Cognitive Behavioural Therapist
The closing date is 18 December 2025
Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust (NHFT) offers an exciting opportunity to join our well‑established psychology team within the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service (SPMHS) as a CBT therapist.
The SPMHS is an award‑winning service that supports women and birthing people who are experiencing, or are at risk of, moderate to severe mental health conditions within the perinatal period (from 12 weeks of pregnancy until 24 months post‑partum). The team works with conditions such as postpartum psychosis, postnatal depression, maternal OCD, bipolar disorder, PTSD, tokophobia, and anxiety disorders.
The psychology team comprises Clinical Psychologists, CBT therapists, Psychological Therapists, and Assistant Psychologists. They provide specialist assessment and therapy in accordance with NICE guidance, including EMDR, trauma‑focused CBT, CBT for OCD, anxiety and/or depression, Compassion‑Focused Therapy, and Parent‑Infant Psychotherapy. Interventions are delivered face‑to‑face and remotely, on both group and one‑to‑one basis. The team also offers psychological thinking and formulation support and consults with staff.
Proposed Interview Date - 9th January 2026
Main duties of the job
The post holder will provide specialist psychological interventions involving assessment, formulation, and intervention for women under the care of the SPMHS, working autonomously within professional guidelines and the team's policies and procedures.
The post holder will work closely with all members of the SPMHS, and with the wider network of psychologists and psychological therapists within NHFT. They will contribute to service, practice, and clinical governance developments both within the team and the wider network.
The role includes participating in multi‑disciplinary team discussions to inform psychological thinking throughout the service, contributing to audit, service evaluation, and service improvement using research skills, and assisting in developing pathways of care to meet service needs in line with national and local strategies and evidence‑based best practice. There may also be opportunities to become involved with research within the area served by the service, and to support staff training both within and external to the trust.
The post holder will work with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary, and may work in various community settings (including women's homes and other community venues).
About us
NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health trust, providing physical, mental health, and specialty services in both hospital settings and the community. We focus on delivering care that is easy to access, providing many services at home, work or in schools, and also serving various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
NHFT promotes a culture of learning, improving care and safety for patients and staff, and supports opportunity, innovation, development, and growth.
Job responsibilities
For further information on the advertised role, please refer to the job description located under the Supporting Documents heading. The full person specification can be accessed under the About You section of the document.
Qualifications
* British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Level 2 accredited Post Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
* Current professional registration with a body such as NMC, HCPC, BABCP or similar.
* A recorded registered qualification in nursing, social work, occupational therapy, arts therapy, or psychological therapy.
Knowledge and Experience
* Experience working with a broad range of psychological and psychiatric problems within a core professional role.
* Experience in a community setting with people experiencing complex presenting difficulties.
* Experience developing, implementing and evaluating specialist interventions.
* Experience facilitating group‑based therapy.
* Experience in multidisciplinary working.
* Advanced knowledge of psychological models of complex mental health presentations, and up‑to‑date techniques and treatment protocols relevant to these groups. Knowledge of evidence‑based practice and clinical governance in this clinical area.
* Well‑developed communication skills, both orally and in writing, to convey complex, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to service‑users, families, carers and professional colleagues (both within and outside the NHS).
* Basic IT and keyboard skills.
* Experience working with severe and complex mental health difficulties during the perinatal period.
* Experience of multi‑disciplinary and multi‑agency working across primary, secondary, tertiary and non‑statutory organisations.
* Experience delivering teaching or training and supervising others.
* Knowledge of specialist mental health services for mothers and their infants, and the wider network of mental health services in the NHS.
* Experience of risk assessment and risk‑management strategies, particularly in the perinatal period.
* Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Training.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and requires a 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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