Leading High Performing NHS Talking Therapies Teams

Leading High Performing NHS Talking Therapies Teams
4 CPD Hours £249 + VAT
Online Course, 4 CPD Hours
Thu 8 Oct 2026 09:30-15:50

Explore practical strategies to improve productivity, strengthen team performance and deliver high-quality clinical outcomes within pressured systems

This online workshop is led by Heather Stonebank and designed for Clinical Leads, Managers and Senior Clinicians working within NHS Talking Therapies services. Through expert insight, interactive discussion and shared learning, you will gain pragmatic tools to improve service flow, build psychologically safe and accountable teams, manage performance challenges confidently and implement sustainable approaches to leadership and service improvement.

Strengthen your leadership skills

Actionable strategies to develop team performance and service delivery through:

  • Improving productivity and service flow without increasing pressure 
  • Strengthening accountability, consistency and leadership confidence 
  • Building psychologically safe, high-performing teams 
  • Managing performance challenges and difficult conversations effectively 
  • Embedding real-world innovation to improve outcomes and efficiency 
  • Developing sustainable approaches to leadership and team wellbeing

Convenient remote learning

Dedicate one day to this hands-on workshop and benefit from:

  • Expert insight into leadership, productivity and performance within NHS Talking Therapies 
  • Interactive discussion focused on real-world challenges and shared solutions 
  • Opportunities to reflect on current practice and identify areas for improvement 
  • Practical tools and approaches that can be implemented immediately within your service 
  • Shared learning and networking with Clinical Leads, Managers and Senior Clinicians from across NHS Talking Therapies services

In-house training

This training is also available as a bespoke course to teams of 25+ people. Please do contact us if you would like this training delivered exclusively to your team, where the content will be developed to drill into the specific needs of your service. Please email Sarah Kemm or call 01732 897788 for further details.

9:30
Registration, technical support and networking opportunity
10:00
Introduction, instructions and scene setting
Heather Stonebank, Clinical Programmes Manager (NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement Support and Early Intervention in Psychosis Improvement Lead), North East and Yorkshire Regional Mental Health Team, NHS England
Performance
10:10
Exploring what drives performance in talking therapies and how to support your team
  • Understanding the key system pressure and constraints and how to overcome them
  • Assessing the role of leadership in shaping the outcomes of your service
  • Leading with clarity, accountability and consistency in clinical practice
10:40
Questions and answers with Heather Stonebank
10:50
Interactive discussion: What does “good performance” currently look like in your service?
  • Where are the biggest gaps or inconsistencies within your performance currently?
  • How clear are expectations for performance success across your teams?
  • How are you working to overcome barriers to accountability?
11:20
Screen break
Productivity
11:30
Improving productivity across your talking therapies team in practice
  • Exploring what productivity means in talking therapies and the common, current challenges
  • Applying actionable approaches to improving productivity without increasing pressure
  • Linking and monitoring productivity to outcomes: how can you improve?
12:00
Questions and answers with Heather Stonebank
12:10
Interactive Discussion: How to improve productivity in your service
  • Share where productivity is currently lost in your service and why. How are you currently working to improve production?
  • How do you work as a team to ensure you balance both your targets and the quality of your work effectively?
12:40
Lunch break
Innovation
1:10
How to drive innovation and deliver high-quality outcomes in talking therapies
  • Understanding what practical innovation looks like in talking therapies
  • Exploring how to improve service flow and reduce bottle necks
  • How to focus on high quality clinical outcomes: using data to inform improvement strategies
1:40
Questions and answers with Heather Stonebank
1:50
Interactive discussion: How to implement innovation to improve flow in your service
  • Share examples of where you have implemented innovations with your service and how they worked
  • What did you do to ensure that the innovation improved outcomes and efficiency?
  • How do you overcome barriers to get the team on-board to try new ways of working?
2:20
Screen break
Team management
2:30
Building and managing high performing teams
  • Understanding what to expect of your team: sustainable leadership
  • Achieving accountability and personal effectiveness whilst maintaining psychological safety
  • Effectively managing performance and having difficult conversations with your team members
3:00
Questions and answers with Heather Stonebank
3:10
Interactive discussion: Building confidence to have performance-based conversations
  • Have you had many performance-based conversation and how did they go? What made them successful or challenging?
  • How can you maintain team wellbeing while addressing performance related challenges?
  • How could you develop your leadership skills to better support both the wellbeing and performance of your team members?
3:40
Closing interactive discussion: Action planning
  • Key insights from the day
  • What will make the biggest difference in your service?
  • Create your individual action plan: what will you implement in practice?
3:50
Workshop leader’s closing remarks and close of day

Practical leadership insight

Heather Stonebank is Clinical Programmes Manager within the Regional Mental Health Team at NHS England and has worked across NHS Talking Therapies services since 2008. Heather will share practical insight and real-world experience from leading quality improvement, service development and workforce transformation across local, regional and national NHS Talking Therapies programmes.

