Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Main area Perinatal Mental Health Grade Band 4 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (37.5 per week) Job ref 382-NBC169-26

Employer Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Blackpool Teaching Hospital Town Blackpool Salary £28,392 - £31,157 Salary period Yearly Closing 01/11/2026 23:59

Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Band 4

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is situated on the west coast of Lancashire, with services covering the local authority areas of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre. The Trust is part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) supporting a population of around 1.6 million people.

We have three main hospitals providing acute services to around 330,000 local residents. The organisation also provides specialist tertiary care for cardiac and haematology services, delivers community health services to over 445,000 residents including those in North Lancashire and hosts the National Artificial Eye Service across England. Plus, we provide urgent and emergency care services to an estimated 18 million people who visit the seaside resort each year. We employ over 7000 people from 68 different countries.

We welcome and encourage application from anyone with protected characteristics, as well as supporting reservists and Veterans who are looking for a rewarding and challenging career within the NHS.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals encourages flexible working in all our roles to support staff in maintaining healthy home-life balance. Working patterns such as: part time working, self-rostering, compressed hours, annualised hours, term time, reverse term time and flexitime working can be explored.

Job overview

This is a training role supported by NHS England. The post-holder will work within the Lancashire and South Cumbria Reproductive Trauma Service (RTS), providing high volume low intensity interventions whilst undertaking a programme of training for this role.

The post holder will work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and should be committed to equal opportunities.

The post holder will be expected to provide a range of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) based self- management interventions to women accessing the service, whilst also attending all taught and self-study days necessary to complete the course at the University of Lancashire.

Main duties of the job

This is a key, organisation-wide role in developing and maintaining high standards of care for women who experience specific mental health difficulties in their pregnancy and the postnatal period, and their families. You will gain relevant knowledge and skills which you will use to contribute to the care of, and treatment delivery for women during pregnancy and beyond with complex mental health difficulties, in particular those presenting with tokophobia, birth-related trauma and perinatal loss, working alongside the wider RTS team, in partnership with maternity services, health visiting services, and other mental health services.

Potential interview dates - 17th or 18th November

Working for our organisation

The RTS is the Maternal Mental Health Service (MMHS) for Lancashire and South Cumbria and consists of Psychological Therapists, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners and Mental Health Wellbeing Practitioners working alongside MMHS Midwives and Peer Support Volunteers in a community setting to meet the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP), previously referred to as ‘Maternity Outreach Services’.

The service provides support to women who have moderate to severe PTSD following birth trauma or perinatal loss (including early miscarriage, recurrent miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death, termination of pregnancy for any reason, parent infant separation at birth due to safeguarding concerns), and those that have a severe fear of childbirth (tokophobia).

The service covers a large geographical area, therefore all staff work remotely from home, attending face to face clinics, service development days, training and events as and when needed.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical

• Undertake initial assessments for women referred into the service and contribute to MDT discussions to determine service suitability, appropriate allocation and input.
• Provide a range of evidence based psychological interventions to individuals in line with clinical guidance, whilst developing problem statements from a perinatal perspective
• Complete all requirements relating to data collection within the service.
• Attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or clients in treatment, where appropriate.
• Work closely with other members of the team ensuring treatment plan remains appropriate and necessary adjustments/amendments to treatment plan are agreed and actioned.

Training and Supervision

• Attend and fulfil all the requirements of the training element of the post including practical, academic and practice-based assessments.
• Apply learning from the training programme in practice.
• Receive supervision from educational providers in relation to course work to meet the required standards.
• Prepare and present clinical information for all patients on their caseload to clinical and case management supervisors within the service on an agreed and scheduled basis, in order to ensure safe practice and the clinical governance obligations of the worker, supervisor and service are delivered.
• Respond to and implement supervision suggestions by supervisors in clinical practice.
• Engage in and respond to personal development supervision to improve competences and clinical practice.

