Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen to appoint a Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner to work within Sunderland Talking Therapies and study at Teesside University. The position is full time hours (37.5 per week) and will be a combination of university and placement days, paid at Band 4 until successful completion of the course and PWP registration in place. This employment is dependent on completion of the course and once registered, PWPs are paid at NHS Band 5 equivalent. Unfortunately if you are unsuccessful at completing the course unfortunately your employment contract will be terminated.

Interviews will be held on 9th and 10th November 2026 in person at Monkwearmouth Hospital. Please note we will close the advert early if we receive a high number of applications.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will:

• Learn to provide a range of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) based self-help interventions to patients with anxiety and depression.
• Undertake triage screening assessments and make onward referrals
• Learn to and become experienced in a range or Low Intensity modalities, e.g. guided self-help (both telephone, online consultation and face-to-face), psycho-educational courses and computerised CBT
• Liaise with external agencies and services to promote Sunderland Talking Therapies

Enquires regarding the posts can be made to Jess Fawcett or Liz King (Low Intensity Service Leads) via [email protected].

About us

What we offer:

• Regular opportunities for ongoing continuing personal development either through in house training workshops or external training events once qualified
• Monthly line management
• Weekly case management supervision
• Fortnightly clinical skills supervision
• Monthly PWP meeting
• 30 days annual leave plus statutory bank holidays
• Some remote working opportunities
• This service is an 8-8 service weekdays. The post holder will be expected to work flexibly across the shifts required.

Job responsibilities

The PWP course runs for 1 academic year, and you will be required to meet the demands of balancing a high caseload whilst completing the academic components of the role. You will work towards a Post Graduate Certificate in Low Intensity Psychological Therapies and work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary. The training post will equip the post holder to provide a range of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) based self-help interventions to patients with anxiety and depression. The post-holder will attend all taught and self-study days required by the education provider, as specified within National Low Intensity curriculum, and work in the service for the remaining days of the week using their newly developed skills.

The successful applicant will be employed on Sunderland Counselling Service (SCS) terms and conditions, working within NHS Sunderland Talking Therapies. The successful candidate will be entitled to SCS benefits such as access to our 24/7 employee assistance programme to support wellbeing and will be within a probationary period for 3 months. Sunderland Talking Therapies consists of a large multidisciplinary team including PWPs, Community Practitioners, High Intensity Therapies (of multiple modalities) and a counsellor. A Senior Management Team including Team Managers, Clinical Leads, Senior PWPs, Low Intensity Service Leads and a Clinical Manager oversee the service and support staff. Sunderland Talking Therapies also works as a single point of access for patients entering Talking Therapies or Counselling via Sunderland Counselling Service, Sunderland Mind and Washington Mind.

Our PWP workforce is a valuable and highly respected element of the service. The PWP role in our service is varied and will allow you to gain a wide range of experience and skills. As a service we are committed to developing the skills and knowledge of our PWPs through providing opportunities to participate in service development projects and complete further training once qualified, e.g. PWP supervisors course, LTC training and leadership training. We are also committed to enhancing and maintaining the wellbeing of our PWP workforce.

Sunderland Counselling Service may use AI detection tools to assess the originality of submitted applications, or it may be obvious from the way it is written that the application is AI generated. Applications found or suspected to be generated by AI will be summarily rejected and will not progress through the recruitment process.

Interviews will be held on 9th and 10th November 2026 in person at Monkwearmouth Hospital.

Person specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working clinically with adults who have experienced a common mental health problem.

Desirable

• Experience of working within a primary care setting.
• Experience of managing own clinical caseload.
• Evidence of communicating with people from diverse backgrounds and using an interpreter.

Experience Skills and Competencies

Essential

• Computer literate.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including on the telephone.
• Experience that demonstrates an ability to build a rapport with service users.

Knowledge

Essential

• An understanding and experience of working with adults with common mental health problems, seeing first hand how it impacts the whole person.
• Experience of working within a team of professionals and being able to build good working relationships.

Desirable

• An understanding of how the use of evidence based interventions relates to the PWP role in practice.

Qualifications

Essential

• Evidence of ability to study successfully at Undergraduate Degree level, holding a level 6 qualification or equivalent.

Desirable

• Psychology or other health and care related undergraduate degree.

Other requirements

Essential

• Willingness and ability to work clinically on an evening where required by the service.
• Willingness and ability to travel to university and to various locations for patient appointments.