Job Description

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.



We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience

Please note, NSFT uses tools to screen any applications generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Job overview

Do you have the ambition, creativity and clinical skills to contribute to the development of new mental health services for children and young people? With the National conversation increasingly focused on young people's mental health this is the time to be at the forefront of the development of these services. We are excited to be recruiting a Psychological Therapist to work in our innovative service in Suffolk: the Mental Health Support Team (MHST). MHSTs are based within education settings, ensuring children and young people receive faster access to earlier mental health support. You will provide clinical supervision and expertise to the team. You will work closely with the Clinical Team Manager and Clinical Lead in the team to support the clinical delivery of the service.



This role will be based with our East Suffolk MHST, covering the Ipswich area.



We encourage applicants from varied backgrounds, including; nursing, social work, occupational therapy and psychology.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will be responsible for providing a high-quality service to children and young people (and their families) experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties, through early intervention and offering the right support at the right time. You will work across a range of education settings.



You will be responsible for over-seeing and delivering clinical supervision of the team. You will use your clinical skills and experience for direct delivery of evidence-based interventions to support children and young people referred to the service. You will need to utilise skills and knowledge of CBT and child and adolescent mental health practice. You will also implement whole school/college approaches to mental health through collaboration and coproduction with the school/college community.

Working for our organisation

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Why work for us?

We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

Why Norfolk and Suffolk?

The people here are warm and welcoming, you'll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We're an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

A job in the Suffolk MHSTs will inevitably be challenging and demanding at times, but it will also be immensely rewarding and provide you with great opportunities to make a genuine difference to the lives of others. You will join a service that has developed a caring, creative and hard-working environment; your ideas about how this new service continues to develop and grow will be highly valued.



This is an exciting time of Transformation of mental health services in Suffolk, which MHSTs are at the forefront of. These changes are driven by the needs of local communities, with the aim of embedding mental health services within the community and truly bringing the expertise to where it is needed. NSFT in collaboration with the Suffolk alliance partners are striving to deliver services within the Thrive framework.



We would welcome any informal conversations about these roles. Please do contact us for more information.

Interviews are anticipated to take place in the week commencing the 27th October with the successful candidate starting in January 2026.

For further details regarding the role, please see attached job description and person specification.

Person specification

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Qualifications

Essential criteria

Health or Social Care professional qualification RMN, Dip OT, Clinical Psychology, Diploma in Social Work or equivalent Postgraduate diploma in CBT or CAT or family therapy or equivalent #

Experience

Essential criteria

Training and ability to deliver other therapeutic approaches e.g. DBT, EMDR, IPT #

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Specialist knowledge of CAT/CBT protocols and treatments. Awareness of NICE guidelines #

Other

Essential criteria

Accreditation with BABCP or ACAT

YOUR APPLICATION



We can provide all our job application materials in alternative formats so that these are accessible to everyone. Should you require any documents within this job pack in an alternative format, please do not hesitate to contact us at recruitment@nsft.nhs.uk.



PLEASE NOTE: If you use a hotmail, msn or yahoo e-mail account, you will need to check your "junk" mail regularly as these email providers will divert any communication from this Trust/NHS JOBS straight into your " junk" inbox.


EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief.


As a part of the Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview Scheme we interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job vacancy (outlined in the Person Specification).. We encourage you to indicate your eligibility through TRAC jobs when applying.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post may be 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.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.


This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.