Go back Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust
Specialist Mental Health Practitioner
The closing date is 20 March 2026
This post is open to qualified nurses, occupational therapists, and social workers.
Would you like to work for an Outstanding NHS Trust, and an innovative and supportive service that is highly committed to decreasing stigma associated with personality difficulties, promoting optimism about recovery, and increasing access to evidence-based interventions? An exciting opportunity has arisen for qualified mental health practitioners to join the Northamptonshire Personality Disorder hub.
The Northants Personality Disorder Hub is a countywide specialist service that provides a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) programme across the county and leads on the delivery of Structured Clinical Management (SCM) across general mental health services. The service frequently delivers training to community and inpatient teams in order to enhance the capabilities of staff and promote the use of structured and psychologically-informed interventions across the Trust. It also has a growing Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) that is involved in promoting hope, improving services, and co‐developing and delivering staff training.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will operate as a lead facilitator and coordinator of the service's Understanding and Managing Emotions (U&ME) groups. U&ME is an 18‐session group‐based skills development programme that aims to help individuals to learn a broader range of strategies for managing their emotions and be more effective in relationships. The group uses Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) materials and was developed to meet the needs of individuals who would have traditionally fallen through the gap between primary and secondary care services. This post involves liaison with Community Mental Health Teams, Talking Therapies, the Integrated Response Hub and other Specialist Services within the Trust.
Experience of working with people with personality difficulties and the ability to lead group‐based interventions is required, as well as excellent collaboration and team‐working skills, and a commitment to reduce exclusion and stigma for this client group and improve services.
About us
NHFT is an NHS Community and Mental Health Foundation Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in hospital settings and in the community. We provide over 200 services across the county - as well as some specialist services in bordering and nearby counties. We work together with our partners to ensure that everyone who comes through our doors receives compassionate, person‐centred care, regardless of their background or circumstances.
NHFT promotes a culture of learning, to improve the care and safety of our patients and colleagues. We have achieved our 'outstanding' rating by encouraging opportunity, innovation, development and growth across our workforce.
Job responsibilities
This post will give the successful candidate the opportunity to develop their capabilities under regular supervision and within a supportive and highly motivated multidisciplinary team that is led by a Service Manager/ Clinical Lead. The team comprises of staff from a range of professional backgrounds (i.e. nursing, occupational therapy, and clinical psychology) and staff are supported to maintain professional links. There are also a range of development opportunities due to the services role in training others, its strong internal CPD programme and commitment to reflective practice, and the integrated nature of Psychology Services across NHFT.
The post holders will primarily work within the U&ME team to:
* Provide assessment to clarify individuals' presenting difficulties and suitability for the U&ME programme
* Provide lead facilitation of group programmes (commitment to delivering our evening group may be required at times)
* Provide on‐going support and direction to co‐facilitators
* Work in collaboration with colleagues within the Personality Disorder Hub to continue to develop the provision. The role will be accountable for ensuring effective needs assessment, development of group content that is responsive to the needs of service users and referring services/populations, and routine evaluation of the programme that demonstrates its outcomes/benefits beyond immediate clinical activity.
* Assist colleagues in other NHFT mental health services in developing treatment plans, the early identification of personality difficulties and providing guidance regarding appropriate onward referral and access to interventions across the personality disorder pathway.
* Co‐deliver training/education packages to enable colleagues within other mental health services to deliver effective short‐term interventions
Please refer to attached detailed Job Description for full details.
Person Specification Knowledge and Experience
* Registered Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist, Psychological Practitioner or Social Worker
* Experience and confidence in delivering group‐based interventions
* Knowledge of computer software packages including Microsoft
* Experience working in the community and/or crisis/brief intervention services
* Experience of facilitating groups/workshops to patients, carers and or professionals in a lead facilitator role.
* Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) training and experience of delivering DBT‐informed interventions
Skills and Abilities
* To recognise problems and identify a range of options and interventions within service policy that are appropriate
* To be able to plan own workload and that of more junior staff
* Provide clear and consistent leadership ensuring a positive working environment for the team.
* Demonstrate reflective practice and the ability to use available supports to reflect on the emotional impact of the role and how strong emotions/judgements may impact on being effective
Behaviours and Values
* Acts as an effective role model and positive change agent, identifying and initiating changes as required to enhance service provision.
* Willingness to work flexibly in response to changing organisational requirements.
* Well‐developed high level of communication skills. The ability to communicate at all levels, information that may be contentious or highly emotive. To be able to communicate where there may be barriers to understanding.
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.
Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust
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