Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Band 7 Senior Practitioner (MBT) - Bristol

The closing date is 09 April 2026

Job summary

Sequoia provides evidence-based interventions for people with Complex Emotional Needs and Personality Difficulties across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. They offer Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) and Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT) informed groups, psych-education courses and peer support groups. All interventions are delivered both online and in person and staff work in a hybrid way, between home and locations within our communities, across BNSSG. The MBT informed is currently solely delivered in person and during 9-5 hours, but in the future this may change depending on service user demand and staffing capacity. This post is advertised as up to full time and part time will also be considered.

Sequoia is looking for someone who is an accredited MBT practitioner or someone who has nearly completed accreditation. We will build in time within your job to join an established MBT service and deliver full programme MBT as well as the shorter MBT informed intervention which we deliver within Sequoia.

We have good supervision structures and pride ourselves on being inclusive both in our team and for the people we serve. It is exciting to work in a newly developing service that is based on a test and learn approach and so we are looking for someone who is keen to help shape the service as it grows. We aim to deliver well organised services, so alongside your other skills we highly value people who are organised and have good attention to detail.

Main duties of the job

Responsibility for the oversight of MBT informed interventions; an overview of triage referrals, support conversations and post group reviews, running the groups. There is an existing programme of 14 sessions designed and ready to be delivered. Working alongside the Clinical Lead to improve the MBT branch of the service including looking at feedback and data to identify changes. You will be the 'go-to' person in the service for MBT and supporting staff working alongside you, as well as those external to Sequoia. There will be an ongoing specialist MBT supervision available to you to help guide the development of this aspect of the service.

You will also be involved in other parts of the service outside of MBT and have the opportunity to help with the design, implementation and improvement of the service as a whole. You will be supporting the day to day running of a service with a large caseload of people with mild to moderate complex emotional needs. Whilst the focus of the service is delivering group interventions, you will also offer people support conversations. You will be on the duty rota, where you will screen referrals, offer staff support both clinically and emotionally. The team has regular reflective practice, CPD and business meetings.

About us

Sequoia is a relatively new AWP service - please see our website - https://awpsequoia.nhs.uk/

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.

Date posted

26 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year (pro rata) (pay award pending)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working

Reference number

342-BR049-0326

Job locations

Callington Road Hospital

Marmalade Lane

Bristol

BS4 5BJ

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities:

As a member of the AWP BNSSG Sequoia, the post holder will provide a high quality service to people suffering from complex mental health problems, in particular people with complex emotional needs (CEN/PD) associated with the diagnosis of Personality Disorder, such as attachment, interpersonal difficulties and emotional intensity. This will include specialist assessment to determine the most appropriate treatment.

The post-holder will work closely with both internal and external stakeholders in the ongoing development of the service.

The delivery of group and individual treatments.

The caseload will at times include people who present with significant complexity and risk.

Provide specialist supervision and consultation for mental health professionals working with people with CEN/PD as required.

Comply with their professions regulatory requirements, ethics and code of conduct.

Work within AWPs policies to manage care pathways and risk.

Work within AWPs procedures for Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults.

Participate in regular clinical supervision.

Demonstrate in clinical practice their respect for the experience of the people accessing our service.

Contribute towards the local clinical framework e.g. care programme approach (CPA)/Your conversation, your team, your plan, including taking on care coordination/key working responsibilities as needed.

Clinical Administrative Responsibilities:

Keep appropriate electronic records of clinical interventions.

Provide appropriate data reporting on clinical activity.

Complete clinical administrative responsibilities needed for the appropriate clinical frameworks e.g. CPA.

Training/Education/Research:

Provide training around working with people with CEN to a range of mental health professionals from a range of backgrounds (including experienced clinicians as well as unqualified staff) Provide training to professionals from other agencies as requested (e.g. housing).

Contribute to the learning and skills development of pre and post registration/qualification students, trainees, novice practitioners and new team members.

Maintain awareness of relevant developments in MBT and in thinking about working with people with CEN, including research, theory and best practice guidelines. Dissemination to clinical and management colleagues as needed.

