Lead Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

NHS; Plymouth; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization in the UK is seeking a Lead Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner in Plymouth. This role involves providing clinical leadership, nurturing team growth, and ensuring high standards of mental health support. The ideal candidate will have a post-graduate qualification in PWP, experience in team management, and a passion for improving access to therapies. Competitive salary and opportunities for professional development are offered.

Qualifications

• Experience in line management responsibility for multi-disciplinary teams.
• Strong understanding of NICE guidelines for psychological interventions.
• Competence in providing clinical supervision.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical leadership for the patient journey from referral to discharge.
• Ensure adherence to IAPT provision and monitor clinical quality.
• Manage risk issues and facilitate appropriate referrals.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Empathy

Team management

Analytical skills

Education

Post graduate Certificate or Level 3 undergraduate course

Registration with relevant professional body

Job description

Job Summary

37.5 hours per week. Are you an experienced Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner ready to take the next step in your career? We’re looking for a compassionate Lead PWP to join our thriving team in the heart of Plymouth, a vibrant coastal city nestled between stunning waterfront views and the Dartmoor landscape.

In this pivotal role, you’ll provide expert clinical leadership, nurture professional growth within the PWP team, and help shape the future of evidence‑based mental health support across our service. You will play a key part in ensuring high standards of care, driving innovation and promoting wellbeing for both clients and colleagues alike.

If you’re passionate about improving access to psychological therapies and leading with empathy and excellence, this is your opportunity to make a lasting impact.

This role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route; please refer to the Direct Gov website for more information with regards to eligibility.

All Livewell staff are expected to be able and willing to work across a 7‑day service.

Main Duties

The key responsibilities of this role are as follows:

• Provide leadership to ensure low‑intensity evidence‑based clinical interventions are best practice and effective, resulting in good levels of recovery at Step 2/Low‑intensity.
• Lead on improving access by innovating and enhancing the delivery of the Step 2/Low‑intensity programme to support the growth of NHS Plymouth Talking Therapies.
• Lead on delivery of Step 2/Low‑intensity both individually and in psycho‑educational groups and workshops, remotely through online platforms, telemedicine, cCBT and face‑to‑face.
• Ensure timely access to the service and minimal waiting times for Step 2/Low‑intensity.
• Champion dignity, equality, diversity, choice and respect.
• Work flexibly across a range of sites – regular and frequent travel from base to and between settings.
• Lead quality improvement and audit, support and investigate complaints, implement learning from experience, working closely with Senior PWPs across the service.
• Act as the PWP Preceptorship Lead, providing practice/trainee education.
• Engage in workforce planning with the Clinical and Service Manager, including uplift through the PWP trainee programme.

About Livewell Southwest

Livewell Southwest is an independent, award‑winning social enterprise delivering integrated health and social care services across Plymouth, South Hams, and West Devon, with specialist services in parts of Devon and Cornwall. Our teams work in community hospitals, GP practices, sports centres and health hubs. We are guided by values of kindness, respect, inclusivity, ambition, responsibility and collaboration. We focus on transforming services to ensure sustainability, while empowering staff and those we serve.

Details

• Date posted: 21 October 2025
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 7
• Salary: £47,810 to £54,710 a year, pro‑rata
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full‑time, Part‑time, Job share, Flexible working
• Reference number: B9832‑2025‑SP‑1123
• Job location: Plymouth Talking Therapies, 73 Exeter Street, Plymouth, PL4 0AH

Key Tasks and Responsibilities of the Post

• Responsible for clinical oversight of the patient journey, from referral through to treatment and discharge.
• Provide robust caseload management to the Step 2/Low‑intensity workforce, ensuring IAPT provision is adhered to.
• Develop a robust Triage function within Plymouth Options and provide leadership and supervision as the team becomes embedded.
• Support clinicians with managing risk issues and appropriate onward referrals.
• Work a minimal specified amount of clinical face‑to‑face contact, providing group support and triage.
• Ensure interventions are implemented in line with NICE guidelines for psychological interventions.
• Maintain protocols so that patients can be stepped up and down to and from the service as required.
• Ensure clinical governance arrangements cover all activity.
• Ensure staff are appropriately trained and receive required supervision.
• Monitor and improve quality in line with NICE guidance, ensuring low‑intensity intervention meets recovery standards within NHS Talking Therapies.
• Ensure clinical staff have access to study and development opportunities.
• Analyse reports from IAPTus and report concerns to the Service Manager.
• Line‑manage a designated clinical staff at Step 2/Low‑intensity.

