Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

North West Borough Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; Widnes; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 34,000; Full time

Job summary

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is seeking enthusiastic Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners to deliver low intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for people with mild to moderate depression and anxiety within primary care and community settings.

You will be trained to deliver cCBT via SilverCloud or similar platforms, with emphasis on written and verbal communication and establishing strong therapeutic relationships. Flexible working arrangements may be considered to support service delivery.

Qualifications

• Accredited PGCert in Primary Care Mental Health Practice or nearing completion within 3 months
• Registration with BABCP or BPS (or to achieve within 12 months)
• Experience or understanding of anxiety and depression in primary care

Responsibilities

• Accept referrals via agreed protocols within the service
• Assess and support people with common mental health problems
• Conduct patient-centred interviews to identify desired changes and assess risk
• Provide information and support for high-volume low-intensity CBT
• Engage families and carers when appropriate
• Maintain accurate records and data for service use
• Work with the team to ensure stepped care and appropriate referrals

Skills

Communication skills

Verbal and written skills

Teamwork

Enthusiasm and motivation

Self-management

Education

PGCert in Primary Care Mental Health Practice

BABCP/BPS registration (or within 12 months)

Job description

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.

We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.

Using AI to support your application

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a helpful tool when preparing your application, supporting you to organise and structure your application and present your experiences clearly. However, we want to hear about your experiences and achievements. Please ensure everything you submit is truthful, accurate, and reflects your own work and experience. Your authentic story is the best way to help us understand who you are and what you can bring to the role. If content appears to be copied or misrepresented, it may impact the outcome of your application. We encourage you to use AI responsibly as a support tool, not a substitute for your own voice.

Your experiences matter, let them shine.

Job overview

We are looking for enthusiastic and motivated Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners to join our dynamic and innovative service that delivers psychological interventions for people with mild to moderate depression and anxiety related disorders. You will be familiar with primary care psychological services, and will deliver low intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy based treatment.

Important Note

You MUST hold a recognised Post Graduate Certificate / qualification which demonstrates that you are specifically trained to work as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner OR be toward the end of studying for this qualification, and expect to complete this within 3 months. You should only apply if you have undergone / are completing training for a specific PWP role.

Owing to National requirements around Psychological Well Being Practitioner registration, qualified PWPs will need to have registration in place or newly qualified staff to achieve this within 6 months of qualifying.

Main duties of the job

You must also be able to demonstrate high levels of written and verbal communication; be computer literate and be able to demonstrate good therapeutic relationships with people.

You will have experience of working in primary care and community settings and be able to work on your own initiative.

You should have a real interest in helping people with anxiety and depression to achieve a level of recovery which will improve their overall wellbeing and day to day life.

Ideally, you will also be experienced in facilitating courses/workshops for patients and/or community members (or have a willingness to get involved in the delivery of groups) and experience of delivering cCBT via SilverCloud (or willingness to learn).

Working for our organisation

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Accept referrals via agreed protocols within the service.

Assess and support people with a common mental health problem in the self management of their recovery.

Undertake patient-centred interviews which identifies areas where the person wishes to see change and or recovery and makes an accurate assessment of risk to self and others.

Make decisions on suitability of new referrals, adhering to the department's referral protocols, refers unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referral agent as necessary or steps-up the person's treatment to high intensity psychological therapy.

Provide a range of information and support for evidence based high-volume low intensity psychological treatments. This may include guided self-help computerised CBT, information about pharmacological treatments. This work may be face to face, telephone or via other media.

Educate and involve family members and others in treatment as necessary.

Adhere to an agreed activity contract relating to the overall 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.

Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or clients in treatment, where appropriate.

Complete all requirements relating to data collection within the service.

Keep coherent records of all clinical activity in line with service protocols and use these records and clinical outcome data in clinical decision making.

Work closely with other members of the team ensuring appropriate step-up and step-down arrangements are in place to maintain a stepped care approach.

Assess and integrate issues surrounding work and employment into the overall therapy process.

Operate at all times from an inclusive values base which promotes recovery and recognises and respects diversity.

Person specification

Qualification

Essential criteria

• Having passed an accredited course and being specifically qualified as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner - i.e., PGCert in Primary Care Mental Health Practice / PGCert Low Intensity CBT Practitioner
• Registration with either the BABCP or the BPS (or for newly qualified/appointed staff, to achieve this within 12 months)

Desirable criteria

• Training in nursing, social work, occupational therapy, arts therapy or within a psychological therapy
• Health or Social Care related degree

Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to evaluate and integrate training into practice
• Computer literate
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including telephone skills
• High level of enthusiasm and motivation
• Advanced communication skills
• Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships
• Ability to use clinical supervision and personal development positively and effectively
• Ability to work under pressure
• Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality
• Ability to be self reflective, whilst working with service users, in own personal and professional development and in supervision
• Ability to manage own workload and time
• Ability to demonstrate high standards in written communication
• Able to write clear reports and letters
• Ability to evaluate and put in place the effect of training
• Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients

Desirable criteria

• Car driver and / or ability and willingness to travel to locations throughout the Mersey Care footprint
• Fluent in community languages other than English

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Demonstrates an understanding of anxiety and depression and how it may present in Primary Care
• Ability to manage own workload and time
• Ability to demonstrate high standards in written communication
• Able to write clear reports and letters
• Ability to evaluate and put in place the effect of training
• Computer literate

Desirable criteria

• Demonstrates a knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health
• Knowledge of self-help materials for managing common mental health problems
• Knowledge of medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems
• Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post

Experience

Essential criteria

• Proven relevant experience of working with people with common mental health problems
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including telephone skills
• Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients

Desirable criteria

• Proven relevant experience of working in Primary Care Services
• Proven relevant experience of working in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes
• Proven relevant experience of working in the local community

Values

Essential criteria

• Continuous improvement - committed to making improvements to our services for the benefit of all
• Accountability - taking ownership to anticipate, develop and deliver high quality care
• Respect - how we treat others in an inclusive and supportive way
• Enthusiasm - demonstrate our passion and pride for what we do and how we do it
• Support - actively supporting others with compassion and courage