Perinatal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist/CBT Therapist

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; Sidcup; On-site; GBP 51,000 - 59,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS foundation trust is seeking a Band 7 Perinatal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist/CBT Therapist for a 12-month fixed term position. This role offers the chance to work in an innovative field of perinatal mental health, providing crucial psychological support to mothers and families. Candidates should have relevant qualifications and experience in delivering CBT and psychological assessments, as well as the opportunity for career development within a supportive team environment.

Qualifications

• BABCP accredited in CBT and relevant experience in perinatal mental health.
• Further training in perinatal mental health and psychological therapies.
• Experience of delivering highly specialised Cognitive Behavioural Assessments.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychological assessment and intervention for mothers, babies, and families.
• Deliver evidence-based individual and group interventions.
• Participate in a collaborative multidisciplinary community team.

Skills

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Psychological Assessment

Intervention Delivery

Education

Recognised Qualification in Mental Health Professions

Job description

Perinatal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist/CBT Therapist

Band 7

Main area Adult Community Mental Health Services Grade Band 7 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (End date approximately September 2026) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 277-7283021-CMH

Site Queen Marys Hospital, Town Sidcup, Kent Salary £51,883 - £58,544 pa inc Salary period Yearly Closing 29/06/2025 23:59 Interview date 09/07/2025

Job overview

Oxleas have an exciting opportunity within its Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Team to offer a 12 month fixed term maternity cover post.

We are seeking to recruit highly motivated Band 7 Clinical/Counselling Psychologists/Cognitive Behavioural Therapists (BABCP accredited) with an interest in perinatal mental health, to join our expanding and developing community specialist Perinatal Mental Health Team. We welcome applications from soon to be qualified applicants with relevant experience.

It is an exciting time to join the team as it is an innovative field for perinatal mental health. Our Perinatal team offers a unique opportunity to develop skills in both adult mental health and also to develop skills in parent infant and family work. It is an ideal opportunity for a Psychologist/CBT therapist with an interest in developing further specialist skills and experience and working within a multi-disciplinary community team.

As perinatal mental health is an expanding area of development, there is good potential for career development and training opportunities. There will be the opportunity to develop specialist competencies in evidence-based models (e.g. CBT, EMDR,) for individual therapy.

In line with the long-term plan, the service is developing its interventions with couples, co-parents and piloting working with families up to 24 months. It is an exciting time to join our teams as each borough has recently been awarded national funding for the expansion of their services.

Main duties of the job

Main Clinical Duties

The main clinical work undertaken is to provide specialist psychological assessment and intervention for mothers and their babies and families in the community.

The post holder will be involved in delivering evidence-based individual and group-based interventions. The psychological therapies team include clinical and counselling psychologists, CBT therapists and a parent infant psychotherapist. The successful applicant will be part of a friendly and supportive team. There is an established reflective practice space for the whole team as well as regular individual supervision provided by the senior psychologist. Opportunities to develop supervision skills are consistently available and Oxleas has a longstanding relationship with clinical and counselling doctorate programs in taking trainees and developing the wider workforce.

About the team

The trust wide service is based at Queen Mary’s hospital and consists of a multidisciplinary team of professionals including consultant psychiatrists, specialist perinatal nurses, clinical psychologists, CBT therapists, nursery nurses and OTs. We offer a community service for pregnant and postnatal women with severe and complex mental health difficulties.

Working for our organisation

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We Listen
• We Care

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The team works alongside other services, including IAPT, secondary care mental health teams and maternity as well as third sector organisations. We work collaboratively with other services (eg maternity service and health visiting) and with experts by experience to continue to provide high quality care and are committed to ensure excellent outcomes for women and their families.

Oxleas has a strong tradition in promoting psychological therapies and embraces multi-modal formulation-based approaches. Personal therapeutic interests and specialty development are actively encouraged and supported. This can be via formal training as well as established specialist supervision forums which are provided across the Trust.

Further detailed information relating to the role and responsibilities can be found in the attached supporting documentation.

Person specification

Training & Education

• To have undertaken a recognised Qualification in one of the core mental health professions e.g. psychiatric nursing, occupational therapy, social work, medicine, clinical/counselling psychology

Cognitive Behavioural Assessments

• Experience of delivering highly specialised Cognitive Behavioural Assessments and treatment to clients.

Specialist knowledge of CBT

• Specialist knowledge of CBT and the application of appropriate models of practice according to client need.

Training & Education

• Further training in perinatal or infant mental health and/or perinatal psychological therapies

Experience

• Experience of working in perinatal mental health services and/or with women in the perinatal period

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes and supports individuals of all abilities. Remember, if you meet the minimum criteria for this role and you have a disability, you can be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme - Please ensure you select this on your application form. We would encourage you to be open about your needs so we can work with you to design a comfortable and accessible interview experience. Any information you provide regarding a disability or a need for adjustments will be treated in confidence and will only be shared with colleagues who are supporting this request.

If you require any adjustments to participate fully in the interview process, please let us know by adding the relevant details when scheduling your preferred interview date and time. Please feel free to contact the appointing manager to discuss your needs.

We encourage applicants to contact the hiring manager before their interview, if they have any questions about the role or the process. This is a great way to get clarity and prepare effectively for the interview.

Please note that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prohibited during the interview process. We also discourage overuse of AI during the application process because this can negatively impact the quality of your application and may hinder your chances of being shortlisted. Thank you.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.