Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Senior CBT Therapist/Clinical/Counselling Psychologist (XR08)

The closing date is 29 May 2025

Job summary

We are looking to recruit a CBT Therapist or Clinical/ Counselling Psychologist to join us in providing specialty therapy services to a wide range of adults referred from the regional Neurology, Neurosurgery and Neurorehabilitation services. This is a permanent post with hours flexible to the needs and wishes of the successful candidate, ranging from 0.6 WTE up to full-time. The post holder must be accredited with the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists and have post accreditation experience of supervising others and taking a lead in services. Experience of working with people diagnosed with a range of both acute and chronic neurological conditions is essential. Some knowledge and experience of working with people experiencing cognitive problems, for example after brain injury, is desirable.

Expected Shortlisting Date

29/05/2025

Planned Interview Date

05/06/2025

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be responsible for supervising clinicians across the Department and, in particular, leading on CBT informed services for people with functional neurological disorder alongside other neurological conditions. The vision is to recruit psychological wellbeing practitioners to provide low intensity psychological support to individuals as part of a matched care model. This will help extend our service offer; the post holder will, with support from the service lead, be responsible for developing and leading this service.

Being part of a large teaching hospitals Trust, the Department of Clinical Health Psychology is academically ambitious with strong links to the regional clinical training programme, and schools of psychology, medicine and healthcare at the University of Leeds. There are opportunities for research, service-evaluation, audit, teaching and delivering supervision.

Supervision, funded CPD and training will be built into your job as our priority is to train and retain your skills and create opportunities for you to progress into more senior roles, without having to look to other employers to progress. We all have annual job plan reviews which align with our own appraisals and ambitions.

If you are interested in joining us, wed love to hear from you. Please contact us for more information or to arrange an informal visit: Dr Catherine Derbyshire, Head of Neuropsychology on 0113 206 5897.

About us

Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust provides a range of high profile and expert clinical services which include major trauma, neurorehabilitation and cancer centres. It is an ambitious Trust with core values of empowerment, fairness, collaboration, accountability and patient-centred care. It is in this context that the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology has flourished over the past decade. The Department now has over 50 clinicians organised in consultant-led teams. We are a friendly department with a good team spirit who value balancing our work and home life. We encourage flexible working which can, for example, include compression of working hours. The Trust has a range of excellent staff benefits and salary sacrifice schemes (including car leasing and cycle-to-work schemes) and on-site facilities.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.

Details

Date posted

15 May 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£53,755 to £60,504 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working

Reference number

C9298-ATH-410

Job locations

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF


Job description

Job responsibilities

JOB PURPOSE/SUMMARY

To provide a highly qualified, evidence based psychological treatment service with an emphasis on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and associated interventions. The post-holder will be accredited in CBT with the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapists (BABCP) and will provide clinical leadership and supervision to both high and low intensity CBT therapists.

a) Providing highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy,

b) Offering advice and consultation on patients psychological care to non-psychologically trained colleagues and to other non-professional carers,

c) Provide clinical supervision and leadership to high and low intensity CBT therapists and other psychological professionals.

d) Using research skills for audit, policy and service development and leading on research projects within the area served by the team/service

e) Working autonomously in the execution of these duties and within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the Psychology Teams, Department and Trust policies and procedures.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES & AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Clinical:

1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of patients based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with patients, family members and others involved in the patients care.

2. To formulate, develop and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a patients psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

4. To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of patients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.

6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to patients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.

7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of people under the medical services, across settings and agencies serving the patient group.

8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual patients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

9. To act as care co-ordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating, planning and review of care plans under enhanced CPA (or its equivalent in the acute physical health care setting) including patients, their carers referring agents and others involved in the network of care.

10. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of patients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

Teaching, training, and supervision

1. To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a more senior psychological professional and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues

2. To gain additional highly specialist experience and skills relevant to psychological therapy and the service (as agreed with the Lead Psychologist and Head of Department) up to two sessions per week.

3. To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staffs psychological work as appropriate.

4. To provide clinical leadership alongside professional and clinical supervision to low and high intensity psychological therapists and trainee doctoral students and student psychological therapists.

5. To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching as appropriate.

6. To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the patient group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.

Management, recruitment, policy and service development

1. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team, specialty and department operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.

2. To advise both the service and the Lead Psychologist on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

3. To manage the workloads of low and high intensity therapists, within the framework of the team/specialty and Department policies and procedures.

4. To be involved, as appropriate, in the short listing and interviewing of assistant / graduate psychologists and psychological therapists.

Research and service evaluation

1. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

2. To undertake, as a major component of the post, appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research, and to disseminate appropriate material via presentation and publication.