The post-holder will contribute to evaluation of aspects of the service. This will include agreeing and using appropriate outcome measures, data input and analysis with appropriate supervision.

Keep up to date with statutory and mandatory training and maintain appropriate continuing professional development activities.

Integrated Governance and policy:

Contribute to the clinical governance agenda in Sequoia.

Contribute to disseminating best practice in working with people with CEN within Sequoia and wider partners.

Participate in relevant audit projects particularly in relation to the local CEN pathways.

Maintain and develop knowledge, experience and competence in psychological therapies for people with CEN in line with regulatory and governance guidelines.

Participate in the performance appraisal/supervision process. Ensure that you understand all of the key governance requirements, policies and standards for your services and that these are communicated to your team; make sure your team understand the importance of good governance.

Support the development of policies relevant to your services, including your team in this work.

People leadership and management

Provide inclusive, compassionate and effective leadership for your team by setting clear vision and direction.

Develop a culture and environment in which members of staff are encouraged and supported to deliver high- quality services and are supported to innovate and improve services where appropriate.

Encourage your team to feel able to raise concerns openly and safely.

Promote equality of opportunity in service delivery and employment, ensuring that no person receives less favourable treatment than another on the grounds of gender, marital status, race, religion, creed, colour nationality ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation or disability.

Support prompt recruitment by identifying vacancies to the AWP Recruitment Team as soon as they arise, and participate in the selection and effective induction and onboarding of new joiners to the team.

Ensure that all team members have a very positive introduction to the team and a well-supported first year.

Ensure that key messages are cascaded in your team and that your team are encouraged to put forward suggestions.

Show appreciation to your team when they do good work and support them when they are struggling.

Consider the individual needs of team members for a healthy work-life balance and think about how their needs can be supported by providing flexible ways of working.

Support all team members to keep their mandatory and statutory training up-to-date and identify the learning and development needs of all team members of the team ensuring that everyone has an up-to-date personal development plan (PDP).

Ensure that every team member has at least an hour of supervision (one-to-one meeting) each month, this may include both managerial and clinical supervision.

Ensure all team members receive a constructive assessment of their performance each year and set SMART objectives for the coming year.

Seek support from the HR Team to tackle any worries regarding matters of discipline, including both conduct and capability concerns, supporting a just and restorative culture. Take prompt action regarding serious concerns and ensure clear plans are in place for problems which are less serious in nature but prove difficult to resolve.

Act as a positive role model at all times, encouraging people to feel equal members of the team whilst working within clear frameworks and policies.

Promote effective use of bank and agency nursing staff, providing a safe and effective service, complying with regulatory standards.

Performance and information management

Ensure that you and your team understand all of the agreed key performance indicators for your service, particularly relating to outcomes and essential standards to be met.

Ensure that you and your team understand data quality standards and that all the necessary records for your service are maintained and reported.

Ensure that you and your team understand all of the clinical and business action plans relevant to your services.

Ensure that you and your team understand all of the monitoring, auditing and reporting systems relevant to your services.

Service development and planning

Actively seek opportunities for improvement for the services which you and your team provide by identifying research evidence and best practice elsewhere, interpreting/translating and facilitating adaptation for AWP.

Analyse and interpret data to inform the strategic direction of the services which you and your team provide.

Ensure multidisciplinary involvement and the use of quality improvement (QI) techniques in service improvement, by negotiating shared solutions, facilitating the resolution of complex or contentious issues and managing any conflict into constructive outcomes.

Ensure effective risk identification, analysis, mitigation and management within your services, encouraging all members of your team to be aware of and to manage risks.

Stakeholder involvement

Ensure that you are aware of the many stakeholders to your services (your key stakeholders will include all members of your multi-disciplinary team, other teams, service users, families, carers, local communities, other statutory agencies, other healthcare providers etc).

Develop and maintain positive relationships with your key stakeholders, this may include proactive communications to ensure full involvement and engagement in the delivery of services and aims and objectives.

Implement and lead effective two-way communications to ensure that the Service areas are responsive to the needs of patients/service users and external pressures.