Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Transformationunitgm; London; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 44,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading mental health service in Lambeth as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner. You will provide support for individuals experiencing common mental health issues, utilizing low intensity CBT interventions. This role offers opportunities for professional growth within a diverse community setting and aims to improve mental health outcomes.

Benefits

Generous pay, pensions and leave

Flexible working options

Career development programs

Access to counselling services

NHS discounts

Qualifications

• Experience working in an IAPT service.
• Experience of meeting targets for caseload and recovery.
• Experience of working as a qualified PWP.

Responsibilities

• Assess and support people with common mental health problems.
• Undertake brief telephone triage of referrals into the service.
• Make decisions on suitability of new referrals.

Skills

Skills in providing low intensity CBT based interventions

Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Ability to communicate effectively in an emotive atmosphere

Fluent in Spanish or Portuguese

Education

Honours Degree or equivalent in Psychology or Social Sciences

Qualification from an accredited PWP training course

Job description

Main area Lambeth Improved Access to Psychological Treatments Grade Band 5 Contract Permanent/fixed term Hours

• Full time
• Part time

37.5 hours per week (2 days based in the office is a requirement for this post) Job ref 334-CLI-7212411

Employer South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Lambeth Talking Therapies Town Lambeth Salary £35,964 - £43,780 per annum inclusive of HCAs Salary period Yearly Closing 08/07/2025 23:59

Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Band 5

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’.

We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role.We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

Lambeth Talking Therapies is a well-established, successful, friendly service with over 100 members of staff. Our team is made up Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, High Intensity therapists, Clinical Support Workers and administrators.

We are looking for motivated and enthusiastic individuals to join our Step 2 team. We are looking to recruit permanent full time members. The role requires working in the office 2 days a week.

Lambeth Talking Therapies Service Mission:

Working with people to reduce the distress and practical problems caused by common mental health problems; by developing and supporting staff who are dedicated to providing high quality, continuously improving psychological services to all of Lambeth’s diverse population. As a service, we are committed to being an anti-racist service. This commitment is ongoing and represents our desire to cultivate a culture that represents anti-racism, equity and belonging. We will not allow racism and discrimination to have any place within the service.

Main duties of the job

All our qualified PWPs have additional responsibilities and interests to keep the role varied and exciting. We have three senior PWP roles for career progression, and find that working in our team is often a springboard for PWPs to develop and excel in their chosen career paths.

We are committed to helping to develop the people that come to work with us. We know our service can only be as good as the people who work here, and we will invest in you to maximise that potential. We really welcome new members of the team and value our staff highly. We think staff wellbeing is essential, and have a range of initiatives to support our staff.

Lambeth is a borough of high social and psychological needs with considerable cultural diversity. We value this and want to reach these needs. We would like our team to reflect the diversity of our community and therefore we would welcome applications from individuals from a Black, Asian or any other minority backgrounds. We would particularly welcome candidates fluent in Portuguese (we have a large Brazilian and Portuguese community), Spanish (for our Latin American clients) and Mandarin or Cantonese (for our clients from the Chinese community). As a team, we are committed to addressing racial inequality and improving outcomes for clients from Black or Asian backgrounds. We deliver specialised staff training and have a monthly peer support group for our staff from a Black or Asian background or other minority backgrounds.

Working for our organisation

We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance. There is an extensive range of excellent benefits for you and your family. We want you to feel like you are part of a close knit team at SLaM. It’s important to us that you valued and appreciated and that are why we have a comprehensive benefits package on offer

Some of our benefits are highlighted here:

• Generous pay, pensions and leave, we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
• Work life balance, flexible working and support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing.
• Career development, There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
• Car lease, our staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars
• Accommodation, our staff benefits from keyworker housing available which is available on selected sites
• NHS discounts, with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website.

Other benefits include:

• Access to SLaM counselling services
• Long service awards
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Staff restaurants

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

• CLINICAL
• To undertake brief telephone triage of referrals into the service
• Assess and support people with a common mental health problem in the self-management of their recovery. This is through telephone clinical work, virtual, face to face work and group work, and using other media, as required.
• Make decisions on suitability of new referrals, adhering to the department's referral protocols, and refer unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referral agent as necessary or steps up to high intensity.
• Provide a range of information and support for evidence-based low intensity psychological treatments. This may include guided self-help, online CBT, and information about pharmacological treatments.
• Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the number of client contacts offered, and clinical sessions carried out per week in order to minimise waiting times and ensure treatment delivery remains accessible and convenient.
• TRAINING AND SUPERVISION
• Prepare and present clinical information for all patients on their caseload to clinical case management supervisors within the service on an agreed and scheduled basis, in order to ensure safe practice and the clinical governance obligations of the worker, supervisor and service are delivered.
• Respond to and implement supervision suggestions by supervisors in clinical practice
• Engage in and respond to personal development supervision to improve competences and clinical practice.
• PROFESSIONAL
• Ensure the maintenance of standards of practice according to trust guidelines, and keep up to date on new recommendations/guidelines set by the department of health (e.g NHS plan, National Service Framework, National Institute for Clinical Excellence).
• Ensure that client confidentiality is protected at all times.
• Be aware of, and keep up to date with advances in the spheres of treatment for common mental health problems.
• Attend clinical/managerial supervision on a regular basis as agreed with Manager.
• Participate in individual performance review and respond to agreed objectives.
• Keep up to date all records in relation to Continuing Professional Development and ensure personal development plan maintains up to date specialist
• Encourage that staff are registered as a PWP through either the BPS or BABCP.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Qualification from an accredited PWP training course
• Honours Degree or equivalent (minimum 2.1 level) in a relevant subject such as Psychology or Social Sciences

Experience

• Experience of working in an IAPT service
• Experience of meeting targets for caseload and recovery
• Evidence of working with people who have experienced a mental health problem
• Experience of telephone working
• Worked in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes
• Experience of working in the local community
• Experience of working as a qualified PWP
• Experience of setting up groups or being involved in projects

Skills

• Skills in the providing low intensity CBT based interventions
• Skills in delivering support in a range of modalities including face to face, over the phone and online
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including telephone skills
• Ability to communicate effectively in an emotive atmosphere
• Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients and colleagues
• Fluent in Spanish or Portuguese
• Received training (either formal or through experience) and carried out risk assessments within scope of practice

Knowledge

• An appreciation of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems (particularly anxiety and depression) and how they may present in primary care
• Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to the post
• Broad understanding of mental health issues and the primary care context
• Broad understanding of audit, research and evaluation
• Demonstrates a knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health
• Knowledge of the medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity

Please note:

• That all applications for this post will need to be made online
• That you read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
• That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
• That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
• That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not successful
• That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
• That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
• That we are a smoke-free Trust

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion , Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe’

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.