Assistant Psychologist

Main area Dementia and Older People\’s Psychology Service Grade Band 4 Contract Fixed term: 9 months (Full time) Hours Full time – 37.5 hours per week Job ref 270-TG157-MH

Employer Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Stuart Road Mental Health Resource Centre Town Corby Salary £26,530 – £29,114 PA Salary period Yearly Closing 14/07/2025 08:00

Assistant Psychologist

Band 4

Job overview

We are pleased to advertise for an Assistant Psychologist to join the Dementia and Older People\’s Psychology Service (DOPPS) within Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT).

We request that applicants write a short piece (no more than 300 words) within their \”supporting information\” section of their application form answering the following question:

\”What do you think are the key elements needed to support older people in their recovery from mental health issues?”

Main duties of the job

• Co-facilitate supportive and psycho-educational groups and workshops to help people who have received a dementia diagnosis, and their carers
• Collaborate in using outcome information to inform and develop good practice
• Help develop systems and audit projects to allow any data collected to inform Trust management, commissioners, users and other relevant stakeholders of the needs of this population

Working for our organisation

NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools. We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Regular clinical supervision with a Clinical Psychologist will be provided, as are many opportunities to learn about a wide range of presentations and services due to the integrated nature of the Psychological Services within NHFT. It is essential that applicants have a recognised undergraduate degree in Psychology and have the Graduate Basis for Registration with the British Psychological Society. Experience of working with similar clinical populations would be beneficial. The ability to provide group-based interventions and/or experience of neuropsychological assessment would be an advantage.
We want to recruit a diverse workforce, who are values driven, compassionate and have a desire to deliver high quality care every day.

Person specification

Training & Qualifications

• An upper second class honours degree or higher in psychology
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society
• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis.

Experience

• Experience with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities.
• Experience of working with individuals with neurological impairment
• Experience in co-facilitating groups
• Experience of paid work in direct care provision

Other

• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
• A desire to explore a career in Professional Psychology.

Short Statement

Knowledge and Skills

• High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.
• Ability to communicate sensitive information to service users, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance
• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with complex mental health problems or other disabilities.
• Experience completing cognitive and neuropsychological assessments.
• Experience using microcomputers for databases or data-analysis, especially SPSS for Windows.
• High standard of report writing.

Personal

• Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals.
• Ability to manage physical demands of extended psychometric and other psychological assessments.
• An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines.

By completing an application you are giving authorisation for the transfer of your data. In submitting an application form, you authorise us to confirm any previous NHS service details via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process. Including factual reference, occupational health clearance and statutory and mandatory training records and full service history.

You must ensure that your application, including supporting statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Correspondence regarding your application will be sent to you via a TRAC system account.

Please submit your application as soon as possible; due to the high volumes of applications we receive we reserve the right to close any adverts before the closing date once we have received sufficient applications.

We are an equal opportunities employer, which aims to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons from all backgrounds.

All roles are subject to the home office immigration rules and therefore eligibility must meet certain requirements for any sponsorship to be considered. Please visit the government website for more information regarding eligibility,

At NHFT we support many of our colleagues to work flexibly and we will consider requests for flexible working from day one. For this role, we are open to discussing a range of options including flexible hours, agile/home working, compressed hours and part time hours. Please have a conversation with the recruiting manager about the flexibility you need and we will promise to explore what is possible with you.

Applicants who have a disability and meet the essential criteria for the job will be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme. If you require a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process please make the recruitment services team aware as soon as possible.

All posts that are engaged in a regulated activity will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and a DBS re-check on a three yearly basis whilst employed in such a role. Staff employed in these posts will therefore be asked to register with the DBS Automatic Update Service upon receipt of their DBS certificate and must update yearly , the annual fee will be reimbursed subject to Trust policy. For further information please visit: DBS Update Service: applicant guide – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Please note if a DBS is applicable for the position then a charge will be deducted from your first salary or upfront cost if a staff bank position.

Please note that all new starters to the trustare subject to a probationary period.

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.

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