Overview

We are recruiting to permanent posts for qualified Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners in Hillingdon Talking Therapies. This recruitment is open to PWPs who are qualified or qualifying shortly. We’re looking for enthusiastic and motivated qualified Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners to join our team at NHS Hillingdon Talking Therapies. We are a large and well-established service based in a diverse borough. Our service provides low and high intensity therapies at Step 2 and Step 3 which includes CBT and Counselling, including modalities. We are looking for Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners with excellent communication and interpersonal skills, who are adaptable, enjoy challenges and diversity and demonstrate an enthusiasm for primary care work. We particularly welcome applicants who speak other languages and who have enthusiasm for and experience of working with diversity. We currently have a 20/80 split of F2F and remote appointments, and so can offer very generous hybrid working and flexible working options. We can also be flexible with your working hours and you will receive regular supervision, appraisal and opportunities to develop as a practitioner.

Main duties of the job

You will be working within a stepped care model, providing assessments and delivering evidence based low intensity interventions for people with common mental health problems. Assessments and interventions may be delivered via a digital platform (Teams), face to face or via the telephone.

You would also be expected to deliver psychoeducational workshops and become involved in working within the local community and establishing links with voluntary service organisations to promote the service.

You will receive regular clinical supervision and support from a qualified therapist and work closely with other clinical practitioners within the team. Hillingdon Talking Therapies has close links with other Talking Therapy teams in CNWL, as well as wider links with other mental health teams within Hillingdon. We have a strong tradition of supporting staff development and further progression onto higher training.

Working for our organisation

The team hub is based at Beaufort House, Cricket Field Road, Uxbridge with good links to public transport. The service serves the catchment area of the London Borough of Hillingdon.

The team consistently meets its access and recovery targets and undertakes further projects and service innovation work to meet new demands and needs of the local population. There are clear and well defined systems for triaging and screening of incoming referrals, allocation of clients to step 2 and step 3, management of waiting lists and stepping up and stepping down clients as appropriate.

We operate a generous agile working policy where staff combine remote working and being on-site to deliver face-to-face appointments and other service commitments that require a hub-based presence. The post-holder will work full-time hours and may be required to work at any times between 8am and 7pm on weekdays including an evening clinic as required by the service. Wellbeing is important within our service and we are a collaborative and tight knit team.

We are passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred care. Patients are at the heart of everything we do. With every new employee we’re hoping to find future leaders and we'll support you with opportunities to develop your career.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

• Accept referrals via agreed protocols within the service and develop care package programmes.
• Make protocol-based assessments of risk to self and others and respond to client risk as appropriate.
• Make decisions on suitability of new referrals, adhering to the department’s referral protocols, refer unsuitable clients on to the relevant service or back to the referral agent as necessary or steps-up the person’s treatment to other forms of psychological therapy or other services where appropriate.
• Undertake patient-centred interviews which identify areas where the person wishes to see change.
• Make decisions with people about which appropriate low-intensity intervention would address the client’s difficulties and areas where the person wishes to change.
• Provide a range of information and support for evidence based high-volume low-intensity psychological treatments.
• Provide a range of high-volume low-intensity psychological treatments based on evidence-based literature and research to support best practice in clinical work. Interventions may include guided self-help, group-based CBT-informed interventions and information about pharmacological treatments. Treatment might be individual or in psycho-educational groups.
• Clinical work may be face to face, telephone or via other media according the choice of the client.
• 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.
• Monitor treatment and client progress and provide appropriate feedback to client, GP and referrer.
• Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or clients in treatment, where appropriate.
• Complete all requirements relating to clinical data collection within the service including clinical and service data.
• Keep coherent and accurate 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 low intensity intervention process.
• Operate at all times from an inclusive values base which promotes recovery and recognises and respects diversity.
• Prepare and present clinical information for clients on their caseload in clinical supervision sessions in order to ensure safe practice and adherence to high volume low intensity treatment principles.
• 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.
• Work independently and manage your own time on a day-to-day basis.
• To hold a caseload of clients with common mental health conditions and manage and organise client follow up appointments.
• To provide and receive complex and emotive information to individuals, carers, members of the public and professionals and react accordingly with sensitivity to mental health issues within the Caldicott Guidelines.
• To recognise personal and professional limitations and not overstretch own working capacity.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Qualification as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, from a specialist Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner Training Course from a BABCP accredited provider (Post Graduate Certificate or Level 3 undergraduate course)
• BABCP Accreditation as a qualified PWP, or expected to apply on qualification if completing training

Desirable criteria

• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, health, social science, and/or research design and analysis.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working in Talking Therapies (IAPT) or Primary Care services and delivering low intensity interventions
• Experience of delivering CBT based manualised interventions
• Evidence of working with people with common mental health problems.
• Evidence of having worked in a service where agreed targets were in place to demonstrate effective clinical outcomes.
• Experience of using electronic patient management systems such as IAPTUS or PCMIS or similar.
• Evidence of experience and knowledge of risk assessment and management.

Desirable criteria

• Research / audit experience.
• Evidence of working in the local community.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• High level communication skills: written and verbal, including telephone skills
• An ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.
• Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance.
• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems.
• An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context
• An understanding of psychology applied to health care.
• An ability to evaluate and put in place the effect of training
• Computer literate.
• Ability to work under pressure.

Desirable criteria

• Fluency in an additional (to English) locally relevant priority language
• Experience of delivering group based interventions.

Personal

Essential criteria

• An interest in working with people with mental health problems.
• Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships with staff from all disciplines.
• Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients
• Ability to work independently, flexibly, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals.

Other Requirements

Essential criteria

• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively