A Vacancy at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
About the role:
The Lewisham Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Team is looking to recruit a skilled therapist who is passionate about DBT and enjoys working with clients who struggle to regulate their emotions, behaviours and relationships.
Applicants should either be a fully accredited DBT Therapist, or they should want to develop their career towards full DBT accreditation.. Applications are also welcome from newly qualified staff who can demonstrate the required experience.
You will be delivering therapy full-time to a client group who struggle with self-harm and suicidal behaviours, so the work can be challenging but also deeply rewarding. This is an amazing opportunity to develop your career by becoming a specialist practitioner in an evidence-based and effective treatment for complex clients.
The post holder will be responsible for supporting the running of the DBT Programme in collaboration with the DBT Lead. The service delivers a comprehensive DBT programme, consisting of individual therapy, skills training groups, weekly consultation team meetings, and phone coaching.
Once accredited, there may be further opportunities for training and practice in adjunctive models, including prolonged exposure for PTSD, and family connections group.
Job Purpose:
To provide a specialist Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) service to clients with Borderline/Emotionally-Unstable Personality Disorder (BPD/EUPD) and comorbid difficulties associated with underlying emotional dysregulation. The job will entail delivering comprehensive DBT (individual DBT sessions, DBT skills training [group sessions], DBT telephone coaching and attending weekly DBT Team Consult meetings), planning and delivering DBT-informed groups within the Treatment Team, conducting specialist assessments and comprehensive monitoring of clinical outcomes. The job will also require the post holder to offer consultation to other professionals and teams as appropriate, and plan and deliver training or teaching as needed. The post holder will also be required to contribute to service evaluation, audit and research.
We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance. There is an extensive range of excellent benefits for you and your family. We want you to feel like you are part of a close knit team at SLaM. It’s important to us that you valued and appreciated and that are why we have a comprehensive benefits package on offer Some of our benefits are highlighted here:
• Generous pay, pensions and leave,we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
• Work life balance,flexible working and support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing. This is a full-time role, but if you would like to request flexible working please discuss this when applying.
• Career development,There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
• Car lease,our staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars
• Accommodation,our staff benefits from keyworker housing available which is available on selected sites
• NHS discounts,with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website.
To deliver comprehensive DBT, including individual DBT sessions, skills training (group and individual), and out-of-hours DBT telephone coaching. This work will also include delivering Prolonged Exposure (DBT-PE) for trauma, for clients with comorbid PTSD.
To provide specialist assessment and clinical formulation to clients with significant difficulties with emotional and behavioural dysregulation, particularly clients with Borderline/Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (BPD/EUPD) who engage in suicidal and parasuicidal behaviour and have co-morbid difficulties (e.g. substance misuse, eating difficulties, anger control problems).
To design and deliver adjunctive therapy groups, both for clients in the DBT Service and for appropriate clients in the Lewisham Treatment Service (e.g. DBT First Steps Group, Managing Emotions groups), monitoring outcomes and modifying and adapting interventions, drawing on principles and skills from DBT/CBT.
To work as an autonomous professional within Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the policies and procedures of the Trust and both the wider and local DBT Service, taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions, under guidance from both DBT Consult and individual DBT supervision.
To attend and contribute fully to the weekly DBT Consult team meetings on Thursdays. To work as an effective team member (being non-defensive, willing, fallible, open, supportive of others etc.)
To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review treatment plans and care plans.
To assess and monitor risk regularly in sessions and draw up appropriate risk management plans and adapt these plans accordingly, particularly for clients with multiple services involved.
To be responsible for delivering DBT-informed psychological interventions with carers (or families as appropriate) of referred clients, including offering ‘Family Connections’ groups.
To support DBT clients' care coordinators in the community teams and offer consultation to other team members with queries in relation to DBT service provision.
To advise other members of the DBT Service, the wider borough community services (Lambeth, Croydon and Southwark), and appropriate other services (e.g. PCMHTs, local CAMHS services, acute wards) on specialist psychological care of clients with BPD/EUPD and related difficulties.
To communicate complex and sensitive information skilfully, compassionately and thoughtfully to clients and carers, taking account of any sensory and cultural barriers to communication in line with clients' wishes.
This advert closes on Thursday 20 Feb 2025