Go back North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust
Senior Counsellor
The closing date is 14 April 2026
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust are seeking a Highly Specialised Senior Psychological Therapist. You will provide advanced psychological therapies within your accredited modality to clients with complex presentations, and offer clinical leadership, supervision, and support across a multidisciplinary team.
You will help shape therapy pathways, drive quality improvement, and ensure services meet Talking Therapies standards, NICE guidance, and national competency frameworks. This role offers the opportunity to influence service development, contribute to research and audit, and lead a team committed to compassionate, inclusive care.
We are looking for an experienced therapist with professional registration (e.g., BABCP, HCPC, BACP, UKCP), excellent clinical skills, and a passion for leadership and service excellence.
This role offers the opportunity to influence service direction and the future of psychological therapy in North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, maintain clinical excellence, and provide visible leadership across our geographical footprint. If you are an innovative, reflective, and values-driven senior therapist ready to shape the future of psychological therapy delivery, we would welcome your application.
Main duties of the job
You will:
* Deliver highly specialised, evidence-based psychological therapy to clients with complex common mental health presentations within NHS Talking Therapies criteria
* Provide clinical leadership and supervision across multidisciplinary teams (PWPs, counsellors, CBT therapists, and psychological therapists)
* Shape and develop therapy pathways in line with NICE guidance, national competency frameworks, and Talking Therapies standards
* Lead on clinical governance, quality improvement, workforce development, and service innovation
* Contribute to research, audit, and service evaluation
* Work collaboratively within a senior leadership team to ensure delivery of KPIs, productivity and high‑quality patient care
We are looking for a clinician who:
* Holds professional accreditation/registration (e.g. BABCP, HCPC, BACP, UKCP or equivalent)
* Has substantial post‑qualification experience within NHS Talking Therapies
* Demonstrates advanced formulation skills and the ability to manage complex risk
* Has experience of providing clinical supervision and leadership
* Is passionate about evidence‑based practice, service development and workforce support
About us
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust is a leading provider of mental health, social care, learning disability and substance misuse services in the West Midlands.
We are a forward‑thinking Trust and are extremely proud to have attained the highest possible rating of "Outstanding" from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), one of only two specialist Mental Health Trusts in England to be awarded this.
We are also delighted to have won the prestigious award of 'Trust of the Year' at the national Health Service Journal Awards 2022, the only mental health Trust to have won this so far.
Our vision is 'To be Outstanding in all we do and how we do it' and the way we do inclusion is no exception. As a 'Disability Confident Employer', we very much believe that inclusion is something that you feel when you work at the Trust and we are continuously developing our culture of inclusion. Our teams pride themselves on compassion, team work and resilience.
Job responsibilities
* Provide clinical leadership on (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy / Counselling & Relational Psychotherapies / Low intensity therapies / Long Term Conditions) and associated consultation, training and clinical supervision to other team members.
* Provide evidence based psychological therapy within your specified modality to a more complex clinical population that cannot be met in a standard IAPT pathway but still meet the top end criteria for NHS Talking Therapies.
* To provide clinical leadership to the service and operate within the senior leadership team.
* Ensure services meet the national competency frameworks, ensuring workforce compliance with NICE approved therapies and relevant psychological therapy / supervision competency frameworks (e.g Roth & Pilling).
* With the clinical lead, provide a quality feedback framework, by inputting to incident report reviews, critical incidents and serious incident reports, providing feedback and supporting staff, whilst assisting in identifying themes for improvements.
* Contribute to the implementation of specialist area pathways and provide ongoing monitoring.
* Engage in research activity within the services, providing a point of contact and a conduit to research colleagues.
* Further information on attached Job Description.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Accredited by the BABCP in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy / Registered with the BABCP as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner / Accredited with the UKCP, BACP or NCS as a counsellor and psychotherapist / HCPC registration as a relevantly qualified practitioner psychologist (health psychologist, clinical or counselling psychologist).
* Minimum of a QAA level 7 qualification (Master's level) in applied psychological therapy practice or psychological research area (e.g. MPhil, MSc, PgDip)
* Professional Doctorate and registration as a practitioner psychologist (Counselling, Clinical or Health Psychology)
* EMDR accredited consultant & supervisor
Experience
* Experience of working within an Talking Therapies service and skilled in collaborative assessment, formulation and working alongside colleagues from a range of disciplines.
* Experience of making autonomous, highly specialist clinical judgement to determine appropriateness for treatment within Talking Therapies pathways, considering risk factors, clinical complexity, and service thresholds.
* Experience of leading / developing specialised Talking Therapies pathways.
Knowledge
* Demonstrates an understanding of the national Talking Therapies service and how it links to governmental objectives
* Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, psychological formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration. This requires the use of highly developed analytical and judgement skills
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust
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