High Intensity Practitioner

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust; London Borough of Havering; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust is seeking a High Intensity Practitioner to join the NHS Talking Therapies service. The post involves providing specialist psychological assessments and high intensity interventions for adults 18+.

A supportive multidisciplinary team and opportunities for service development are offered. The role requires delivering NICE-guideline aligned therapies, supervising junior staff, and contributing to professional development.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychological assessments, formulations and evidence-based therapeutic interventions tailored to individual needs.
• Manage your own clinical caseload, ensuring safe, effective and person-centred care.
• Deliver high intensity psychological interventions in line with NICE guidance and NHS Talking Therapies principles.
• Provide clinical supervision, guidance and support to junior colleagues, including Low Intensity Practitioners and trainee psychologists, as appropriate.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of training, teaching and professional development activities within the service.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues and other professionals to ensure coordinated care and positive outcomes for service users.
• Participate in clinical supervision, reflective practice and continuing professional development.
• Support service improvement, clinical audit, research and the sharing of evidence-based good practice.

Job description

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust

High Intensity Practitioner

The closing date is 30 November 2026

Are you an experienced psychological therapist looking to make a meaningful difference to people's mental health and wellbeing? We are looking for a skilled and motivated High Intensity Practitioner to join our NHS Talking Therapies service (formerly IAPT). In this role, you will provide specialist psychological assessments and evidence-based interventions to adults aged 18 and over experiencing common mental health difficulties, including presentations of greater complexity. You will work as part of a supportive multidisciplinary team, helping people overcome psychological challenges, improve their wellbeing and achieve meaningful recovery. Alongside your clinical work, you will have opportunities to contribute to service development, support the learning and development of colleagues and help shape the delivery of high-quality psychological therapies.

Main duties of the job

As a High Intensity Psychological Therapist, you will:

• Provide specialist psychological assessments, formulations and evidence-based therapeutic interventions tailored to individual needs.

• Manage your own clinical caseload, ensuring safe, effective and person-centred care.

• Deliver high intensity psychological interventions in line with NICE guidance and NHS Talking Therapies principles.

• Provide clinical supervision, guidance and support to junior colleagues, including Low Intensity Practitioners and trainee psychologists, as appropriate.

• Contribute to the development and delivery of training, teaching and professional development activities within the service.

• Work collaboratively with colleagues and other professionals to ensure coordinated care and positive outcomes for service users.

• Participate in clinical supervision, reflective practice and continuing professional development.

• Support service improvement, clinical audit, research and the sharing of evidence-based good practice.

About us

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health and community services for over 4.9 million people living in the London Boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, and across Essex. We work to ensure our patients, their friends and family, feel confident that their health needs are well met. With an excellent reputation for research and development, our skilled health professionals are at the cutting edge of evidence-based innovation, opening up the possibilities for better ways of working and delivery of care.

Job responsibilities

High Intensity Practitioner - Band 7

Are you an experienced psychological therapist looking to make a meaningful difference to people's mental health and wellbeing?

We are looking for a skilled and motivated High Intensity Practitioner to join our NHS Talking Therapies service (formerly IAPT).

In this role, you will provide specialist psychological assessments and evidence-based interventions to adults aged 18 and over experiencing common mental health difficulties, including presentations of greater complexity.

You will work as part of a supportive multidisciplinary team, helping people overcome psychological challenges, improve their wellbeing and achieve meaningful recovery.

Alongside your clinical work, you will have opportunities to contribute to service development, support the learning and development of colleagues and help shape the delivery of high-quality psychological therapies.

As a High Intensity Psychological Therapist, you will:

• Provide specialist psychological assessments, formulations and evidence-based therapeutic interventions tailored to individual needs.

• Manage your own clinical caseload, ensuring safe, effective and person-centred care.

• Deliver high intensity psychological interventions in line with NICE guidance and NHS Talking Therapies principles.

• Provide clinical supervision, guidance and support to junior colleagues, including Low Intensity Practitioners and trainee psychologists, as appropriate.

• Contribute to the development and delivery of training, teaching and professional development activities within the service.

• Work collaboratively with colleagues and other professionals to ensure coordinated care and positive outcomes for service users.

• Participate in clinical supervision, reflective practice and continuing professional development.

• Support service improvement, clinical audit, research and the sharing of evidence-based good practice.

You will deliver high-quality psychological care while contributing to the ongoing development of the NHS Talking Therapies service.

The role requires excellent clinical, communication and organisational skills, with the ability to work independently, manage competing priorities and collaborate effectively with colleagues and partner services.

You may be required to work across different locations and deliver interventions remotely, depending on service needs.

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust.

Working for Us

Joining #TeamNELFT means you'll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We're CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT. They are:

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes Hospital.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

High-Cost Area Supplement

This post also attracts payment for High-Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (minimum payment of £4,870 and a maximum payment of £6,137) pro rata for part time staff.

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Please refer to the job description for further details.
• Please refer to the job description for further details.

Experience

• Please refer to the job description for further details.
• Please refer to the job description for further details.

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.

Employer name

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust