Apprentice PWP - Therapy for You (EPUT) - South East Essex

Job Overview Apprenticeship entry to Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP) training role is an exciting development and aims to widen access to roles within psychological therapy to people who have not been educated to degree level. We are hoping to attract people who have experience of working in mental health, or experience of a setting where they have contact with people at increased risk of experiencing mental health difficulties (this can be either paid or voluntary work in a variety of roles). We are also keen to have applications from people who have lived or personal experience of mental health difficulties (either as an individual or as a carer). The role of a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner is demanding and fast-paced. During your training, you will be supported to develop skills enabling you to conduct assessments of people with mild to severe mental health difficulties, complete risk assessments, and deliver evidence-based interventions to people with mild to moderate depression and anxiety and other common mental health problems. Trainees are expected to progress to working autonomously, with high volume caseloads including individual and group work; the role is well supported with weekly clinical and case management supervision from qualified clinicians. In addition to clinical contact, the roles will include data collection, data management, analysis and note writing. This advert will close early should we receive a high number of applications.

Main duties of the job This is a developmental post and suitable candidates are provided with intensive training and supervision to work in the NHS Talking Therapies PWP role and will study with the University of Essex. Expected start date for the apprenticeship route is in September 2026. Three days per week will be spent in service gaining invaluable experience assessing and working with people from local communities, with one day at university and one scheduled study day. This may be a combination of in person and remote learning.

Working for our organisation Therapy For You is an NHS Talking Therapies (formerly IAPT) service based in NE and SE Essex delivering a range of services including self-help psycho educational courses, therapy groups, online/digital therapeutic services and individual therapies The service works with adults presenting with mild, moderate and severe anxiety and depression. We are committed to providing an out of hours service to the community and this involves working an evening or Saturdays, typically 6-9pm or 9am-1pm respectively. A hybrid model of working will be adopted during training with clients seen remotely via telephone and video conferencing and face to face in GP surgeries and health centres. Within 6 months of qualification, all will apply for individual registration with a professional body either the British Psychological Society (BPS) or the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) This is an apprenticeship role and as such we are not recruiting candidates who have health-related degrees to this position. If you have a degree please apply for the Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner posts. Those without a valid permit to work and study in the UK are not eligible to apply for this position. Applicants need to have been a UK resident for at least three years. Please be aware that, due to current allocation constraints, Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) are being prioritised for registered roles at this time.

Important note: please ensure that as part of your application, you include professional references with business contact information covering your last three years of employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references. As a newly appointed employee, you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post; the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust. Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email epunft.recruitment.adverts@nhs.net and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you. The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes. Important Notice: Recently the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) which amended on 22 July 2021 and come into force on 11 November 2021 that anyone directly employed to work in a Care Home or who are required as part of their role to be deployed to a CQC registered care home are required to have had both their COVID vaccinations, unless they are exempt. This is therefore a requirement of this role and will form part of our pre-employment checks. Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered ‘suitable alternative employment’ to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.