High Intensity Therapist

NHS; Greater London; On-site; GBP 53,000 - 61,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent healthcare provider in Greater London is seeking a qualified high intensity therapist. This role involves conducting specialist psychological assessments and providing high-quality treatment in a diverse environment. The ideal candidate will have post-graduate qualifications in clinical psychology or related fields, and accreditation with BABCP. The position offers opportunities for professional development and a supportive team environment, with a salary range of £53,751 to £60,651 per annum.

Qualifications

• Post-graduate qualifications in a core mental health profession.
• Accreditation with BABCP, or ability to achieve accreditation shortly.
• Experience in psychological assessment and treatment within Talking Therapies.

Responsibilities

• Conduct specialist psychological assessment and treatment.
• Provide training and supervision within the team.
• Participate in clinical governance and support clinical practice.
• Work with a diverse client group and maintain professionalism.

Skills

Consultation skills

Psychological assessment skills

Communication skills

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy expertise

Education

Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology

Post graduate diploma or higher degree in CBT

Job description

Ealing NHS Talking Therapies was one of the first Talking Therapies services to launch in 2008, and is one of the three services provided by West London NHS Trust. We are a large team of over 70 members of staff and are currently working on further expansion. Our main base is in Ealing where we have access to over 16 clinic rooms and two open plan offices. In addition to this, we run clinics at GP surgeries across the borough, covering areas such as Southall, Acton, and Chiswick. Our service is well‑established and many of our staff have been with us since the beginning. Clinical and line management supervision is part of our success, and as a qualified high intensity therapist you will benefit from weekly clinical supervision, monthly line management supervision, and monthly step 3 clinical skills. In addition to this, we operate a duty system on a daily basis with daily debrief to make sure that all new assessments are discussed promptly.

Main duties of the job

Ealing Talking Therapies is passionate about offering a great quality therapy to our patients and we are very proud to be able to consistently offer all the Talking Therapies‑approved therapies, such as EMDR, DIT, IPT, BCT, and CfD. To that effect, we are committed to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of our staff and training in additional Talking Therapies modalities is highly encouraged. We have close links with our neighbouring services (H&F and Hounslow) and share our CPD events with them, providing an opportunity to link up with our colleagues across the Trust. Over the last year, our staff have attended in‑house training in complex PTSD, LTC, OCD, perinatal, and many others. In addition to the standard talking therapies, our service is one of only two Talking Therapies services in London that offer an exercise group for our patients (Running to Better Health), which is consistently achieving high recovery rates and is highly regarded.

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.

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Post‑graduate doctoral level training in clinical or counselling 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 a post graduate diploma or higher degree in CBT. Professional registration with the appropriate Health Professions Council (HPC) And/or: To be accredited by the BABCP as a provisionally or fully accredited practitioner, or to be able to achieve provisional practitioner accreditation with the BABCP within six months of starting in post.
• Pre‑qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
• Fully accredited with the BABCP

Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients within a Talking Therapies service
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups and presenting problems that reflect a 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.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across a range of care settings. Including outpatient, community, and primary care settings

Knowledge

• Experience at working with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at a specialist level
• High‑level knowledge of the theory and practice of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
• Knowledge of issues relating to primary and secondary care psychological therapies services.
• Experience at working with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at a specialist level
• 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 etc)
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
• Knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology

Skills

• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non‑professional groups
• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological 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 the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration

Other Requirements

• 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.
• Able to work at least one evening session, until 8.00pm
• Self‑motivated, able to work autonomously and independently with confidence
• Be aware of the limitations in own competencies and seek appropriate senior advice.

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.

£53,751 to £60,651 a year per annum inclusive of HCAS (Outer)