Cognitive Behavioural Therapist

Overview

Location: Suffolk
Salary: A GBP 43,742
Vacancy Type: Permanent
Advertising End Date: 13 February 2026

We are seeking a qualified (or soon:to:qualify) Cognitive Behavioural Therapist to join our team as a High Intensity Therapist. This is an exciting opportunity to deliver evidence-based psychological interventions to adults from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, both in one-to-one and group settings, in line with IAPT guidance.

In this role, you will assess service users suitability for interventions and deliver high intensity CBT to support their recovery and wellbeing. Alongside your clinical work, you will provide line management and clinical supervision to a Senior PWP, as well as take on case management, leadership responsibilities, and represent the service in multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings.

This role requires a flexible, team-focused individual who can adapt to the needs of the organisation, work across sites, and build strong collaborative relationships with both internal colleagues and external partners. At times, you may be the most senior representative on site, making leadership, professionalism, and integrity vital to success in this role.

Responsibilities

• Deliver high intensity, evidence-based CBT interventions (individual and group).
• Assess suitability of service users for psychological interventions.
• Provide line management, clinical supervision, and support to Senior PWPs.
• Manage cases effectively and contribute to leadership duties, including report writing and MDT meetings.
• Work flexibly across sites to meet the needs of the service.
• Build collaborative working relationships with managers, colleagues, and partner agencies.
• Support the service in achieving agreed outcomes and targets.

Essential Criteria

• Qualification (or soon to qualify) in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
• Experience working with adults with mental health difficulties, ideally in a primary care or IAPT setting.
• Knowledge of the criminal justice sector and/or community services.
• Experience managing and developing staff, including providing line management and clinical supervision.
• Demonstrated competence as a psychological therapy practitioner (as outlined in Roth and Pilling 2007).
• Strong organisational and workload management skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work with diverse groups of people.
• Understanding of the need for evidence-based interventions (low and high intensity).
• Ability to reflect on and develop own practice.
• Flexibility to meet service needs, including working across different sites.
• Ability training effectively into practice.

Other information

All prison-based roles are subject to enhanced DBS checks and HMPPS security vetting. These checks can take up to 5 months to complete. Any offer of employment will be conditional upon the successful completion of both checks.

Please note if you have lived overseas within the last 5 years then checks may take longer.

About Us

We are The Forward Trust, the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.

Benefits

We are committed to our cause and the work we carry out as a charity. Equally the wellbeing and the employees who work for us are also important. Joining us as an employee, we will offer you the following benefits:

• Flexible working
• Training and development opportunities
• Simply Health Cashback Scheme (optional)
• Season Ticket Loan Scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Crisis Loan Scheme
• Electric Car Scheme