Specialist Practitioner

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.

The post holders 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.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 service's role in training others, its strong internal CPD programme and commitment to reflective practice, and the integrated nature of Psychology Services across NHFT.

NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools. We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.