Job summary
Sequoia is an innovative service supporting people with Complex Emotional Needs (CEN) and Personality Difficulties across Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire. We offer evidence-based interventions including:
Co-delivered with our partners at Rethink Mental Illness, we provide both clinical and community-based support. All interventions are available online and in person, with flexible delivery across home and community settings throughout BNSSG.
Why Join Us?
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Inclusive Culture - We celebrate diversity and foster a welcoming space for staff and service users
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Innovative Approach - Help shape a developing service built on a "test and learn" model
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Professional Growth - Benefit from robust supervision, training, and skill-building opportunities
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Flexible Working - Enjoy a hybrid model that supports wellbeing and work-life balance
Training and Development
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DBT and MBT training opportunities
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Regular supervision and ongoing development
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Hybrid working across remote and community settings
Ready to Make a Difference? If you're organised, empathetic, and ready to help build a service that transforms lives--we'd love to hear from you.
Main duties of the job
As a key member of the Sequoia team, you'll play a vital role in running a dynamic, high-volume service supporting individuals with mild to moderate Complex Emotional Needs (CEN), including Personality Difficulties. Your work spans clinical support, service coordination, and collaboration with co-delivery partners at Rethink Mental Illness.
Clinical and Group Work Responsibilities
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Facilitate support conversations (our term for assessments) throughout a person's journey
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Join the duty team to triage referrals and respond to ad hoc situations
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Act as a link to referring teams, maintaining relationships and sharing feedback
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Support individuals with higher needs alongside Senior Practitioners
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Deliver DBT or MBT sessions under supervision
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Supervise staff managing complex cases, offering guidance through shadowing and feedback
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Collaborate with Rethink to assess group suitability and shape volunteer-led work
Operational and Service Development Duties
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Be the go-to for process and procedure, ensuring smooth operations
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Manage the admin team and oversee service processes
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Audit performance via clinical records and reports
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Monitor caseloads to ensure safe progression through pathways
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Support data collection and work with Clinical and Research Leads to analyse service data
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Use feedback and insights to improve delivery
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Co-design service improvements with Rethink's Expert by Experience team
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Share your CEN/PD expertise to shape AWP and Rethink-led interventions
About us
Sequoia is a new AWP service - please see the service summary attached to the job advert.
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.
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.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Who Were Looking For
Were seeking a highly organised and compassionate professional with experience supporting people with complex emotional needs and personality difficulties. If you have a background in group work and thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced environment, this role could be a great fit.
Key responsibilities include:
-
Being part of the duty team, including triaging referrals
-
Contributing to service-wide planning
- Managing the admin team
-
Providing support conversations to individuals with higher needs
-
Supporting clinical audits and refining operational processes
-
Supervising staff and coordinating with Rethink colleagues
-
Delivering DBT or MBT sessions under the supervision of Senior Practitioners
Were looking for someone with strong clinical insight, excellent attention to detail, and a genuine commitment to improving lives.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Who Were Looking For
Were seeking a highly organised and compassionate professional with experience supporting people with complex emotional needs and personality difficulties. If you have a background in group work and thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced environment, this role could be a great fit.
Key responsibilities include:
-
Being part of the duty team, including triaging referrals
-
Contributing to service-wide planning
- Managing the admin team
-
Providing support conversations to individuals with higher needs
-
Supporting clinical audits and refining operational processes
-
Supervising staff and coordinating with Rethink colleagues
-
Delivering DBT or MBT sessions under the supervision of Senior Practitioners
Were looking for someone with strong clinical insight, excellent attention to detail, and a genuine commitment to improving lives.
