HI Relational Therapist

Bedford, East of England, United Kingdom East London NHS Foundation Trust ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Job overview

Are you a relational therapist/counsellor looking to be part of an innovative and dynamic Talking Therapies service, joining part of an already well established Relational Therapies Team? The post holder will provide high intensity therapies to patients who have experienced anxiety disorders and depression as a result of relational difficulties. They will also have the opportunity to undertake Talking Therapies compliant training to qualify in an accreditable specific relational modality.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be expected to carry out telephone and face to face assessments, individual and group work as part of their case load. We value experience of delivering therapy in a group format as well as being dual trained in more than one modality.

The post holder will work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and work in various community settings (including GP surgeries) and psychological treatment centres or Children's Centres. At present, the majority of clinical work is delivered remotely, with a small provision of face-to-face contacts being offered from our clinical bases across the county.

As a Talking Therapies service we seek to provide ease of access for service users and to this end there will be a requirement to work flexible hours between 8am and 8 pm based on service requirements, including one late evening per week.

Whilst this post is based in Bedfordshire you may, at times, be required to provide cover and assistance to other East London Foundation Trust Talking Therapies teams, for example supervision by the medium of Teams, cross service trainings, etc.

The post holder will be expected to work constructively and flexibly as part of the Bedfordshire Talking Therapies team and with colleagues in other East London Foundation Trust Talking Therapies teams.

Working for our organisation

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive, we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For a more detailed job description and person specification please see attached JD & PS.

For contact information please see below.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Doctoral level training in clinical/counselling psychology (HCPC registered) or counsellor/qualified psychotherapist
• AND Training/willing to train in at least one of the following NICE recommended psychological therapies: - Couple Therapy for Depression - Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) - Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) - PCE-CfD
• Current registration with required registration body (BACP, UKCP or HCPC)

Desirable criteria

• Talking therapies experience
• Experience in delivering recognised and approved psychological therapies in a primary care setting

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working with a wide range of Psychological problems in Primary Care/ Talking Therapies settings
• Ability to meet agreed/specified service targets
• Ability to manage own caseload and time

Skills & Competencies

Essential criteria

• Full range of skills and competencies as laid out in the competence framework
• Computer literate
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Has received training (either formal of through experience) and carried out safety assessments within scope of practice
• Understanding of issues surrounding clinical safety
• Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with patients

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Demonstrates an understanding of anxiety disorders and depression and how these problems may present in Primary Care
• Demonstrates a knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health / benefits & employment systems
• Knowledge of medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems
• Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post

Training

Essential criteria

• Good record of Continuing Professional Development and willingness to continue this

Other Requirements

Essential criteria

• High level of enthusiasm and Motivation.
• Advanced communication skills.
• Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships.
• Ability to use clinical supervision and case management positively and effectively
• Ability to work under pressure
• Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality
• Ability to be self-reflective, whilst working with service users, & in own personal and professional development and in supervision
• The ability and skills to act as an advocate for the new service, to engage and foster good professional relationships with all health professionals in promoting the good integration of this service with the wider health care system

Making Things Better

Quality Improvement is a key part of our work to improve our services and refine how we do things. We have a global reputation for our quality improvement work and we don't stand still! So we offer a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn, lead and contribute towards improving our services.

We launched our Five Year Strategy in April 2018, which identified four main strategic outcomes to improve: population health outcomes, experience of care, staff experience and improve value. This complements the NHS Long Term Strategy and sets out our direction of travel.

Our Community

We provide a wide range of community health and mental health inpatient services to children, young people, adults of working age, and older adults in The City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. We provide Forensic services to the whole of North East London. We provide services in urban and rural settings, sometimes in our inpatient units, but mostly in the community close to where people live. Integrated care is key in making the best use of resources and providing effective care.

Aiming High

East London NHS Foundation Trust has achieved its third consecutive 'Outstanding' rating from the Care Quality Commission; the first Community and Mental Health Trust to achieve this rating for a third time. We were named in