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Job overview
Clinical Psychologist / Counselling Psychologist or Allied Health Professional
An exceptional opportunity has arisen for an HCPC-registered Clinical or Counselling Psychologist, or an Allied Health Professional with expertise in Mentalisation Based Therapy (MBT), to join the Newham Mentalisation Based Therapy Service. This is a permanent position at a 0.6 full-time equivalent, Band 8a role.
The service provides a comprehensive MBT program for individuals presenting with Complex Emotional Needs. Candidates with prior experience in therapeutic interventions for individuals with complex mental health conditions are encouraged to apply. While past experience in MBT treatment is preferred, experience in delivering Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) skills groups would also be advantageous, given our collaboration with community teams to develop community-based DBT skills initiatives.
This role presents an exciting opportunity for career advancement within a Band 8a position, particularly for individuals seeking to enhance their clinical and leadership skills. In addition to providing clinical interventions, responsibilities will include supervision, training, and engagement in various service development initiatives, such as consultation with other services, enhancing our offerings to families and young people, and outreach efforts to teams within the borough.
Main duties of the job
The primary objective of this role is to deliver clinical services to patients within the Newham Mentalisation Based Therapy Service while also providing expert support and guidance to fellow team members. The responsibilities of the post holder include:
- Conducting in-depth psychological assessments for patients referred to the Mentalisation Based Therapy Service and preparing comprehensive reports for both referrers and patients. - Developing and implementing tailored treatment plans, and delivering specialized Mentalisation-Based therapy to patients under the service's care. - Offering clinical supervision to colleagues, along with consultations to other professionals and agencies. - Collaborating with other professionals to ensure continuity of care across various services. - Working independently within professional guidelines while adhering to the overall policies and procedures of the team. - Taking a leading role in the team to provide a treatment approach for patients with complex needs, which includes offering specialized assessments, interventions, and treatments. - Assisting in the collection and development of ongoing research within the specialist service.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For a full overview of the role and specific duties, please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification.
Person specification
Other
Essential
- Ability to manage effectively verbal aggression and abuse from service users, carers etc, and the risk of physical aggression.
- Demonstrably respectful approach to service users, carers, colleagues, other professionals and professional contacts. Willingness to negotiate and ability to handle confrontation effectively and professional
Experience
Essential
- Experience in working with patients with complex emotional needs presentations (i.e. ‘Personality Disorder’) and/or risk of self-harm.
- Experience of delivering therapeutic interventions to individuals with Complex Emotional Needs.
- Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team offering support to adults with severe and enduring mental health problems.
- Experience of group work.
- Experience of delivering training/consultation and providing clinical supervision.
Desirable
- Work within at least two therapeutic modalities.
- Experience of the application of psychology/therapy in different cultural contexts
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Skills in psychological assessment, intervention and management, including the use of theoretical models to develop formulations upon which to base choice of treatment.
- Skills in the effective communication of technical and/or clinically sensitive information to a wide variety of recipients in a range of settings within and outside the NHS, including the ability to produce comprehensive and coherent letters, reports and associated documentation.
- Skills in the assessment of risk for patients with mental health problems and specifically for patients with complex Emotional Needs
- Capacity to work calmly and thoughtfully when working with traumatic psychological issues, demonstrating an awareness of the sensitivity and unpredictability of patients with complex needs, and a capacity to tolerate the strong emotions evoked by such work
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Knowledge and understanding of diagnosis of Personality Disorder.
- Skills in working in multidisciplinary settings.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation mental health.
- Evidence of CPD
- Ability to provide a culturally-competent and non-stigmatising service including an awareness of the potential impact of discrimination and disadvantage on mental health.
- Knowledge of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult - to - treat groups (e.g. complex needs, self harm, personality disorder/psychosis, dual diagnosis, persons with additional disabilities etc).
Desirable
- Some knowledge and understanding of psychoanalytic models and developmental processes associated with Personality Disorder (eg: Transference Focused Psychotherapy (TFP), Mentalization-based Treatment (MBT).
Education/ Qualification/ Training
Essential
- Doctorate in Clinical / Counselling Psychology or equivalence (statement of equivalence and able to demonstrate eligibility for BPS CPsychol (Chartered Psychologist) or allied professional with experience in MBT
- HCPC registration or allied registration
Desirable
- Accredited Practitioner Training in MBT
- Further training in a therapeutic modality relevant to personality disorder i.e DBT Skills
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Clinical or Counselling Psychologist / MBT Therapist with East London NHS Foundation Trust in London, London, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Psychologist role. The advertised salary is £63,665 - £70,887 per annum pro rata Inc HCA. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 26 Jul 2026.
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