Internal Applicants Only - Lead Therapist for the Canopi Service

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This post is currently open to employees of Cardiff University only.  Please do not apply if you do not have a current contract of employment with the University.

Internal Applicants Only - Lead Therapist for the Canopi Service
Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences
Cardiff University School of Medicine
College of Biomedical and Life Sciences

We are looking for a Lead therapist to join the Canopi team in School of Medicine, based at the Hadyn Ellis Building, Cathays campus.

In this role, you will:
•    Provide Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Canopi clients and assess and manage more complex Canopi clients, advising on the most appropriate treatment plans, leading Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) discussions and liaising with other health care providers if needed.
•    Be ultimately responsible for the overseeing of Canopi therapists including line managing therapists including the supervision of therapists who are responsible for the delivery of CBT to Canopi clients
•    Feed into the Canopi executive team, to provide advice and guidance on the delivery of CBT interventions. 

We’d like to hear from you if you:
•    Are a member of  the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) accredited Therapist or Clinical Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) with demonstrable post-qualification experience of working as a CBT practitioner with a wide variety of clinical presentations
•    Have proven experience of managing or supervising other CBT practitioners.
•    Have proven ability to advise leadership /management teams around CBT practices.

We can offer you the chance to work in a vibrant organisation, with great benefits and opportunities for progression. We are a proud Living Wage supporter.

For an informal, confidential discussion about the role, please contact Naomi Marfell (Canopi Manager): marfelln@cardiff.ac.uk.

This post is full time (35 hours per week), available immediately and fixed-term until 31 March 2027.
Part-time working will be considered. In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.

Salary: £60,907 - £66,537 per annum (Grade 8).  Appointments to roles at Cardiff University are usually made at bottom of scale unless in exceptional circumstances.

This role is eligible to be offered on a blended working basis, meaning that as well as spending time working on campus you may spend some time working from another location, e.g. your home. The University is committed to offering this flexibility, wherever the role and business need allows, supporting work-life balance. 

Cardiff University offers many excellent benefits, including 45 days annual leave (incl bank holidays), local pension scheme, a cycle to work scheme and other travel initiatives, annual increments within the pay scale, and more. It is an exciting and vibrant place to work, with many different challenges and is a proud Living Wage supporter.

How we will support you in performing in this role –
There are some things that you must have before you can start this role (see ‘Essential Criteria’), but other things can be developed either through training, or just by general on-the-job experience.  We want to support and develop you once you have started in the role using a combination of the following to get the best out of you:

1.    Regular one-to-ones with your manager
2.    An experienced and supportive team around you
3.    Supporting you through job-relevant training and development that you may require
4.    A mentoring scheme

Closing date: Friday, 18 July 2025

External applications are currently not being considered for this post.  If the decision is made to open the post to external candidates, the strapline at the top will be removed and you will be given ample time to apply – please check back periodically for details.

Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds. We therefore welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age.  In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.

Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.

Job Description

Job Purpose

•    To be ultimately responsible for the overseeing of Canopi therapists including line managing therapists, ensuring that therapists deliver the intervention effectively and according to the manual, providing clinical supervision to therapists and having primary responsibility for dealing with clinical risk.
•    To lead on developing and providing the specialist training and supervision of therapists who are responsible for the delivery of CBT to Canopi clients.  To also line manage the therapists (CU grade 7) responsible for delivering CBT to Canopi clients.
•    To develop high quality specialist methods for ensuring high quality CBT service delivery.
•    To feed into the Canopi executive team, to provide advice and guidance on the delivery of CBT interventions.
•    To assess and manage more complex Canopi clients, advising on the most appropriate treatment plans, leading MDT discussions and liaising with other health care providers if needed.
•    To take professional responsibility for providing guidance and advice in response to therapist queries, dealing appropriately with all clinical-risk escalations involving Canopi client, and take primary responsibility for troubleshooting important and urgent issues within the Canopi CBT therapists team.
•    To develop professional protocols to ensure that therapists deal appropriately with clinical risk. This will include developing clear lines of responsibility for dealing with urgent matters should they occur and ensuring that therapists are familiar with and adhere to these protocols.
•    To lead on the management of clinical risk, with a defined responsibility to liaise with the wider clinical research team to manage clinical risk.  The wider team can provide support for dealing with and responding to clinical risk but the post-holder will be responsible for liaison with the therapist team, signposting to appropriate next steps and informing and documenting severe adverse events.
•    To attend and contribute to project meetings with the wider team.
•    To be responsible for the provision of clinical input to the design of and delivery of the Canopi service
•    To establish relationships with key contacts to ensure role objectives are met, developing appropriate communication links with the University’s Schools/Directorates and outside bodies, which will include senior and/or clinical delivery staff with liaise with primary care and other health care providers as required.
•    To be responsible for the delivery of high quality, CBT to Canopi clients
•    To be involved in strategic planning, which will involve building and maintaining effective working relationships with a wide range of both internal and external partners.
•    To identify opportunities for possible areas of research or service development. 

Other
• To participate in School administration and activities to promote the School and its work to the wider University and the outside world.
• Any other duties not included above, but consistent with the role.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

Qualifications and Education
1.    BABCP accredited CBT qualification or Postgraduate doctorate in clinical psychology or equivalent. Registered with the BABCP as a CBT therapist or HCPC to practice as a clinical psychologist in the UK.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience
2.    Established and demonstrable post-qualification experience of working as a CBT practitioner with a wide variety of clinical presentations.
3.    Experienced CBT practitioner with proven experience of successfully training or supervising others in this approach.
4.    Proven demonstrable experience of contributing to clinical governance and service development with a CBT team. Ability to implement agreed policies and strategic long-term service developments.
5.    Proven demonstrable ability to show leadership by taking primary responsibility for managing more complex clients/patients.
6.    A proven demonstrable passion about improving the mental health and the role that scientific evidence can have in improving mental health. 

Communication and Team Working
7.    A proven ability to advise leadership /management team on communication and development strategies for a team of CBT therapists, providing expert psychological advice on psychological aspects of care to clients . This should specifically include experience of managing clinical risk and dealing with high risk escalations.
8.    Proven excellent and persuasive communication skills with people from a variety of backgrounds and professional and clinical disciplines.
9.    A demonstrable ability to effectively work as part of a multidisciplinary team to deliver a quality service.
10.  Proven ability to provide teaching on psychological therapies to multidisciplinary professionals working within the service and other interested parties (local, national, international) as required.

Desirable Criteria

1. Knowledge and experience of conducting research in the field of mental health
2. Evidence of collaborations with relevant stakeholders such as third sector organisations, the NHS, or government.
3.  Ability to speak Welsh and willing to use in a work context

Additional Information

IMPORTANT: Evidencing Criteria

It is the School of Medicine's policy to use the person specification as a key tool for short-listing. Candidates should evidence that they meet ALL of the essential criteria as well as, where relevant, the desirable. As part of the application process you will be asked to provide this evidence via a supporting statement.

Please ensure when submitting this document / attaching it to your application profile you name it with the vacancy reference number, in this instance for this post, 20307BR

If candidates do not provide written evidence of meeting all of the essential criteria then their application will not be progressed. The School of Medicine welcome the submission of CVs to accompany evidence of the job-based criteria.

Job Category

Health, Management & Executive, Medical & Dental