The closing date is 20 July 2026

Job summary
The Wellbeing Service is an NHS Talking Therapies Service, providing primary care assessment, advice and psychological interventions to people in Suffolk aged 16 and above. The service primarily caters for those who would like to access support with mild to moderate mental health difficulties including anxiety and depression.

The service is delivered via a partnership between Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT). We deliver a bio-psycho-social model which includes psychological, employment and social interventions across the county. Our treatments are delivered primarily by telephone, online via webinars, and face to face.

We require excellent communicators and self-motivated individuals who are committed to delivering a high standard of care. The role predominantly involves undertaking assessments of individuals within primary care including the assessment of risk to consider access or re-access to secondary mental health services. You will be undertaking screening and triage of referrals, to identify appropriate onward pathway. You will be providing support and advice to other health care professionals, including attending and chairing Interface meetings as appropriate. Ensuring that clinical practice is evidence based and consistent with relevant NICE guidelines, primary care and Trust policies and procedures.

Main duties of the job
Wellbeing MHP Step 1

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest providers of Talking Therapies services in the country. We are currently seeking a passionate, motivated clinician to work within our Step 1 Team as a Mental health practitioner, with at least 2 years post PWP qualification experience, who is passionate about Talking Therapies, to develop their career within the service.

This position provides an exciting opportunity for an experienced individual with a strong clinical background in mental health and a good understanding of the challenges of working in Primary Care as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, Cognitive Behavioural Therapist or Mental Health Practitioner.

The role will involve conducting clinical assessments, assessing and managing risk, as well as performing screening and triage of referrals to determine the appropriate onward pathway. Risk assessment and management is an essential aspect of this role. You will be able to demonstrate experience of conducting thorough risk assessments, safety planning and support, as well as an ability to work in a dynamic fast paced team.

About us
Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.Wellbeing Suffolk delivers NHS Talking Therapies and is currently benchmarked in the top three NHS Talking Therapies Services in the country with workforce surveys evidencing high morale. The service was recently awarded continuation to deliver the Talking Therapies contract for a further five years, with a potential to extend for a further 5 years. This award builds on existing strengths to deliver the new model launched agreed in September 2024, so, a very exciting time to be joining the service.

Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you'll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We're an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

Details
Date posted: 06 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 6
Salary: £39,959 to £48,117 a year gross per annum (pro rata)
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
Reference number: 246-WSN8122773
Job locations: Mariner House, Ipswich, IP1 2BU, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
Some of the benefits you can expect:
- NHS pension
- a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
- career progression
- starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
- staff physio service
- NHS discounts and many more.

Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what you need to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!

Interviews date to be confirmed and will be held in Bury St Edmunds (this may be subject to change). You will be contacted via email and invited to book a time. These emails may go to your SPAM, so please keep checking all your emails if applying.

Please visit our Facebook and Twitter page @NSFTjobs

This position is located at Mariner House in Ipswich. If successful at interview, there may be flexibility regarding a base location at either Ipswich or Bury St Edmunds.

This is a particularly positive time to join us, following contract renewal and APPTS accreditation. Our service benchmarks favourably within the national programme and boasts a positive culture, as measured by NHS Trust Surveys. The service is enhanced by data driven community engagement, taking provision closer to the local population served whilst maintaining and developing a broad portfolio of clinical specialisms, including perinatal, trauma and long term conditions. We are looking to recruit to enhance our model across East and West Suffolk. Recent service innovations have included digital enhancements to maintain pace with expected delivery standards and associated efficiencies.

Suffolk Talking Therapies is research active and is working closely with the University of East Anglia, a UK Top 25 university (Complete University Guide 2025) as both a provider of training for mental health professionals and a research partner as we build our portfolio of projects. We are also working with local acute and community healthcare providers, embedding our therapeutic staff within wider systems of health. The service has excellent access to ongoing training and specialist supervision.

We are committed to quality through external scrutiny and have recently been awarded accreditation following review by the Accreditation Programme for Psychological Therapies (APPTS), part of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, College Centre for Quality Improvement assurance programme.

Hybrid working is an option, but it is expected that at least 3 days per week will be spent on-site.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Nursing Degree or equivalent, Dip O.T., Social Work or Psychology Qualification
• Mentorship qualification or ENB 998.
• Higher Degree or post graduate certificate in area of clinical therapeutic practice.
• Ongoing professional development working towards degree level
• Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner qualification- 2 years post qualification experience.

Desirable

• Good to great management course equivalent. APPT Trainer

Experience
Essential

• Able to demonstrate an appropriate level of knowledge of mental health practice from previous experience.
• Demonstrate effective risk management and risk management experience.

Skills
Essential

• Care Planning skills.
• Risk Assessment knowledge and skills.

Desirable

• Training re: Suicide prevention, Safeguarding and Medicine Management

Knowledge
Essential

• Knowledge of medication and the monitoring of its effects
• An understanding of the policies and guidelines both local and national e.g. NICE guidelines

Desirable

• Certificate in area of clinical practice

Other
Essential

• Ability to travel independently

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer contact details
Deputy Service Manager
Gemma Shrimpton
gemma.shrimpton@nsft.nhs.uk