Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Transformation Unit; Widnes; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust in Widnes is seeking a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner to deliver low intensity CBT to patients with mild to moderate depression and anxiety in primary care.

You must hold a recognised PGCert in Primary Care Mental Health Practice or be near completion, with BABCP/BPS registration to be achieved within 6–12 months. The role supports flexible working and is on a full-time basis.

Qualifications

• Must hold an accredited PGCert in Primary Care Mental Health Practice or be near completion.
• Registration with BABCP or BPS to be achieved within 6–12 months.
• Experience in primary care and community settings; ability to work independently.

Responsibilities

• Accept referrals and assess risk and suitability for care.
• Deliver low-intensity CBT interventions (e.g., guided self-help, computerised CBT).
• Educate and involve family members and others in treatment as needed.
• Keep coherent records of clinical activity and use data for decision making.

Skills

Verbal communication

Written communication

Self-reflection

Teamwork

Travel availability

Multilingual (community languages)

Education

PGCert Primary Care Mental Health Practice

BABCP/BPS registration plan

Health/Social Care degree

Job description

Main area Low Intensity CBT Grade Band 5 Contract Permanent Hours 37.5 hours per week (Full time - 37.5 hours per week) Job ref 350-CC8321735

Employer Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site St Johns Unit Town Widnes Salary £32,073 - £39,043 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 22/11/2026 23:59

Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Band 5

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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

AI can be a useful tool to support the preparation of your application. However, all information submitted must be accurate, truthful and reflect your own skills, experience and achievements. Applications should include personal examples demonstrating how you meet the person specification. Applications that appear mostly or fully generated by AI, without clear personal examples linked to the person specification, may be rejected.For tips and guidance, please refer to our applicant guidance.

Identity verification

Candidates attending interview will be required to provide original photographic identification where available. Where suitable photographic identification is not available, a photograph will be taken at interview for identity verification purposes. Successful candidates will also be required to complete digital identity and right to work checks via TrustID, including facial recognition and image matching technology, to verify their identity throughout the recruitment and onboarding process. Identity verification will also be undertaken on the first day of employment in line with NHS employment check requirements.

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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 selfmanagement 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 referralprotocols, refers unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referralagent 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 contactsoffered, 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 promote recovery and recognises and respects diversity.

Person specification

Qualification

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

Skills

• Ability to evaluate and integrate training into practice
• 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
• Car driver and / or ability and willingness to travel to locations throughout the Mersey Care footprint
• Fluent in community languages other than English

Knowledge

• 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
• 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

• 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
• 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

• 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

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Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply for all correspondence. All information regarding your application will come from apps.trac.jobs not NHS Jobs.

Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who consider themselves to be disabled who meet the minimum (essential) criteria for the role in the person specification. If you would like your application to be considered under the Trust’s guaranteed interview scheme you can indicate this in the personal information section of your online application form.

Should you require a reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process please email [e-mail] to ensure that measures can be put in place to support you.

We reserve the right to close any vacancies from further applications when we have received a minimum number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.

The Trust expects all post holders who require an enhanced DBS for their role and work in Children’s & Young People services to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £15 per year and maintain registration. Trans applicants who require a DBS check and do not want to reveal details of their previous identity can contact the DBS Sensitive Applications Team (01516761452 or email [e-mail] ) with their application number once they have completed their DBS application form. The team can prevent any previous identity showing on the DBS Certificate, unless the applicant has a conviction under their previous details in which case this will need to be disclosed.

Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website - https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Please be advised that the use of Artificial Intelligence on applications is monitored and if you choose to use this, you must declare this on your application form.

The Trust uses TrustID digital identity verification, including facial matching technology, to confirm that identity documents belong to the individual attending interview and commencing employment.

Please note: new entrants to the NHS will commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.

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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.