Heather Stonebank

Clinical Programmes Manager (NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement Support and Early Intervention in Psychosis Improvement Lead), North East and Yorkshire Regional Mental Health Team
NHS England

Expected attendees

Designed for professionals working within NHS Talking Therapies services, including:

  • Clinical Leads 
  • Service Managers 
  • Senior Clinicians 
  • Lead Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners 
  • Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners 
  • Team Leads and Operational Managers

Past attendee feedback

This online training course is part of a series of interactive events designed to support the real-world challenges facing NHS Talking Therapies services. Take a look at our recent attendee feedback to see what previous delegates have valued most from attending earlier this year: 

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“Excellent for learning latest guidance/research on key topics to improve service delivery.”
- Avon and Wiltshire NHS Trust, Transforming Outcomes in NHS Talking Therapies, January 2026
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“Really interesting topics covered today and definitely some practical ideas to go away and think about.”
- Northumberland Talking Therapies, Transforming Outcomes in NHS Talking Therapies, January 2026
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“Really useful and relevant content, presented smoothly and professionally.”
- Norfolk and Waveney NHS Talking Therapies, PWP Professional Development and Wellbeing Forum, March 2026
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“Would recommend, a great day to come away from practice and have some space learn, share some ideas and reflect.”
- NHS Talking Therapies HIOW, PWP Professional Development and Wellbeing Forum, March 2026
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“This was a great experience, the content was relevant and helpful. The day ran well.”
- Bromley Healthcare, PWP Professional Development and Wellbeing Forum, March 2026
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“Highly organised and engaging online format.”
- WCL Mind, Children’s Wellbeing Practitioner National Networking Forum, February 2026

Pricing Structure

  • Early bird: £249+VAT - one NHS or public sector place when booked before 28th August 2026
  • £299+VAT - one NHS or public sector place when booked after 28th August 2026
  • 4th place free! Book 3 NHS or public sector places and get the 4th for free
  • Commercial companies are invited to sponsor this day. Please email Vanessa Pearce for further details.

Reservations

You can reserve a no-obligation place whilst you apply for funding.

If your funding has not yet been secured or you would like to hold your place with no obligation whilst waiting for your study leave to be approved, you can reserve your place with us. Please email the reservations team at SBK Healthcare with your details:

  • Booking contact: name, job title, department, email and telephone number
  • Event(s) to reserve for: title and date
  • Delegate details (for each delegate): name, job title, department, email and telephone number
  • Organisation details: name and address

Alternatively you can make a confirmed booking by emailing the above information to the bookings team.

Registration fees

You will be sent an instant payment option or invoice on registration. Your payment is required in advance. If your fee has not been received prior to the event, and you are not able to provide a PO or proof of payment, you will be asked to make a credit or debit card payment on the day.

Modify registration

To let us know if your details are not correct when you have already registered, please email the bookings team.

Cancellations and substitutions

A full refund of fees will be made only for cancellations received within the first 48 hours of the booking being made. Notice of cancellation must be received in writing by emailing the bookings team at SBK Healthcare. Should you need to cancel your registration after this date, the registration fee remains payable in its entirety although a substitution will be accepted and conference documentation will be provided. Substitution attendees for delegates unable to attend after registering are acceptable at any time.

Event changes

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the conference organisers to alter the content, speakers or the timing of the programme. We will endeavour to keep you abreast of such changes but any unavoidable change to the format will not constitute a reason to refund the fee. Should the event be postponed, we will endeavour to reschedule the event. If, for reasons beyond the control of the conference organiser, the event is cancelled, a full refund will be made. We do not accept any liability for any incurred costs resulting from a postponement or cancellation.

Certificate of attendance

A certificate for Continuing Professional Development will be given to every fully registered participant who completes the course, as a record of your continuing professional training and development.

Privacy notice

To view the details on how your data is being collected and used, please view our Privacy policy.

Why sponsor a Talking Therapies National Networking Forum

Our role at SBK Healthcare is to bring industry together with healthcare professionals so that you can educate and inform your audience. These trail-blazing Talking Therapy forums offering dedicated presentation, Q&A, networking and discussion time, each sponsor will be full immersed into the event and able to effectively engage with your NHS audience.

Your event, managed by us

SBK Healthcare also provides in-house forums. Working closely with you as the client we can research, produce, market and deliver the conference or online forum that best suits the audience and meets your goals.

Reach out today

If you would like more information on our sponsorship options an in-house forum or if you wish to discuss your needs and what solutions may be appropriate for your business, please contact:


Vanessa Pearce
Contact: 01732 897788
Email: vanessa.pearce@sbk-healthcare.co.uk