• Doctorate Level training in Clinical/Counselling Psychology or equivalent qualification.
• Registered with the HPC or other equivalent regulatory body.
• Specialist Clinical Training in CBT.

Responsibilities

• Deliver high quality psychosocial intervention training.
• Develop training programme for NICE recommended interventions.
• Collaborate with Health Education England for training support.

Skills

Advanced specialist training in CBT for psychosis

Substantial relevant post qualification experience

Excellent communication and inter-personal skills

Experience of clinical supervision

Effective leadership

Education

Doctorate Level training in Clinical/Counselling Psychology

Registered with the HPC or equivalent body

Specialist Clinical Training in CBT

Job description

Job summary

We are excited to be recruiting to our Psychological Interventions Training Team.

We are looking for a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist who is interested in a 2 day a week post to work with the BNSSG Therapies Training lead to develop and deliver training across BNSSG. The aim of the role, initially, will be to prioritise the delivery of a training programme to support the provision of NICE recommended interventions for people with Psychosis, in particular CBT and Family Interventions. The transformation of services in line with the Community Mental Health Framework offers the opportunity to improve the interventions on offer across BNSSG Mental Health services including Recovery Teams, Early interventions teams and crisis/ Intensive Support Teams. The successful applicant will play a key role in delivering the training on offer to increase and improve the interventions that will be delivered by these teams in line with national best practice.

We invite applications from people with advanced specialist training in CBT for psychosis and significant experience of delivering training. You will work closely with and be managed by the BNSSG Psychological Training lead to develop the training and work across BNSSG. You will also work alongside associate trainers with lived experience to ensure training is co‑developed and co‑delivered.

This role covers the BNSSG area so you will need to have flexibility in terms of the locations you work in.

Main duties of the job

• To support workforce elements of trust clinical transformation project plans through the development and delivery of high quality, evidence based psychosocial intervention training.
• To focus capacity on the delivery of training in effective, evidence-based interventions (e.g. as recommended by NICE).
• To report on activity and delivery of training at regular intervals as required and as directed by the BNSSG Training Lead.
• To contribute to audit, research, policy and service development across BNSSG and related to the delivered training.

You will be working closely with Psychological therapy Services across BNSSG. The Psychological Therapies Services (PTS) teams in North Somerset and South Gloucestershire and the Complex Psychological Interventions (CPI) Team in Bristol offer a range of activities to support psychologically informed care within the secondary mental health service. The teams are well established and highly regarded in local services.

There will be opportunities for continuing professional development and development of innovative research projects. We also have close links to the University of Bath, the University of Exeter and the University of South Wales.

Issues of diversity, accessibility and equality of access are priorities for any successful applicant.

About us

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust) a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Details Date posted

01 December 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£55,690 to £62,682 a year pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

342-BR191-1225

Job locations

Callington Road Hospital

Marmalade Lane

Bristol

BS4 5BJ

Job description Job responsibilities

Leadership:

With the Psychological Therapy training lead, to participate in the development, organisation and delivery of the programme of training to support the Core Community Transformation Project and the Beyond CPA Transformation work.

To act as the link with Health Education England (HEE) to ensure their support for mental health training provision and development supports the care packages project and the NHS 10 year plan.

To promote the Trust by developing a specialist profile through publications, national and international conference presentations and the provision of specialist training to various groups nationally.

To participate / lead in emerging trust transformation projects as appropriate.

Training and supervision:

To develop a training programme to support the provision of NICE recommended interventions for people with Psychosis initially, in particular CBT and Family Interventions.

To deliver CBT training to identified practitioners in BNSSG community mental health teams working with Service Users with complex mental health problems.

To evaluate the effectiveness of training activity, demonstrating response to feedback as appropriate.

To produce and present progress reports detailing activity against key project outcome measures and provide high-level commentary and analysis of data.

Research:

To support, facilitate and supervise R&D activities by Psychological Therapy staff and other colleagues.

To support research in topic areas relevant to the work of the Trust and to initiate and implement project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within and across the service to help develop and improve services to service users and their families.

To design, deliver, review and modify training programmes based on best practice and evaluation using a quality improvement methodology.

Professional:

To fully observe relevant Professional Practice Guidelines.

To work with Professional Leads / those in clinical leadership roles to maintain and further develop high standards of practice, through co-operative work and peer supervision with other Psychological Therapy staff within and outside the Trust.

To be aware of and adhere to Trust policies and procedures.

To agree a plan for personal development with the local management team and Head of Profession and participate in an annual appraisal.

Clinical and Practice Governance:

To link with Learning and Development in ensuring the provision of high quality training and development which is sustainable.

To participate in Clinical Governance processes in the Trust.

To act as a resource for clinical audit, and to develop and apply measures to monitor and evaluate clinical work among psychological therapists in the area.

To focus capacity on the delivery of effective, evidence-based interventions (e.g. as recommended by NICE).

Information Technology and Resources:

To use established IT skills and resources to prepare reports, for teaching presentations, to record activity data and for the analysis of data from research and audit.

• Work alongside colleagues to ensure the best use of emerging learning technologies as appropriate.
• To maintain skills in IT, updating where necessary, in order to carry out the tasks in above effectively.

Communications and Working Relationships:

Develop and maintain strong lines of communication and working relationships with the following key groups:

• Transformation project leads and Operational managers.
• HR, training, education and development staff, both within the Trust and from partner organisations.
• Staff and managers at all levels in the facilitation of training and development interventions.
• Associate Trainers with lived experience as well as those with a clinical background.
• External stakeholders including Health Education England (HEE).

Most challenging part of this role:

Design of specialist, complex, mental health specific training, which informs consistent levels of service delivery in evidence based interventions.

Delivering & co‑ordinating a programme of high-quality training, education and development activity within available resources over a wide geographical area.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications Essential

• Doctorate Level training in Clinical/ Counselling Psychology or equivalent professional qualification for other professions.
• Registered with the HPC or other equivalent regulatory body.
• Specialist Clinical Training in CBT

Desirable

• Teaching Qualification
• Advanced specialist training in CBT for psychosis and bipolar

Skills and abilities Essential

• Substantial relevant post qualification experience in secondary care
• Experience of work across service settings and agencies.
• Clinical audit work/ research experience in specialist area.
• Teaching/training with own staff group and other professions at expert level.
• Experience of clinical supervision with all grades of staff and with other professions.
• Service development

Desirable

• Experience of organising and delivering training programmes
• Management of psychology staff or other professions

Skills and abilities Essential

• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills in highly complex situations.
• Ability to cope with extreme workload pressure/prioritise workload.
• Effective leadership.
• Flexible presentation skills appropriate to setting.
• High level of emotional maturity. Ability to tolerate, reflect upon and transform highly traumatic material and hostile behaviour.

Desirable

• Advanced Presentation Skills

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Callington Road Hospital

Marmalade Lane

Bristol

BS4 5BJ

http://www.awp.nhs.uk/about-us/working-for-us/ (Opens in a new tab)