Person Specification
Education and Qualification
Essential
- Registered Practitioner - Registered Mental Health Professional either Mental Health Nurse, Social Worker or Occupational Therapist or Doctoral Clinical / Counselling Psychologist
Desirable
- Completion of training in MBT or DBT
- A post-registration clinical qualification (e.g. DipHE, MSc)
- Qualification in Management and/or leadership (e.g. ILM, CMI or NHS Leadership Academy)
Experience and Knowledge
Essential
- Experience in the therapeutic engagement with, and management of, challenging behavior in a clinical context (e.g. patient agitation, self-injury, aggression, violence or high-attentional demand)
- Good working knowledge of, and experience of using, a systematic care planning, management, delivery and evaluation model (e.g. the Care Programme Approach)
- Substantial post-registration clinical practice, and experience of leading / supervising
- Experience of coordinating and leading time-limited episodes of clinical activity (e.g. shifts, day duties, clinical delivery Programmes)
- Experience of leading or facilitating change and/or quality improvement projects or activities
- Significant demonstrable experience of leading teams in the effective delivery of care
Desirable
- Experience of facilitating groups
- Experience of managing a large team
- Experience of organisational change, transformation or cultural development work
- Experience of delivering and/or training in another evidenced based model for CEN/PD
- Experience of delivery of MBT, DBT
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Advanced organizational skills, and ability to record, store and report on accurate, relevant data.
- Ability to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate programmes of care and treatment, including the component activities and tasks within such programmes.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including coherent data presentation and reporting
- Ability to undertake the clinical activity (appropriate to own professional training / registration) in order to provide credible clinical as well as operational oversight.
- Ability to receive and deliver a high standard of clinical and management supervision, performance appraisal, mentorship and supportive people management.
Desirable
- Undertake specific therapy skills.
Other requirements
Essential
- Empathy with, and compassion for, all those who use AWP's services, their carers' and our staff who work so hard to support them.
- A motivated, proactive, solution-focused professional attitude - ability to see problems and limitations as challenges to be worked with and overcome.
- Good time management.
Desirable
- Resilience to work in an environment that may be challenging but highly rewarding
Person Specification
Education and Qualification
Essential
- Registered Practitioner - Registered Mental Health Professional either Mental Health Nurse, Social Worker or Occupational Therapist or Doctoral Clinical / Counselling Psychologist
Desirable
- Completion of training in MBT or DBT
- A post-registration clinical qualification (e.g. DipHE, MSc)
- Qualification in Management and/or leadership (e.g. ILM, CMI or NHS Leadership Academy)
Experience and Knowledge
Essential
- Experience in the therapeutic engagement with, and management of, challenging behavior in a clinical context (e.g. patient agitation, self-injury, aggression, violence or high-attentional demand)
- Good working knowledge of, and experience of using, a systematic care planning, management, delivery and evaluation model (e.g. the Care Programme Approach)
- Substantial post-registration clinical practice, and experience of leading / supervising
- Experience of coordinating and leading time-limited episodes of clinical activity (e.g. shifts, day duties, clinical delivery Programmes)
- Experience of leading or facilitating change and/or quality improvement projects or activities
- Significant demonstrable experience of leading teams in the effective delivery of care
Desirable
- Experience of facilitating groups
- Experience of managing a large team
- Experience of organisational change, transformation or cultural development work
- Experience of delivering and/or training in another evidenced based model for CEN/PD
- Experience of delivery of MBT, DBT
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Advanced organizational skills, and ability to record, store and report on accurate, relevant data.
- Ability to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate programmes of care and treatment, including the component activities and tasks within such programmes.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including coherent data presentation and reporting
- Ability to undertake the clinical activity (appropriate to own professional training / registration) in order to provide credible clinical as well as operational oversight.
- Ability to receive and deliver a high standard of clinical and management supervision, performance appraisal, mentorship and supportive people management.
Desirable
- Undertake specific therapy skills.
Other requirements
Essential
- Empathy with, and compassion for, all those who use AWP's services, their carers' and our staff who work so hard to support them.
- A motivated, proactive, solution-focused professional attitude - ability to see problems and limitations as challenges to be worked with and overcome.
- Good time management.
Desirable
- Resilience to work in an environment that may be challenging but highly rewarding
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
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).
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