Professional

• Ensure the maintenance of standards of practice according to the employer and any regulating bodies and keep up to date on new recommendations/guidelines set by the department of health (e.g., NHS plan, National Service Framework, National Institute for Clinical Excellence).
• Ensure that client confidentiality is protected at all times.
• Be aware of and keep up to date with advances in the spheres of treatment for common mental health problems, and perinatal specific mental health difficulties.
• Ensure clear objectives are identified, discussed, and reviewed with supervisors/ line manager on a regular basis as part of continuing professional development.
• Participate in individual performance review and respond to agreed objectives.
• Keep up to date all records in relation to Continuous Professional Development and ensure personal development plan maintains up to date specialist knowledge of latest theoretical and service delivery models/developments.
• Attend relevant conferences / workshops in line with identified professional objectives.

General

• To contribute to the development of best practice within the service.
• To maintain up-to-date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and procedures in relation to Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services.

Collaborative Practice

• Understand the impact of poor maternal mental health on infants and other family members, and the role that maternity services can play in mitigating this.
• Regularly liaise with Midwives, GPs, Health Visitors, Obstetricians, Community Mental Health Teams and other agencies in relation to the care of pregnant women and new mothers with specific mental health difficulties.
• Have up to date knowledge of local services available to pregnant women in relation to their mental health needs, ensuring women from diverse backgrounds are able to access the service and address their specific needs.
• Liaison with peer support to request additional support for women and their families where needed.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of the impact of common psychiatric medications on women and babies during pregnancy and breastfeeding and have links to experts (specialist perinatal psychiatrists and pharmacists) to keep this knowledge up to date and seek additional information where required.

Person specification

Experience and Knowledge

• Evidence of working with people who have suffered with a mental health problem
• Demonstrates high standards in written communication
• Able to write clear reports and letters
• Demonstrates an understanding of anxiety and depression and how it may present in Primary Care
• Experience of working in Primary Care Services
• Worked in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes
• Ability to manage own caseload and time
• Demonstrates a knowledge of the issues surrounding work and the impact it can have on mental health
• Knowledge of medication used in anxiety and depression and other common mental health problems
• Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post
• Received training (either formal or through experience) and carried out risk assessments within scope of practice

Skills and Attributes

• Ability to evaluate and put in place the effect of training
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including telephone skills
• Able to develop good therapeutic relationships with clients
• Ability to work within a team and foster good working relationships
• Ability to use clinical supervision and personal development positively and effectively
• Ability to work under pressure
• Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy
• Ability to be self-reflective, whilst working with service users, in own personal and professional development and in supervision
• Able to attend all required University Training days
• Able to complete academic components of the course
• Fluent in languages other than English
• Car driver and/or ability and willingness to travel to locations throughout the organisation

Education and Qualifications

• Evidence of ability to study successfully at undergraduate year 1 level or the equivalent
• Training in nursing, social work, occupational therapy, counselling or within a psychological therapy.
• Psychology or other health related undergraduate degree.
• Psychology or other health related postgraduate degree

Any invitation to interview will be sent to the email account stated on your application form.

If the role you have applied for requires a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check we will administer this as part of your pre-employment checks. Please note, you will be required to repay the cost on appointment. This will be collected via a salary deduction. You can choose whether to pay this over 1-3 months from your salary or as a one-off payment on commencement in post. The level of check required depends on the role that you have been offered. Currently the charges are - Basic DBS check £24, Standard DBS check £24 and Enhanced DBS check £45.

You are encouraged where possible, to register for the DBS update service. This is an annual registration fee of £15. By registering for the update service you will not have the additional cost of repeated disclosures.

Should you withdraw your application, you may be required to reimburse the cost of the DBS check.

DBS checks remain free of charge for volunteer positions.

By submitting an application for this vacancy you are confirming your agreement to the above in the event you are successfully appointed.

The DBS Code of Practice can be accessed here .

Please ensure that you read the Person Specification attached below as your application will be judged against this.

Please note that every effort will be made to keep the vacancy live until published closing date, though there may be instances where such interest is generated, that for administrative reasons the post may close earlier.

Please note that in line with national NHS guidelines this Trust operates a strict non-smoking policy. Members of staff are not permitted to smoke on Trust premises or grounds at any time nor take breaks during working hours for the purposes of smoking.

The Trust does not offer interview expenses to shortlisted candidates unless indicated in the advert.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name Lisa McCormick

Job title L&SC RTS Clinical Lead

Email address Lisa.McCormick@nhs.net

Telephone number 03000132082

Additional information

Tracy Marsden

Lancashire and South Cumbria Reproductive Trauma Service Manager

tracy.marsden5@nhs.net

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