Detailed job description and main responsibilities

All candidates entering the programme should hold evidence of academic credit or equivalence allowing entry to the Level 7 programme. A degree at 2:2 or above in any relevant subject, or equivalent, should be considered the minimum requirement for entry. Candidates without a degree at 2:2 or above may be able to secure a place by demonstrating competency via a portfolio of evidence, which meets specified academic equivalence requirements.

Candidates should show proficiency in reading, writing and spoken English of a standard necessary to support academic study and professional practice at Level 7 - IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum of 6.0 in each element.

All candidates should have completed a Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills, which ordinarily involves a minimum of 10 days or 60 hours of face-to-face tuition at level 2 or level 3. Online courses are not acceptable. Please note: L2 Award, Helping Skills and Introductory courses are not accepted.

In their recruitment processes, providers and services should pay particular regard to increasing equity of access to, and inclusion in, the training for candidates with protected characteristics that are under-represented in the NHS TT workforce. This may include applying evidence-based systems of contextual recruitment to ensure selection criteria are applied in light of objective contextual factors that may impact on attainment of qualifications or experience and taking other actions to reduce the impact of systemic obstacles to attainment that correlate with protected characteristics.

Overall Training Summary 

During their training, trainees are employed by DHC and will be expected to carry out an average of two to three days per week of clinical practice in the NHS Talking Therapies Southampton service.

During the Foundation level training (first year), following sign off as meeting a Foundation standard of competence in simulation, trainees will work with people with mild to moderate depression in NHS Talking Therapies Southampton.

Throughout the training programme, trainees must undertake a minimum of 90 minutes of training supervision to every six hours of client work (or the equivalent for group supervision). Supervision must be provided by training providers weekly and may be provided individually or in small groups of up to 3 trainees. The minimum supervision that trainees should receive is 90 minutes per week of training supervision, even if they have completed less than six hours of client work in the week.

NHS Talking Therapies Southampton will be responsible for supervision by a qualified and experienced DIT supervisor) on site, including oversight of case management, clinical governance, and management supervision in line with the supervision requirements of the NHS TT Manual.

On qualification, trainees will be required to meet the requirements for individual registration as set out in the NHS TT Manual. Trainees should be informed at the start of their training of the different requirements of the various post-training individual registration schemes recognised within the NHS TT Manual and, where the training programme does not meet the requirements of specific registration schemes (e.g., number of hours of personal therapy), what trainees can do to meet those requirements if they so choose.

Trainees will be required to complete a minimum of 50 hours of personal therapy over the three years, commencing in Year 1 prior to starting work with service users. Therapy undertaken prior to the commencement of training may not be counted towards this requirement. The therapy must be in the theoretical orientation of the training.  Providers will be expected to engage with services from commencement of the contract as part of programme mobilisation. Ongoing engagement with services to support the trainee will be expected to continue during the training period.

The recruitment process to identify the trainees for this new psychological role will be collaborative and values based. This is to ensure that trainees recruited can meet both service expectations but also the educational requirements for the three-year pathway. It is expected that the trainees will be recruited as part of a joint recruitment process by the training providers and NHS Talking Therapies service providers.

For the main duties and responsibilities for this role please read the attached job description and person specification.  When completing your application please ensure your supporting statement reflects the criteria set out in these documents by showing how your experience and skills apply to this post.

As part of our vision to have a skilled, diverse and caring workforce, Dorset HealthCare offers support for people getting into work. We offer an employability service to support individuals with application writing, interview skills and other employment support. If you would like or know of anyone who would value this support, please do contact [email protected]

This is a fixed term role and for those with current NHS service, the role will be offered on a secondment basis only.  Please obtain permission to be released on a secondment before submitting an application.

 Applications from candidates that require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are unfortunately ineligible to apply for this position.