Clinical / Counselling Psychologist or Allied Health Professional
At a glance
- Band
- Band 7
- Contract
- Fixed-term
- Pattern
- Part-time
- Posted
- 04/09/2026
- Closes
- 13/09/2026
Sponsorship verdict
This contract type is not eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship.
NHS Trusts cannot issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for part-time, bank, locum, zero-hours, job-share or short fixed-term (under 12 months) contracts under current Home Office rules. This applies even when the wider Trust holds a Skilled Worker licence.
Role summary
This is a fixed-term, part-time Band 7 role for a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist or Allied Health Professional to join the Newham Mentalisation Based Therapy Service. The post covers maternity leave and involves providing a full MBT program to individuals with Complex Emotional Needs. The successful candidate will undertake psychological assessments, implement treatment plans, and offer individual and group interventions. It's an opportunity to develop clinical experience within a supportive, team-based environment.
Key responsibilities
- Provide a clinical service to patients open to the Newham Mentalisation Based Therapy Service.
- Provide expert support and advice to other members of the team.
- Undertake psychological assessment of patients referred to the Mentalisation Based Therapy Service and provide specialist reports.
- Formulate and implement appropriate treatment plans and provide specialist Mentalisation-Based therapy.
- Offer individual and group interventions to individuals with Complex Emotional Needs.
- Engage with individual and group supervision, reflective practice, and further professional development in Mentalisation Based Therapy.
Essential criteria
- Doctorate in Clinical / Counselling Psychology or equivalence (statement of equivalence and able to demonstrate eligibility for BPS CPsychol (Chartered Psychologist) or allied professional with experience in MBT
- HCPC registration or equivalent (for Allied Health Professionals)
- Experience in working with patients with complex personality presentations (i.e. 'Personality Disorder') and/or risk of self-harm.
- Experience of delivering therapeutic interventions to individuals with Complex Emotional Needs.
- Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team offering support to adults with severe and enduring mental health problems.
- Experience of group work.
- Skills in psychological assessment, intervention and management, including the use of theoretical models to develop formulations upon which to base choice of treatment.
- Skills in the effective communication of technical and/or clinically sensitive information to a wide variety of recipients in a range of settings within and outside the NHS, including the ability to produce comprehensive and coherent letters, reports and associated documentation.
- Skills in the assessment of risk for patients with mental health problems and specifically for patients with complex Emotional Needs
- Capacity to work calmly and thoughtfully when working with traumatic psychological issues, demonstrating an awareness of the sensitivity and unpredictability of patients with complex needs, and a capacity to tolerate the strong emotions evoked by such work
- Knowledge and understanding of diagnosis of Personality Disorder.
- Evidence of CPD
- Competence in advanced IT packages including keyboard skills.
- Ability to provide a culturally-competent and non-stigmatising service including an awareness of the potential impact of discrimination and disadvantage on mental health.
- Knowledge of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult - to - treat groups (e.g. complex needs, self harm, personality disorder/psychosis, dual diagnosis, persons with additional disabilities etc).
- Ability to manage effectively verbal aggression and abuse from service users, carers etc, and the risk of physical aggression.
- Demonstrably respectful approach to service users, carers, colleagues, other professionals and professional contacts. Willingness to negotiate and ability to handle confrontation effectively and professional
Desirable criteria
- Training in MBT
- Further training in a therapeutic modality relevant to personality disorder
- Experience of delivering training/consultation and providing clinical supervision.
- Work within at least two therapeutic modalities.
- Experience of the application of psychology/therapy in different cultural contexts
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Some knowledge and understanding of psychoanalytic models and developmental processes associated with Personality Disorder (eg: Transference Focused Psychotherapy (TFP), Mentalization-based Treatment (MBT).
Useful to know
Agenda for Change 2024/25 pays Band 7 at £46,148 – £52,809 a year, across England.
This advert: £55,524 – £62,652 — outside the standard scale; check for HCAS/London weighting.
Posted 3d ago · Closes in 7d
Plenty of time to prepare a strong application.
Full advert · preview
East London NHS Foundation Trust
Clinical / Counselling Psychologist or Allied Health Professional
The closing date is 13 September 2026
Job summary
This is an exciting opportunity for a HCPC registered Clinical or Counselling Psychologist or an Allied Health professional with experience in MBT to join the Newham Mentalisation Based Therapy Service. The post is a fixed term, 0.8 band 7 post covering maternity leave.
The service offers a full MBT program to individuals with Complex Emotional Needs. Candidates with past experience in working therapeutically with individuals with complex mental health needs are welcome to apply. Past experience in MBT treatment is preferable.
This post is an exciting opportunity for individuals look to develop their clinical experience in a small and supportive team environment. In addition to offering clinical interventions, you may be involved in other service development initiatives including consultation to other services, improving the offer to families and young people, and outreach work to community teams within the borough.
MBT in Newham is a team based approach. We would like to hear from candidates who value working as part of a reflective, in-person team. Service Users are discussed regularly and the team collaborates closely around care planning. We would welcome applications from people who are reflective and can consider
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