Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Psychological Therapist- East Suffolk

The closing date is 13 October 2025

Job summary

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.

About us

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.

Details

Date posted

09 September 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year Pa/ pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

246-WSU7447370

Job locations

Mariner House

Ipswich

IP1 2GA


Job description

Job 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.

Job description

Job 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

Qualifications

Essential

  • 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

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

Knowledge

Essential

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

Other

Essential

  • Accreditation with BABCP or ACAT
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • 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

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

Knowledge

Essential

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

Other

Essential

  • Accreditation with BABCP or ACAT

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

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

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Address

Mariner House

Ipswich

IP1 2GA


Employer's website

https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/Pages/Home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Address

Mariner House

Ipswich

IP1 2GA


Employer's website

https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/Pages/Home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

MHST Clinical Lead

Amy Alexander

amy.alexander@nsft.nhs.uk

Details

Date posted

09 September 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year Pa/ pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

246-WSU7447370

Job locations

Mariner House

Ipswich

IP1 2GA


Supporting documents

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