Senior High Intensity CBT Therapist (Step 2 Team Lead)

Job overview

Are you an experienced High Intensity CBT therapist ready to take the next step in your career? Lambeth Talking Therapies, one of London’s largest and most successful IAPT services, is seeking a passionate and skilled professional to join our management team as a Team Lead for the Step 2 service.

This is your chance to shape the future of mental health care in Lambeth, working alongside a dynamic and supportive team committed to excellence, equity, and innovation

The Role

As Step 2 Team Lead, you’ll:

• Lead a key department within the service, helping shape its future direction and driving delivery.
• Provide clinical supervision to High Intensity Therapists and Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners.
• Maintain a clinical caseload as a Senior Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist.
• Take ownership of a strategic area such as performance, training, or capacity planning.
• Collaborate with the Clinical Lead and fellow Team Leads to ensure high-quality care and meet national targets

👥 The Person

We’re looking for someone who:

• Is a qualified and experienced High Intensity therapist.
• Has IAPT supervision credentials.
• Brings a proven track record of managing projects and improving services.
• Demonstrates energy, drive, and a commitment to delivering the best car

Main duties of the job

As Step 2 Team Lead, you’ll:

• Lead a key department within the service, helping shape its future direction and driving delivery.
• Provide clinical supervision to High Intensity Therapists and Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners.
• Maintain a clinical caseload as a Senior Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist.
• Take ownership of a strategic area such as performance, training, or capacity planning.
• Collaborate with the Clinical Lead and fellow Team Leads to ensure high-quality care and meet national targets

We’re looking for someone who:

• Is a qualified and experienced High Intensity therapist.
• Has IAPT supervision credentials.
• Brings a proven track record of managing projects and improving services.
• Demonstrates energy, drive, and a commitment to delivering the best care

Lambeth Talking Therapies is a friendly, creative, social team. We support each other to work hard, and there are lots of opportunities to take on responsibilities and develop.

High-Intensity Therapists receive specialist CBT supervision and training delivered by senior staff as well as the Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma – a national centre of clinical excellence and research innovation within SLaM.

This is a hybrid role with a requirement to work 1-2 days in the office and the rest of the time from home.  It is sometimes necessary to close vacancies before the closing date due to an exceptional response, so please apply as soon as possible.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

PLANNING, MANAGING AND EVALUATING THE DELIVERY OF SERVICES WITHIN LAMBETH TALKING THERAPIES

• Assessing the service need and current and future capacity requirements
• Planning and managing the recruitment process to meet this need
• Monitoring and evaluating service activity and outcomes
• Managing the induction, training and development of staff
• Developing and updating policies and procedures for the delivery of high-quality clinical services
• Commissioning and monitoring external provision of services as agreed

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• To agree job plans, performance targets and development goals with your team through the appraisal process, and monitor and support staff in their achievement
• To foster a supportive and performance focussed team ethos through your interaction and communication with the team, your own behaviour, team meetings and supervision
• To provide day to day line management for your team (annual leave, sickness etc)
• Ensuring good two-way communication between your staff and the service management, through monthly team meetings and informal links

SERVICE LEADERSHIP

• To share responsibility for the direction and development of the service, taking an active role in the monthly service management meeting, leading team and whole team meetings
• To provide regular reports on the activity and performance of the team, and any issues that need attention
• To identify aspects of the service, which could be improved and initiate and implement service development projects
• To take the lead in agreed areas of development and service delivery
• To participate in the recruitment process of staff
• To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and developing services
• To listen and respond to, and appropriately manage patient complaints
• To participate in clinical governance initiatives as agreed by the directorate clinical governance committee.
• Contribute to the development of a culture within the team that values the use of outcome measures and service user involvement as ways of improving clinical practice

CLINICAL

• To provide expertise in a highly specialist clinical area which will contribute to the treatment of clients presenting with anxiety disorders or depression within a Talking Therapies framework
• To deliver NICE recommended, formulation driven psychological interventions for depression and anxiety disorders, adapting interventions for the specific needs and clinical setting.
• Assess and integrate issues surrounding social support, voluntary work and employment into therapy
• To provide highly specialist assessment and clinical formulation to clients with complex mental health needs, including personality disorders, addiction and trauma
• To provide psychological reports, including relevant formulation, opinion and interventions, in order to inform referrers and, where appropriate, service users
• To select and deliver highly specialist evidence based psychological treatments, monitoring outcomes and modifying and adapting interventions, drawing on a range of theoretical models
• To collect and enter clinical outcome data on a sessional basis; select and interpret outcome measures to inform treatment planning
• To work as an autonomous professional within BPS/BABCP/HCPC guidelines and the policies and procedures of the service, taking full responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions
• To travel to community settings as appropriate and across the Trust when required
• To contribute to the effective working of the team and to a psychologically informed framework for the service area, taking on specific roles or duties as agreed
• To communicate skilfully and sensitively highly complex and sensitive information with clients, carers, colleagues and other professionals taking account of sensory and cultural barriers to communication
• To keep clear, accurate and up to date records of all clinical activity in line with service protocols
• To confidently assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans
• To confidently advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of clients
• To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations such as distressed clients or abusive behaviour and to support others involved in such situations
• To provide services at various locations in the borough of Lambeth
• To provide information and signposting for patients who do not meet the service’s eligibility criteria, including referral to secondary care psychological therapies service
• Work closely with other members of the Talking Therapies team to ensure that patients referred on to the Talking Therapies service have a clear referral pathway
• Maintain a clinical caseload in line with activity targets agreed with line manager

TEACHING, TRAINING AND SUPERVISION

• To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychologist/psychotherapist according to BABCP/BPS/HCPC and Trust guidelines
• To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within Lambeth Talking Therapies by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychology, CBT, Talking Therapies and by implementing knowledge gained in practice
• To provide professional managerial, and clinical supervision to HI CBT therapists, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, trainees, assistant psychologist and other junior staff members for all aspects of their work. This must include live supervision of therapist’s work
• To deliver and promote outcome-focussed supervision, directly to supervised staff, and through participation in the LI and HI supervisors’ groups
• To provide service level risk management, taking part in the on-call risk rota, and developing and recording risk management plans
• To provide specialist training to other professions as appropriate
• To plan and undertake teaching and training of pre- and post- qualification psychologists and specialised training to other professions as appropriate
• To provide supervision for the psychological work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate

RESEARCH AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT

• Assist in the development and maintenance of a strong research culture that values the use of outcome measures as a way of improving clinical practice
• Encourage the critical evaluation of practice, and undertake research
• Use theory and literature to support evidence-based practice in clinical work, supervision, teaching and consultations
• Communicate and disseminate research and service evaluation information so that clinical practice is appropriately informed
• To contribute to the development of services through initiating, undertaking and supervising service evaluation and audit
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles

PROFESSIONAL

• Work as an autonomous professional and maintain standards of practice adhering to HPC or BABCP guidelines and the policies and procedures of the service, taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions
• To ensure Continuing Professional Development in line with BPS/BABCP/UKCP and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements
• Be aware of advances in CBT, other psychological therapies and the Talking Therapies programme
• Work in accordance with the principles of CBT and within the parameters of good practice, in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Clinical Governance Framework

GENERAL

• To participate in business and professional meetings within the Talking Therapies service and Lambeth Directorate
• To travel to the GP practices, service meetings and other meetings as appropriate
• To regularly work one evening as required