CYP Psychological Training: Therapy Trainee CBT

Job description

Job responsibilities

Location: Norwich Hub (with travel across Norfolk & Waveney and to Anna Freud, London for training)

Salary: £34,467.72 per annum

Hours: Full-time, 37.5 hours

Start date: 6th January (university start date is 19th January)

Contract: 1-year fixed-term training post

About the Role

We are excited to invite applications for a Therapeutic Practitioner (CBT) trainee post within our Supporting Smiles service. This is a fully funded training role as part of the NHS England Children and Young Peoples Psychological Training (CYP-PT) programme (formerly CYP-IAPT).

As a trainee, you will:

• Work directly with children, young people, and families, delivering CBT interventions under supervision.
• Split your time between practical clinical work (2.5 days per week) and postgraduate study with UCL/Anna Freud (2.5 days per week).
• Gain a UCL Postgraduate Diploma in CBT for Children and Young People upon successful completion.

This is a fantastic opportunity to apply academic learning in practice, make a direct impact on young peoples lives, and develop your therapeutic career.

About Supporting Smiles

Supporting Smiles provides professional mental health support to children and young people across Norfolk and Waveney through our therapeutic pathways and Childrens Wellbeing Practitioner teams. Our holistic approach combines the expertise of our therapeutic practitioners, counsellors, and childrens wellbeing practitioners. We aim to deliver accessible, inclusive, and community-driven mental health support to children, young people, and families.

Our services name, Supporting Smiles, was co-created with input from the children and families we support. We are part of Norfolk & Waveneys Children and Young Peoples Alliance, an integrated mental health service network guided by the THRIVE principles ensuring support is needs-led, accessible, outcome-informed, promotes shared decision-making, partnership working, and proactive prevention.

Within this framework, Supporting Smiles primarily delivers care within the Getting Help quadrant of the THRIVE Framework. This means we provide focused, evidence-based interventions for children and young people who need more targeted support with their mental health and emotional wellbeing, but who do not require highly specialist or intensive services.

We also work closely with partners across the other quadrants (Getting Advice, Getting More Help, and Risk Support) to ensure children, young people, and families receive the right level of support at the right time.

(For more information about the THRIVE Framework principles, see:https://implementingthrive.org/principles-of-the-thrive-framework/)

About You

We are looking for enthusiastic and motivated candidates who are:

• Passionate about improving children and young peoples mental health.
• Committed to evidence-based practice, accessibility, equity, and inclusion.
• Able to study and write at postgraduate level (degree-level qualification required).
• Flexible and willing to travel across Norfolk & Waveney and to London for training.
• Experienced in working with children/young people in a mental health or related setting (desirable).

Training Details

Training begins 19th January 2026.

Delivered by UCL/Anna Freud (London), with teaching approx. 2.5 days per week.

Supervised clinical practice with Supporting Smiles approx. 2.5 days per week.

Applicants must complete a dual application process: one to Ormiston Families and one to UCL.

For more information on the programme:

https://www.annafreud.org/ucl-postgraduate-study/ucl-postgraduate-programmes/child-and-young-person-iapt-therapy-pg-dip/

For further information and to apply please visit our websitehttps://www.ormiston.org/work-with-us/our-vacancies

Apply separately to UCL for the academic programme.

Direct UCL application link:https://evision.ucl.ac.uk/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_ipp_lgn.login_enc?0qhYzuG1h9udTFM8i9sPhtGiUgIR6D6iP0QBDHq24aUE7Anl4FtDGBDmc3LlBtzaVi6cWmaNYWo=Application guidance document:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17bbinRzAlIfH8SKe3t18I2m14L7sli5e?usp=drive_link

Please refer to the guidance document UCL CYP PT Therapy Application Guidance for Candidates August 2025 for details.

Any queries, please email: brittanie.collins@ormistonfamilies.org.uk

Closing Date: 9am, Friday 26th September 2025

Safeguarding and Equal Opportunities

Ormiston Families is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and adults at risk, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. DBS checks or police vetting will be required for relevant posts.

We are an equal opportunities employer. We value diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualifications that demonstrate a capacity to complete academic work at postgraduate diploma level. Minimum second-class Bachelors Degree from a UK University or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in a relevant subject (e.g., psychology, social work etc). OR Applicants who do not fulfil the academic criteria but with relevant professional experience are encouraged to apply and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Desirable

• A training in a mental-health related profession (e.g., psychology, nursing, health visiting; social work, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, special needs teaching, psychiatry, other psychotherapy, counselling). Proven record of previous academic attainment.

Skills / Competencies

Essential

• Ability to communicate effectively and sensitively with children, young people, and their families. Ability to maintain a reflective stance in emotive/challenging interactions with children and their families. Ability to work in a collaborative and respectful manner with children, young people, and their families. Ability to personally manage sensitive and potentially emotionally distressing caseload material. Ability to reflect on own practice (in clinical supervision and practice tutor groups with course peers). Ability to follow policy and clinical governance procedures and make proposals for change. Ability to maintain accurate records. Ability to complete academic work across different learning environments at postgraduate level and balance academic demands with clinical placement demands. Demonstrates adaptability and ability to work with diverse communities. Good time management and organisational abilities. Effective oral and written communication skills. IT/computer literate. Able to accommodate travel demands associated with the role. Capability to complete academic work at postgraduate diploma level, including IELTS or equivalent for students with English as a foreign language (BAND D) KCL Entry Requirements.

Experience

Essential

• Ideally at least two years experience of working with children / young people in a mental health setting. Experience of multi-agency working and liaising across internal & external agencies. Experience of working with safeguarding issues.

Desirable

• Previous experience of delivering psychologically informed interventions. Previous experience of working within a CBT framework and/or using CBT-informed interventions (e.g., PWP, CWP, EMHP, Parent Trainer). A year or more experience within a CBT framework. Experience of assessing and managing risk and safeguarding issues.

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.

Employer details

Employer name

Ormiston Families

Address

Ormiston Families

11 Prince Of Wales Road

Norwich

NR1 1BD

Employer's website

https://www.ormiston.org/work-with-us/ (Opens in a new tab)