Clinical

• Coordinate acceptance of referrals via protocols and national IAPT guidelines.
• Maintain quality of assessments at Step 2/Low‑intensity and undertake them.
• Make decisions on correct pathways for new referrals, liaising with secondary care as needed.
• Support staff in managing patients at risk and facilitate onward referral.
• Formulate, implement, and evaluate therapy programmes for clients with the team.
• Ensure clinicians meet activity contract requirements and minimise waiting times.
• Monitor clinical activity with service KPIs.
• Attend multidisciplinary meetings for referrals or clients in treatment.
• Complete data collection requirements and ensure team members do the same.
• Keep coherent records in line with protocols and national IAPT guidelines.
• Work closely with the team to ensure step‑up and step‑down arrangements maintain a stepped‑care approach and timely access.
• Carry out clinical audits and collate/disseminate results for feedback.
• Lead projects across the service to improve clinical outcomes.
• Support the Service Manager at regional and national events.

Professional

• Maintain standards of practice according to employer and relevant professional bodies (e.g., HCPC, BACP, BABCP, NMC).
• Protect client confidentiality at all times.
• Keep up‑to‑date on advances in NHS Talking Therapies, CBT, and other agreed psychological therapies.
• Set, discuss, and review clear professional objectives with senior therapists regularly.
• Attend clinical/managerial supervision as agreed.
• Participate in performance reviews and respond to agreed objectives.
• Maintain up‑to‑date records in relation to CPD and ensure personal development plan maintains specialist knowledge of latest theoretical and service delivery models.
• Attend relevant conferences and workshops in line with identified professional objectives and increasing knowledge of the national Talking Therapies framework.

Managerial

• Responsible for operational and line management of the Plymouth Options team at Step 2/Low‑intensity via effective management of Senior PWP team to ensure all local and national IAPT performance measures are adhered to.
• Caseload manage allocated staff in the service on a 4/6 weekly basis.
• Complete annual appraisals for allocated clinical staff and line management in line with LWSW policy and agreed by your service manager.
• Demonstrate advanced negotiation, motivational, explanation and reassurance skills across a range of management issues.
• Manage staff attendance at training, performance, setting objectives and clear expectations of staff behaviour.
• Manage and support staff through change using appropriate staff health and wellbeing processes.
• Support service improvement to ensure ongoing patient safety is a priority.
• Investigate and resolve complaints.
• Monitor and contribute to the department budget, verifying all staff travel or time sheets through E‑roster.
• Manage the risk register for the service alongside other B7 colleagues, escalating appropriate risks of safety/performance to the Community Services Manager.

Communication

• Demonstrate excellent communication skills with clients, staff, family members and wider health network.
• Ensure information about client assessment/treatment is accurately recorded using the clinical record system – IAPTus.
• Provide support to team members to develop efficient record keeping.
• Ability to impart complex and sensitive information to patients, families/carers and related health care professionals.

Education and Training

• Assume responsibility for own personal development.
• Provide support to new post holders and identify training needs via mode of PDP.
• Ensure Livewell SW mandatory training is completed at scheduled times.
• Oversee team’s training schedule.

Human Resources

• Support in conjunction with the Service Manager providing line management and caseload management to all clinical staff.
• Responsible for recruitment of the Step 2/Low‑intensity provision including management of training places alongside relevant training institutions and HEE.
• Support the Service Manager with performance of staff members, long‑term sickness reviews.

Physical Effort

• Role involves a lot of sitting with clients in therapy rooms. May require some standing for 2 hours at a time whilst delivering groups.

Mental Effort

• Frequent requirement for intense concentration in the delivery of high quality clinical leadership to all clinical staff.

