North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust

Trainee CBT Therapist

The closing date is 24 September 2025

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen in the North Staffordshire arm (Newcastle and Leek) of the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Talking Therapies Service. This Service is a partnership between North Staffs Combined Health Care, the Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust and third sector providers and is an innovative high performing talking therapies team providing effective treatments for a broad range of common mental health problems in primary care.

We are looking to recruit several trainee CBT Therapists.

To apply you should have experience working in a mental health setting and ideally hold a core mental health professional qualification. If successful, you will be funded to work as a trainee CBT Therapist within the North Staffordshire NHS Talking Therapies Service and will be required to study on the 12 month Post-Graduate Diploma in CBT at Keele University (starting January 2026) spending 3 days a week clinically and 2 days a week at University.

Shortlisted applicants must be available to attend academic screening late September. Those passing academic screening will then be offered interviews with the locality team.

Band 7 posts as CBT Therapists will be offered to those passing the PGD with no performance concerns at the end of training.

As far as possible these posts will be accommodated in the clinical placement service, though subject to vacancies and service need may be within another Talking Therapies team within North or South Staffs.

Main duties of the job

This is an excellent opportunity for those committed to training and working as Cognitive Behavioural Therapists.

We are seeking individuals who can demonstrate some existing knowledge and experience of delivering CBT interventions, as well as experience of treating anxiety disorders and depression, but who would like to specialise further in this area.

Our teams are committed to continuing clinical training/development, supervision and support for all therapists. The service has been a pathfinder for several developments in Talking Therapies service delivery, and has a proven track record for quality and research.

A detailed job description and personal specification listing necessary qualifications are attached.

Main duties of the job:

Assess clients for suitability for psychological interventions within the stepped care model and formulate, implement and evaluate therapy programmes for clients.

Adhere to agreed activity relating to the number of client contacts offered, and clinical sessions carried out per week in order to meet the requirements of the Diploma course being undertaken.

About us

As a Trust we remain bold and ambitious with plans for both service and system collaborative transformation over the coming years to improve the health and wellbeing of our local people through high quality care.

We pride ourselves onensuring our team has their wellbeing put first and as such provide a range of wellness opportunities including flexible working.

We are committed to the Greener NHS national ambition to becoming the world's first 'carbon net zero' national health system by 2045 (Greener NHS (england.nhs.uk). As part of this, sustainability is embedded in our strategy as one of our four key enablers. In order to deliver on this commitment, we recognise that we need a workforce that is as passionate as we are about achieving these goals, for the benefit of our service users, workforce, local communities and the planet alike. For 2024/2025, we have launched our "Proud to be Green" engagement campaign which is aligned to the targets set out in our Green Plan. As a Trust, you can be assured that we will commit to supporting you in working towards our net zero ambitions, set out in our Green Plan, through our sustainability programme".

The Trust is committed to ensuring that a diverse workforce is representative and inclusive at all levels. We would very much welcome applications from all under-represented groups including women, people with disabilities, people from global majority backgrounds, and those from the lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities.

Date posted

10 September 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£38,682 to £46,580 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

232-PRC-7424946

Job locations

Lancaster Building

Ironmarket

Newcastle-under-Lyme

ST5 1PG

Job description

Job responsibilities

To maintain a broad understanding of the work of North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust as a whole, and actively contribute your ideas for the improvement of service provision.
To ensure own actions contribute to the maintenance of a quality service provision.
To be responsible for the self-development of skills and competencies through participation in training and development activities and to maintain up to date technical and professional knowledge relevant to the post.
To participate in the Performance and Development Review and to undertake any identified training and development related to the post.
To undertake statutory and mandatory training as deemed appropriate by the Trust.
To develop and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues.
To adhere to all Trust policies and procedures.

Details of shortlisted applicants will be passed onto the University for Academic screening.

All applicants who do not hold a recognised core profession by the BABCP will be required to have their completed KSA portfolio to submit at the time of the interview to demonstrate eligibility for the course programme. For guidance on completing a KSA portfolio to support applicants, please direct them to BABCP website:https://babcp.com/Knowledge-Skills-Attitudes

Applicants should abide by the 2 year rule set by Health Education England if they have previously undertaken taken training. Please see:https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/mental-health/psychological-professions/nhs-funding-psychological-professions-training-programmes

Job description

Job responsibilities

To maintain a broad understanding of the work of North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust as a whole, and actively contribute your ideas for the improvement of service provision.
To ensure own actions contribute to the maintenance of a quality service provision.
To be responsible for the self-development of skills and competencies through participation in training and development activities and to maintain up to date technical and professional knowledge relevant to the post.
To participate in the Performance and Development Review and to undertake any identified training and development related to the post.
To undertake statutory and mandatory training as deemed appropriate by the Trust.
To develop and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues.
To adhere to all Trust policies and procedures.

Details of shortlisted applicants will be passed onto the University for Academic screening.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

A recorded/registered/accredited qualification in one of the following - Nursing (RNM / RNLD), Social Work, Art Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Counselling, Psychotherapeutic Counselling Or able to meet the BABCP Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes KSA Portfolio criteria for entry to the course e.g 2 years' experience post qualification as a PWP Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Experience

Essential

Demonstrable experience of working in mental health services
Experience with routine outcome monitoring

Desirable

Experience of working in Primary Care Services
Worked in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

A recorded/registered/accredited qualification in one of the following - Nursing (RNM / RNLD), Social Work, Art Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Counselling, Psychotherapeutic Counselling Or able to meet the BABCP Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes KSA Portfolio criteria for entry to the course e.g 2 years' experience post qualification as a PWP Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Experience

Essential

Demonstrable experience of working in mental health services
Experience with routine outcome monitoring

Desirable

Experience of working in Primary Care Services
Worked in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes

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

North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust

Address

Lancaster Building

Ironmarket

Newcastle-under-Lyme

ST5 1PG

Employer's website

https://www.combined.nhs.uk/working-together/join-our-team/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust

Address

Lancaster Building

Ironmarket

Newcastle-under-Lyme

ST5 1PG

Employer's website

https://www.combined.nhs.uk/working-together/join-our-team/ (Opens in a new tab)