Cognitive Behavioural Therapist - Intensive Life Skills
Closing date is 18 June 2026.
We are offering an exciting opportunity for a Band 7 Cognitive Behavioural Therapist to work with individuals who have complex emotional needs based in clinic or community venues within Lichfield, Tamworth, Burton, Uttoxeter and surrounding areas.
You will be working within the Integrated Mental Health Team (IMHT), Older Adults and the Intensive Life Skills (ILS) Pathway to provide assessment and intervention for adults aged 17 and over who experience complex emotional difficulties as part of the Adult Mental Health Service. You will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide evidence-based interventions.
Supported by therapeutic models including Structured Clinical Management (SCM), attachment theory, behavioural theory, Compassion-Focused Therapy, EMDR, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and Mentalisation-Based Treatment. The successful candidate will have completed or be working toward completion of the Advanced Application of CBT to Personality Difficulties.
You will need to travel independently over a large geographical area and will require suitable transport.
Main duties of the job
As a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, you will be a named worker and undertake holistic comprehensive assessments and formulation of complex clinical presentations, including risk assessments and risk management.
The role includes:
* Being part of the joint pathway for individuals with complex emotional needs across community mental health services and providing high intensity interventions – initially CBT for personality difficulties.
* Working with clients who have a range of complex mental health disorders with secondary care needs for which CBT demonstrates clinical effectiveness.
* Working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and committing to equal opportunities.
* Adhering to an agreed activity contract relating to the number of client contacts offered, and clinical sessions carried out per week to minimise waiting times and ensure accessible treatment delivery.
* Participating in both delivering and receiving a range of managerial, clinical, and professional supervision and clinical development within the pathway.
* Delivering interventions on an individual and group basis to service users who have difficulty regulating their emotions and may use self-harm to manage high levels of distress.
Qualifications
* Post Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Adults or a recorded/registered qualification in nursing, social work, occupational therapy, arts therapy, or psychological therapy plus further training that confers eligibility to apply for BABCP accreditation.
* Significant experience working as a psychological therapy practitioner and demonstrating the required competencies.
* Full accreditation with a recognised professional body (e.g. BABCP, UKCP, BACP).
* Qualification in psychological interventions such as DBT, SCM, EMDR, MBT relevant to a client group with complex mental health needs.
Experience
* Demonstrable experience working in Mental Health Services.
* Ability to meet agreed or specified service targets within local and national objectives.
* Ability to manage own caseload and time.
* Experience of teaching and liaising with other professional groups.
* Relevant experience in a secondary care setting treating complex and severe mental health disorders.
* Relevant experience as a keyworker in a secondary care setting for individuals with complex and severe mental health disorders.
Skills & Knowledge
* Full range of skills and competencies as laid out in the competence framework for CBT (Roth and Pilling 2007), including knowledge of basic CBT principles, ability to structure sessions, guided discovery, Socratic questioning, and problem‑specific competencies and meta‑competencies.
* Ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
* Knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health, benefits and employment systems.
* Knowledge of medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems.
* Trained in provision of supervision for CBT.
* Accredited with a professional psychological therapy organisation.
* Experience working with severe and enduring mental illness such as Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Personality Disorder.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and it will be necessary for a submission to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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