Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Band 7 Psychological Therapist – MBT Practitioner & Associate MBT Lead

The closing date is 12 August 2025

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity for a therapist to join the Mentalisation Based Therapy Team, which is part of the Complex Psychological Interventions Team (CPI) in Bristol.

You would be joining the CPI Team, which is an established team of Arts Psychotherapist, Clinical Psychologists Psychotherapists and Psychological Therapists.

The post holder will be based at Callington Road Hospital offering a service to clients from across Bristol. You will be providing assessments, psychological formulation, planning and implementing individual and group MBT sessions within community services, using a recovery approach including inputting into service users care programmes.

As a part of the CPI team, you will receive excellent support and supervision from more senior and well-established CPI members who work within the MBT specialism. There are also opportunities to link with psychological therapist colleagues and participate in regular case presentations and peer learning and development through the CPI.

The CPI have links to local training institutions and Universities, bringing opportunities for teaching, mentoring, and research. The CPI also work to support opportunities to develop staff through ongoing professional training and development, both internally and externally.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for someone to hold a lead role in managing all aspects of the rolling 12-week MBTi/Thinking Minds Group. This will include: linkwork, assessment, recruitment, practical organisation, co-ordinating staffing for the group, taking an active role as lead co-facilitator, developing and adapting psychoeducation materials, reviewing clients following the group, and collaborating with the wider team regarding the allocation of places in the 18 month MBT Full Programme.

You would work in collaboration with the MBT Lead, holding a mentalising stance in response to risk and clinical dilemmas, supporting thinking related to team capacity, contributing to the MBT On Call service, and maintaining reflective and open lines of communication with the wider system.

The role will involve working and liaising with other parts of the service including working closely with the Support and Recovery Teams, the Crisis Team and GPs. This will include offering consultation and bringing psychological thinking and consideration of the MBT model to different forums.

About us

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust):a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.

AWP is committed to support and create a positive research and evidence-based environment and culture, which can have a beneficial impact on everyone who works for the organisation and the care we provide to those who use our services.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Date posted

29 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

342-BR124-0725

Job locations

Callington Road Hospital

Marmalade Lane

Bristol

BS4 5BJ

Job description

Job responsibilities

To provide a psychological therapy service to the MBT team including assessment and therapy both for individuals and groups as appropriate.

To take a lead role in organizing and running the MBT-I/Thinking Minds Group.

To provide a specialist MBT consultancy service to multidisciplinary teams and other agencies providing care for the client group.

To participate in MBT team duties as agreed by the MBT Lead and CPI Lead as appropriate, to the needs of the service.

To maintain accurate records and to monitor clinical workload using agreed systems.

To ensure timely recording of all data required by the Trust.

To support the full implementation of Your Team, Your Conversation, Your Plan, acting as key worker as appropriate to the needs of the service.

Job description

Job responsibilities

To provide a psychological therapy service to the MBT team including assessment and therapy both for individuals and groups as appropriate.

To take a lead role in organizing and running the MBT-I/Thinking Minds Group.

To provide a specialist MBT consultancy service to multidisciplinary teams and other agencies providing care for the client group.

To participate in MBT team duties as agreed by the MBT Lead and CPI Lead as appropriate, to the needs of the service.

To maintain accurate records and to monitor clinical workload using agreed systems.

To ensure timely recording of all data required by the Trust.

To support the full implementation of Your Team, Your Conversation, Your Plan, acting as key worker as appropriate to the needs of the service.

Person Specification

Education and Qualification

Essential

oDoctoral clinical/ Counselling Psychology qualification or equivalent as a qualified Registered Mental Health Professional.
oHCPC Registration or professional registration with a recognised professional body e.g. UKCP, BPC, BACP, NMC
oCompletion of three day postgraduate introductory training in Mentalisation Based Therapy (MBT) for borderline personality disorder.

Desirable

oExperience of delivery of MBT service

Experience and Knowledge

Essential

oEvidence of interest and experience in working with people with complex emotional needs
oExperience of working in a multidisciplinary team
oAssessment and therapeutic interventions with client group using an MBT model

Desirable

oExperience of teaching/training in MBT

Skills and Abilities

Essential

Effective team player with good communication with liaison skills
oWell organised with good administration skills
oEmpathy/engagement skills with the client group
oAbility to cope with workload pressure/prioritise workload
oAbility to work independently
oSelf-awareness and emotional resilience

Person Specification

Education and Qualification

Essential

oDoctoral clinical/ Counselling Psychology qualification or equivalent as a qualified Registered Mental Health Professional.
oHCPC Registration or professional registration with a recognised professional body e.g. UKCP, BPC, BACP, NMC
oCompletion of three day postgraduate introductory training in Mentalisation Based Therapy (MBT) for borderline personality disorder.

Desirable

oExperience of delivery of MBT service

Experience and Knowledge

Essential

oEvidence of interest and experience in working with people with complex emotional needs
oExperience of working in a multidisciplinary team
oAssessment and therapeutic interventions with client group using an MBT model

Desirable

oExperience of teaching/training in MBT

Skills and Abilities

Essential

Effective team player with good communication with liaison skills
oWell organised with good administration skills
oEmpathy/engagement skills with the client group
oAbility to cope with workload pressure/prioritise workload
oAbility to work independently
oSelf-awareness and emotional resilience

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.

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

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

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Address

Callington Road Hospital

Marmalade Lane

Bristol

BS4 5BJ

Employer's website

http://www.awp.nhs.uk/about-us/working-for-us/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Address

Callington Road Hospital

Marmalade Lane

Bristol

BS4 5BJ

Employer's website

http://www.awp.nhs.uk/about-us/working-for-us/ (Opens in a new tab)