Job summary
- Main area
- Senior High Intensity Therapist
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 222-LS-Man-107
- Employer
- West London NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Hounslow Talking Therapies - Isleworth Centre
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £61,631 - £68,623 per annum inclusive of HCAS (Outer)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 19/09/2025 17:00
- Interview date
- 26/09/2025
Employer heading

Senior High Intensity Therapist
Band 8a
West London NHS Trust provides a full range of mental health, community and physical healthcare services for children, adults and older people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.
We also provide some specialist services that are commissioned regionally, such as our medium secure services; and nationally, such as the Cassel Hospital for people with complex and severe personality disorder and our high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital.
Job overview
Are you an experienced high intensity therapist looking for the next step in your career? Or an existing senior therapist who is looking for a move to a friendly and supportive team?
We are looking for a new member of our senior team. We need someone interested in quality improvement with clinical expertise, and the ability to nurture and lead staff effectively. In return we offer an excellent and supportive working environment where your wellbeing is our priority, an excellent induction, and ongoing training and development opportunities.
Here at Hounslow NHS Talking Therapies (previously IAPT) service we are proud to be an innovative and dynamic service that prides itself on excellence.
We also offer:
· A values driven environment - Togetherness, Responsibility, Excellence and Caring underpin how we treat each other and our patients
· A generous CPD package and leadership development
· A healthy work-life balance and operate a hybrid working week, where staff work at home on some days and on site other days (typically 3 days at home and 2 days in the office)
· Opportunities to lead on key priority areas for the service
Interview date 26th SEPT 2025- in person at the Isleworth Centre, 146 Twickenham Road, TW7 7DJ.
Main duties of the job
You will be integral to supporting the team as a supervisor and line manager, as well as maintaining a small clinical caseload and supporting in the operational running of the service.
You will be passionate about providing a high standard of care for our service users. This is completed through high quality therapy and ensuring all parts of the system and its processes are effective and run efficiently. This includes providing supervision and line management along with supporting innovation and the setting up of new processes and ways or working as and when required.
We would participially like to hear from you if are qualified in a second modality in addition to CBT, such as IPT, EMDR or BCT. We would also value a qualification in NHS Talking Therapies Long Term Conditions.
Of course leadership skills are also essential to help problem solve with your team and motivate and encourage high standards of work in a rapidly changing and demanding Talking Therapies service. However, for those candidates without significant management experience we offer a comprehensive induction and line management training package to provide the support and skills required.
You will lead on specific areas within our service in both the step 2 and step 3 teams, the senior’s role is to develop these areas, improve quality and outcomes, as well as taking part in different projects. We are a forward thinking service and we welcome new ideas and initiatives.
Working for our organisation
West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.
Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for 2024-25 is over £500m.
The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.
The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached.
The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed
Person specification
Others
Essential criteria
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
Desirable criteria
- Personal experience of mental health problems.
- Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
Qualifications - Training
Essential criteria
- Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical or counseling psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, or post graduate training in another core mental health profession (nursing, Occupational therapy) plus post graduate diploma or higher degree in CBT.
- Accredited as a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist by the British Association of Cognitive & Behavioural Psychotherapies (BABCP) or nearing completion of accreditation process.
- Professional registration with the appropriate Health and Care Professions Council, if applicable to core professional training.
Desirable criteria
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
- Postgraduate CBT Diploma.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
- Specialist training/experience of CBT demonstrated through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a specialist psychological therapist or practitioner psychologist over a minimum of 18 months, or an alternative agreed by the Head of Psychology and psychological therapies.
- Experience of working within an Talking Therapies service and delivering to agreed service targets (e.g. clinical contact hours, percentage recovery)
- Experience of supervising cognitive-behavioural therapy interventions.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of the application of CBT in different cultural contexts.
- Experience of working with two distinct psychological therapies including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
- Experience of supervising both low intensity and high intensity workers within a Talking Therapies service.
Knowledge & Skills
Essential criteria
- Skills in the use of complex methods of cognitive-behavioural assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS or relevant professional body.
- Formal training in supervision of other clinical staff.
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities or long-term physical health conditions etc).
- High-level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Vanessa Papas
- Job title
- Deputy Clinical Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
If you have problems applying, contact
- Address
-
Human Resources – Trust Headquarters
West London NHS Trust
1 Armstrong Way - Southall
UB2 4SA
- Telephone
- Mob: 07483968676
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