Emotional Effort

• Frequent exposure to distressing or emotional circumstances arising from therapeutic contact with Service Users (including relatives and carers) requiring emotional engagement with the material discussed, emotional self‑regulation by the therapist and the delivery of a therapeutic response within professional boundaries.

Person Specification

Qualifications Essential

• Qualification from PWP Training Course (Post graduate Certificate or Level 3 undergraduate course) or recognised PWP top‑up training.
• Active registration with the relevant professional body – membership of the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists or regulatory body such as the NMC and register as a PWP with BABCP or BPS.
• Evidence of management or leadership development through continuous professional development and/or formal management courses.
• Evidence of completing a recognised supervision training programme.

Desirable

• Recognised management qualification at Post Graduate level or higher.

Experience Essential

• Substantial post‑qualifying work as a PWP and Senior PWP.
• Experience in line management responsibility for one or more multi‑disciplinary teams, where the team remit has included work with people experiencing mental health problems.
• Post‑qualifying experience of clinical assessment, evaluation, care planning and risk management in work with people experiencing mental health problems within an NHS Talking Therapies model.
• Experience of providing clinical supervision to professionals working with people experiencing mental health problems.
• Culturally competent practice with people from a range of diverse backgrounds.
• Clinical mental health assessment skills.
• Assessment and management of risk and an understanding of the escalation process.
• A range of therapeutic interventions relating to mental health and emotional well‑being.
• Mentoring students including appraisal and the setting and review of objectives.
• Evidence of working to challenging timescales.
• Evidence of team building skills.
• Experience of integrated governance, risk management and service improvement.
• Experience of working within safeguarding systems such as the Common Assessment Framework / Child Protection.
• Development of policies and procedures.
• Experience of dealing with contentious issues and drawing upon skills of clarification and negotiation for successful resolution.
• Experience of incorporating service‑user views into the provision and evaluation of services.
• Managing teams with challenges and clinical pressures which require prioritisation.

Desirable

• Operational management of a team.
• Experience of using audit and analytical skills and implementing corrective action.
• Project management experience.

Knowledge Essential

• Specialist knowledge of evidence‑based low‑intensity interventions.
• Understanding of the system of health, social care, education and third sector within the mental health landscape in Plymouth.
• Understanding of quality and patient safety, health and safety legislation, local and national policy.
• Knowledge about risk assessment and how to support all staff members in assessing and managing risk.
• Understanding of performance management and the role it can play in the delivery of excellent and effective services.
• Knowledge of the range of therapeutic skills relevant to working with people experiencing mental health difficulties.
• Mental Health assessment skills.
• Well‑established case management skills.
• Good organisational and time management skills with an ability to prioritise high demand.
• Knowledge of mandatory NHS reporting requirements and NHS Talking Therapies data reporting.
• Knowledge of key performance indicators (KPIs) and ability to interpret data across NHS Talking Therapies data collection systems.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the key strategies and policies affecting mental health services and how that is located into a wider strategic mental health and wellbeing.

Skills Essential

• Effective leadership skills that motivate and involve a team.
• Ability to maintain working partnerships with other organisations in the delivery of integrated care.
• Well‑developed communication skills both oral and written.
• Able to reason, including ability to analyse, interpret, evaluate and draw assumptions from data and information; able to utilise complex information to identify solutions.
• Able to analyse and find solutions to operational issues, providing solutions and motivating people to solve problems.
• Ability to communicate effectively (including sensitive information) verbally, adjusting language, style and content as appropriate to the audience.
• Ability to delegate clearly and effectively and work through others.
• Good level of IT competence to navigate multiple clinical records, IT systems, Microsoft Office suite and email systems.
• Self‑motivating and able to work on own initiative.

Desirable

• Dealing with highly complex sensitive or contentious information where there may be barriers to understanding.
• Ability to work with ambiguity and in an immediate environment that is subject to rapid and fundamental change.

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 the UK Visas and Immigration website.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see the NHS Careers website.

Employer details

Livewell Southwest

Plymouth Talking Therapies

73 Exeter Street

Plymouth

PL4 0AH