The Wellbeing Service is an NHS Talking Therapies Service, providing primary care assessment, advice and psychological interventions to people in Suffolk aged 16 and above. The service primarily caters for those who would like to access support with mild to moderate mental health difficulties including anxiety and depression.
The service is delivered via a partnership between Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT). We deliver a bio-psycho-social model which includes psychological, employment and social interventions across the county. Our treatments are delivered primarily by telephone, online via webinars, and face to face.
We require excellent communicators and self-motivated individuals who are committed to delivering a high standard of care. The role predominantly involves undertaking assessments of individuals within primary care including the assessment of risk to consider access or re-access to secondary mental health services. You will be undertaking screening and triage of referrals, to identify appropriate onward pathway. You will be providing support and advice to other health care professionals, including attending and chairing Interface meetings as appropriate. Ensuring that clinical practice is evidence based and consistent with relevant NICE guidelines, primary care and Trust policies and procedures.
Wellbeing MHP Step 1
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest providers of Talking Therapies services in the country. We are currently seeking a passionate, motivated clinician to work within our Step 1 Team as a Mental health practitioner , with at least 2 years post PWP qualification experience, who is passionate about Talking Therapies, to develop their career within the service.
This position provides an exciting opportunity for an experienced individual with a strong clinical background in mental health and a good understanding of the challenges of working in Primary Care as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, Cognitive Behavioural Therapist or Mental Health Practitioner.
The role will involve conducting clinical assessments, assessing and managing risk, as well as performing screening and triage of referrals to determine the appropriate onward pathway. Risk assessment and management is an essential aspect of this role. You will be able to demonstrate experience of conducting thorough risk assessments, safety planning and support, as well as an ability to work in a dynamic fast paced team.
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. Wellbeing Suffolk delivers NHS Talking Therapies and is currently benchmarked in the top three NHS Talking Therapies Services in the country with workforce surveys evidencing high morale. The service was recently awarded continuation to deliver the Talking Therapies contract for a further five years, with a potential to extend for a further 5 years. This award builds on existing strengths to deliver the new model launched agreed in September 2024, so, a very exciting time to be joining the service.
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.
Some of the benefits you can expect:
- NHS pension
- a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
- career progression
- starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
- staff physio service
- NHS discounts and many more.
Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!
Interviews date to be confirmed and will be held in Bury St Edmunds ( this may be subject to change) You will be contacted via email and invited to book a time. These emails may go to your SPAM, so please keep checking all your emails if applying.
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This position is located at Mariner House in Ipswich. If successful at interview, there may be flexibility regarding a base location at either Ipswich or Bury St Edmunds.
This is a particularly positive time to join us, following contract renewal and APPTS accreditation. Our service benchmarks favourably within the national programme and boasts a positive culture, as measured by NHS Trust Surveys. The service is enhanced by data driven community engagement, taking provision closer to the local population served whilst maintaining and developing a broad portfolio of clinical specialisms, including perinatal, trauma and long term conditions. We are looking to recruit to enhance our model across East and West Suffolk. Recent service innovations have included digital enhancements to maintain pace with expected delivery standards and associated efficiencies.
Suffolk Talking Therapies is research active and is working closely with the University of East Anglia, a UK Top 25 university (Complete University Guide 2025) as both a provider of training for mental health professionals and a research partner as we build our portfolio of projects. We are also working with local acute and community healthcare providers, embedding our therapeutic staff within wider systems of health. The service has excellent access to ongoing training and specialist supervision.
We are committed to quality through external scrutiny and have recently been awarded accreditation following review by the Accreditation Programme for Psychological Therapies (APPTS), part of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, College Centre for Quality Improvement assurance programme.
Hybrid working is an option, but it is expected that at least 3 days per week will be spent on-site.