3. To lead on research projects within the area served by the team/service.

4. To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.

Job description

Job responsibilities

JOB PURPOSE/SUMMARY

To provide a highly qualified, evidence based psychological treatment service with an emphasis on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and associated interventions. The post-holder will be accredited in CBT with the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapists (BABCP) and will provide clinical leadership and supervision to both high and low intensity CBT therapists.

a) Providing highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy,

b) Offering advice and consultation on patients psychological care to non-psychologically trained colleagues and to other non-professional carers,

c) Provide clinical supervision and leadership to high and low intensity CBT therapists and other psychological professionals.

d) Using research skills for audit, policy and service development and leading on research projects within the area served by the team/service

e) Working autonomously in the execution of these duties and within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the Psychology Teams, Department and Trust policies and procedures.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES & AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Clinical:

1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of patients based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with patients, family members and others involved in the patients care.

2. To formulate, develop and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a patients psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

4. To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of patients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.

6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to patients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.

7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of people under the medical services, across settings and agencies serving the patient group.

8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual patients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

9. To act as care co-ordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating, planning and review of care plans under enhanced CPA (or its equivalent in the acute physical health care setting) including patients, their carers referring agents and others involved in the network of care.

10. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of patients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

Teaching, training, and supervision

1. To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a more senior psychological professional and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues

2. To gain additional highly specialist experience and skills relevant to psychological therapy and the service (as agreed with the Lead Psychologist and Head of Department) up to two sessions per week.

3. To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staffs psychological work as appropriate.

4. To provide clinical leadership alongside professional and clinical supervision to low and high intensity psychological therapists and trainee doctoral students and student psychological therapists.

5. To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching as appropriate.

6. To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the patient group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.

Management, recruitment, policy and service development

1. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team, specialty and department operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.

2. To advise both the service and the Lead Psychologist on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

3. To manage the workloads of low and high intensity therapists, within the framework of the team/specialty and Department policies and procedures.

4. To be involved, as appropriate, in the short listing and interviewing of assistant / graduate psychologists and psychological therapists.

Research and service evaluation

1. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

2. To undertake, as a major component of the post, appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research, and to disseminate appropriate material via presentation and publication.

3. To lead on research projects within the area served by the team/service.

4. To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

  • Experience - Essential criteriaExperience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of patients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in-patient settings.
  • Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism
  • Significant post qualification experience in an area of practice relevant to the service specified in the job summary, to include assessment of risk.

Desirable

  • Experience - Desirable Experience of working within activity and waiting list targets
  • Experience of working in medical multi-disciplinary teams and offering systemic interpretations to have impact on the team functioning in patient care.
  • Experience of working with adults with chronic illness and their families.

Skills and Behaviours

Essential

  • Skills & behaviours - EssentialAbility to exercise the full clinical responsibility for patients psychological care and treatment within the clinical specialty and to co-ordinate the psychological care provided by others.
  • Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
  • Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
  • Skills in the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, accredited with the BABCP.

Desirable

  • Skills & Behaviours - desirableAbility to provide emotional support and professional mentorship to multi-disciplinary team members.

Other Criteria

Essential

  • Other criteria (optional) eg practical skills or Additional Requirements Able to fulfil Occupational Health requirements for the post (with reasonable adjustments if necessary)

Qualifications

Essential

  • Qualifications - Essential CriteriaPost-graduate doctoral training in Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology, Health Psychology and/ or BABCP accreditation in CBT.
  • Registration with the BABCP as a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist
  • Completion of, or completion by starting in post, formal training in supervision of others.
  • Additional post qualification training relevant to the service and job role outlined in the job summary.

Desirable

  • Qualifications - DesirablePre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
Person Specification

Experience

Essential

  • Experience - Essential criteriaExperience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of patients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in-patient settings.
  • Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism
  • Significant post qualification experience in an area of practice relevant to the service specified in the job summary, to include assessment of risk.

Desirable

  • Experience - Desirable Experience of working within activity and waiting list targets
  • Experience of working in medical multi-disciplinary teams and offering systemic interpretations to have impact on the team functioning in patient care.
  • Experience of working with adults with chronic illness and their families.

Skills and Behaviours

Essential

  • Skills & behaviours - EssentialAbility to exercise the full clinical responsibility for patients psychological care and treatment within the clinical specialty and to co-ordinate the psychological care provided by others.
  • Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
  • Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
  • Skills in the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, accredited with the BABCP.

Desirable

  • Skills & Behaviours - desirableAbility to provide emotional support and professional mentorship to multi-disciplinary team members.

Other Criteria

Essential

  • Other criteria (optional) eg practical skills or Additional Requirements Able to fulfil Occupational Health requirements for the post (with reasonable adjustments if necessary)

Qualifications

Essential

  • Qualifications - Essential CriteriaPost-graduate doctoral training in Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology, Health Psychology and/ or BABCP accreditation in CBT.
  • Registration with the BABCP as a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist
  • Completion of, or completion by starting in post, formal training in supervision of others.
  • Additional post qualification training relevant to the service and job role outlined in the job summary.

Desirable

  • Qualifications - DesirablePre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Additional information

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF


Employer's website

https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF


Employer's website

https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Head of Neuropsychology

Dr Catherine Derbyshire

cderbyshire@nhs.net

Details

Date posted

15 May 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£53,755 to £60,504 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working

Reference number

C9298-ATH-410

Job locations

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF


Supporting documents

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