Senior Assistant Psychologist - Health and Justice in Wakefield

Senior Assistant Psychologist - Health and Justice

Band 5

Main area Mental Health Grade Band 5 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday (happy to discuss flexible working)) Job ref 437-8292727

Site HMP New Hall - Rivendell Service Town Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Salary £32,073 - £39,043 per annum pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 13/10/2026 23:59

Job overview

The post holder will work closely with our clinical and forensic psychologists to support the delivery of the Rivendell service. Rivendell is a long-standing and well-established residential therapeutic unit which exists as part of the National Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway, run in partnership with Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMMPS). The aims of the pathway are to reduce repeat high-harm offending, to improve wellbeing and to improve the skills of staff working with personality difficulties. Rivendell is a two-year treatment programme, on a dedicated wing offering a range of bespoke one-to-one interventions and group work to a maximum of 16 women. Rivendell is a formulation led, trauma informed service, with a focus on relational dynamics to work effectively with the client group and develop understandings of how personality difficulties influence the risk of further offending or harm to self. Collaborative working practices between NHS and HMPPS staff are integral to the delivery of our service.

Main duties of the job

Key duties will include co-ordinating, developing and co-facilitation of psycho-educational skills-based groups, in conjunction with relevant clinical staff. The post holder will take a lead in co-working with the prison officer team to jointly plan and deliver meaningful activities with service users, which includes activities such as cooking, craft sessions and mindfulness. The postholder will be expected to support the assessment process for new service users and to support clinicians in delivery of one-to-one interventions. There will be scope to work collaboratively with other agencies to support our client group and to deliver training to prison staff both within Rivendell and the wider prison. The postholder will be supported to take a lead for service evaluation of our current groups and for working with the leadership team to develop ideas regarding further service evaluation and potential research projects.

Working for our organisation

Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations.

We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford, Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.

Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.

Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.

Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification

• Pay Enhancements: – 30% additional for Evenings (8pm onwards) and Saturdays and 60% additional for Sundays and Bank holidays.
• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years

Person specification

Qualifications

• 2:1 or above psychology degree
• Eligibility for BPS graduate membership (clearly stated on application)
• Further post graduate training in psychology, mental health practice or therapeutic skills.

Experience

• Experience of working within a service that supports people who have experienced complex trauma and adversity which has impaired/impacted on their personality.
• Experience of developing assessments, formulations and therapeutic intervention to people presenting with complex mental health, personality difficulties or offending behaviours.
• Experience of working with people with complex needs including mental health difficulties.
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary or multi-agency team.
• Experience of providing psychological interventions individually or within a group.
• Worked within a trauma-informed environment.
• Experience of working in a custodial setting or with people who have had contact with the criminal justice system
• Worked specifically with the needs of women.Experience of having been involved in regular audit and data collection

Knowledge

• Knowledge and awareness of the factors that contribute complex personality presentations, emotional dysregulation and interpersonal difficulties.
• Knowledge of psychological treatment approaches for working with those presenting with complex personality difficulties.
• Awareness of the OPD pathway strategy

Skills and abilities

• High level communication skills (written and verbal).
• Ability to work collaboratively with Service users and staff teams. To liaise with a range of other professionals and communicate sensitive and risk information.
• Ability to promote and advocate for a psychologically-informed way of working.
• To show resilience within a challenging working environment and have awareness of own professional and personal limitations.
• Ability to develop spreadsheets, data-bases as well as strong word processing skills.
• Strong presentation skills and ability to deliver training to staff teams.
• Ability to work towards agreed goals within supervision.
• Ability to complete literature searchers and synthesise large amounts of narrative data

Other

• There is an occasional requirement to travel across the wide footprint of the Trust to attend meetings and events relevant to the role.

Important Information about working for GMMH: All positions within the Trust are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, for further information on the checks required please visit the NHS Employers website www.nhsemployers.org

The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.

Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.

The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications

A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application.The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.

We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.

Sponsorship

We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – click here .

If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.

The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it here .

Do you have experience outside the NHS?

We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.

We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment. Please contact our Recruitment Team for more information.

**Please note, this vacancy may be closed at any time if sufficient applications have been received**

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.

Name Abigail Thickett Job title Senior Forensic psychologist Email address abigail.thickett@gmmh.nhs.uk
Additional information
Kirstie.thompson@gmmh.nhs.uk - Service lead

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