Mentalisation Based Therapy (MBT) Practitioner | South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust


Company:	South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Salary:	£49,387 - £56,515 per annum inclusive of HCAS (Inner or outer)
Hours:	Part-time
Location:	Beckenham, BR3 3BX
Job type:	Contract
Posting date:	20 Jul 2026
Closing date:	21 Aug 2026

Apply for this job

Summary

The Croydon Personality Disorder Service is looking to recruit a Registered Mental Health Nurse, Social Worker, Occupational Therapist or Psychologist/Psychotherapist to the post of Specialist Psychotherapist. This is a one year contract providing cover for a member of the team whilst on maternity leave.

We are looking for staff with a commitment to working with people with personality disorders and experience working in therapeutic groups.

You will be trained to facilitate SUN groups, which are open-access crisis and emotional support groups in the community in central Croydon and online. You will offer individual MBT treatment to patients on the MBT treatment programmes, as well as facilitating MBT groups.

The Croydon Personality Disorder Service at the Touchstone Centre provides evidence-based interventions for people suffering difficulties associated with a diagnosis of moderate to severe personality disorder. Interventions offered include Tier 3 day hospital psychotherapy, and outpatient Tier 2 MBT service, and a community based appraisal based coping skills development group.

The team is based at The Touchstone Centre – a psychotherapy day hospital combining good psychiatric management, nursing and physical health care, structured clinical management (SCM) and Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT) to people who might otherwise spend long periods of time in crisis and in and out of services.

We provide specialist, evidence-based, psychotherapeutic day hospital treatment for working-age people with moderate to severe personality disorders. We also run the SUN project, a coping skills development and crisis support group 3 times a week in central Croydon to people with or without a diagnosis of personality disorders. You will work within our team of psychotherapists, doctors, specialist community psychiatric nurses and Mental Health Wellbeing Practitioners.

Our Trust headquarters is located at Denmark Hill less than 5 minutes from the train station (zone 2). We also provide services and operate across other locations such as London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark; and substance misuse services for residents of Bexley, Lambeth, Greenwich and Wandsworth.

Benefits

Some of our benefits are highlighted here:

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.

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.

Care lease. Our staff benefit from competitive deals to lease cars.

Our staff benefit from keyworker housing which is available on selected sites.

NHS discounts. With discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands through Health Service Discounts website.

Other benefits include:

Counselling services

Wellbeing events

Long service awards

Cycle to work scheme

Season ticket loan

Staff restaurants

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

• To provide specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients (individuals, couples, families and social networks where the identified client has complex mental health needs).

• To provide culturally appropriate psychological or psychotherapeutic interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.

• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.

• To provide reports, including relevant formulation, opinion and interventions, in order to inform referrers and, where appropriate, service users and their families.

• To select and deliver evidence-based specialist therapeutic interventions, drawing from a spectrum of ideas and models, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions as necessary, based on the highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, couple, family or group.

• To promote psychological support for carers (or families as appropriate) of referred clients.

• To be responsible for the provision of Specialist Psychotherapy Services to people with a primary diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder both in group and individual psychotherapy using a Mentalization Based Treatment model.

• To demonstrate, through case presentation and daily clinical meetings, the explicit implementation of a Mentalization Based Treatment model to all clinical work and reflective practice groups.

• To be able to demonstrate the quality of your MBT work through completion of the documentation of the care pathway interventions at all stages of a patients journey through the service.

• In conjunction with senior colleagues facilitate regular clinical reviews of the implementation

• of the treatment plan, involving the client, other professionals involved and their family/any other relevant person.

• To provide expert facilitation of the Sun Project group (open access group for people with or without a formal diagnosis of personality disorder) a crisis support group using the principles of coping process theory.

• To provide leadership to the junior staff, role modelling the Trust’s 5 commitments at all times and ensuring that your actions help junior colleagues work to the best of their ability.

• The assessment and planning of care when there are complex adult or child safeguarding issues and completing risk assessment and care planning where there is risk to others or to self, for instance where there may be severe and repeated self-injurious behaviour.

• To work as a collaborative member of the multidisciplinary psychotherapy team actively supporting the maintenance of the therapeutic milieu at the Touchstone Centre, its therapeutic boundaries and the safety of all within the service. This will include from time to time being the duty contact person for patients requiring additional or crisis support on a day to day basis (or supervising others in this role).

• To provide advice to professional colleagues in the community or on the acute inpatient wards regarding evidenced based care for this client group, establishing and maintaining professional collaborative communication that is experienced by others as helpful, supportive and clear.

KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

• To contribute to the effective working of the serviceand to psychologically/psychotherapeutically informed framework for the service.

• To contribute to the team or service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.

• To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.

• To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.

• To liaise with the service’s MDT and other professionals.

KR 3 Policy and service development

• To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.

• To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

• To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.

KR 4 Care or management of resources

• To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.

• To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

• To ensure the cleanliness and safe functioning and use of equipment that will be used by clients or other persons.

• To monitor and advise clients on the safe use of materials and processes.

• To ensure adequate confidential and safe storage for artefacts produced during the therapy process in line with professional guidelines.

• To be responsible for obtaining, storing and maintaining all materials and equipment for the provision of therapy in work setting within budgetary constraints.

KR 5 Management and supervision

• To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of junior staff, if required, under supervision from a more senior therapist.

KR 6 Record-keeping and Information Governance

• To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.

• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

KR 7 Research and development

• To actively engage in the process of improving upon the high quality of service offered, by participating in audits, sharing research ideas, and being an active participant of team events and meetings.

• To keep up to date with the scientific developments in the care and treatment of people with personality disorder in particular in the field of MBT.

• To use the Touchstone care pathway audit tool to guide both your work and that of your supervisees in order to demonstrate implementation of a gold standard MBT service.

KR 8 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

• To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior therapist according to discipline, professional body and Trust guidelines.

• To maintain own Continuing Professional Development in line with professional body and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and professional Standards for Continuing Professional Development.

• To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.

• To comply with professional body Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics/Standards of Proficiency.

KR9 General

• To travel as appropriate and across the Trust when required.

• To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.

• To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations (such as challenging behaviour, abuse etc) and to support others involved in such situations through Trust-wide approaches including Critical Incident Staff Support and Reflect-Support-Resolve.

To carry out other duties as the Clinical and Operational Lead may reasonably request.

This advert closes on Monday 3 Aug 2026

Apply for this job