Job Title

Main area Assistant Psychologist Grade Band 4 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday-Friday 9-5pm) Job ref 350-MHC7332645 Employer Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Mersey Care Inpatient Units in St Helens and Halton Town St Helens Salary £27,485 - £30,162 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 27/07/2025 23:59 Interview date 11/08/2025 Assistant PsychologistBand 4---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Job overviewWe are looking for Assistant Psychologists to work as an integral part of the inpatient psychology team on male and female inpatient units. These posts will be based on acute adult inpatient wards and will contribute to therapeutic activities and psychological interventions.There will be vacancies based in both St Helens (Peasley Cross Hospital) and Halton (Brooker Centre). The successful candidate will support and enhance the professional psychological care of service users working as part of a multi-disciplinary team including psychology, psychiatry, nursing staff and occupational therapy. The team regularly work with other services including social care, community mental health teams, based on individual need. You will receive regular supervision as well as informal support from a qualified psychologist. The post holder will have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and will have demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a team. Above all you must be passionate about working with adults with acute mental health difficulties. As an NHS employer we value authenticity and honesty. If using Artificial Intelligence (AI) it's important to ensure your application accurately reflects your skills and experience. Always review and personalise the content and include specific examples from your own experience to demonstrate how you meet the criteria for the role. Main duties of the jobDue to the complex and demanding nature of the role, you will ideally have previous experience in either a similar role and/or with a similar patient group. The role will involve supporting psychological assessments and evidence based interventions under the supervision of a qualified Psychologist. Assistant Psychologists will work with the Psychologist in promoting psychological support on inpatient wards. The Assistant Psychologist will deliver group and individual psychological interventions for service users on the ward. You will be expected to attend and contribute towards daily ward meetings and you will work hard to improve inpatient care focusing on enhancing the therapeutic environment. There will be opportunities to support inpatient services in audit and research, in order to inform service development and support best practice. We have good links with the universities and MCFT research department and we will do our best to support this if this is your area of interest. We have successful and established models of care on our inpatient wards. We have the Self Harm Pathway and Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) and you will be expected to support these pathways on the wards. The successful applicants must have a degree in psychology, which confers Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership with the British Psychological Society (BPS). Working for our organisationMersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands. We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities. At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so. Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles. Detailed job description and main responsibilitiesDuties and Responsibilities To support Qualified Psychologists by undertaking psychological assessments of clients applying psychologically based psychometric tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care. To undertake psychological assessments of service users under the supervision of a qualified psychologist which may include, as appropriate, a range of psychometric tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, carers and others involved in the client’s care. To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s problems, under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, in a range of settings as appropriate. To assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups. To work with other disciplines to assess inpatients, outpatients, day patients or residents and review their care in preparation for multi-disciplinary reviews. To assist in the development of a psychological framework of understanding and care to all service users of the service, across all care settings. To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings as directed by the qualified psychologists. To use a degree of initiative and work independently with service users on planned work, and to exercise judgement based on good practice (NICE) and local operating procedures. To work with potentially distressing material in relation to service users’ personal histories and presentation, including risk to self and others. In common with all clinical psychologists, to receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines and trust policy. To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties Where appropriate, and under the supervision of qualified staff, contribute to the training and support of other staff in psychological care. To assist in the design and implementation of service development projects within the service as required. To attend meetings in which service developments are planned and discussed as required. To be competent in the use of basic IT packages, such as Microsoft word. Develop a skill base in the administration and analysis of a range of psychometric packages as directed. To assist in the design and implementation of audit, effectiveness, and research projects. To undertake data collection, analysis, the production of full reports and summaries, using IT and statistical programmes. To review evidence-based literature and research to assist qualified psychologists and work with other team members in their clinical responsibilities as necessary. To prepare test materials and visual aids as required. General To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in appropriate CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the postholder’s professional and team/operational manager(s). To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society, and Trust policies and procedures. To prepare test materials and visual aids as required and to maintain stock of same where necessary. To undertake specific administrative duties as required. To perform other duties of a similar kind appropriate to the grade, which may be required by their Psychological Services Manager Person specificationQUALIFICATIONS:A honours degree that satisfies the British Psychological Society criteria for graduate basis for chartered membership KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE:A minimum of 12 months experience of work with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities Experience of research evaluation and audit of the application of psychological principles to mental health problems High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive Experience using computers for databases or data-analysis Experience of report writing Demonstrated high level ability to communicate sensitive information to service users, carers and colleagues in a way that facilitates engagement An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities A demonstrated ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context An understanding of psychological principles applied to health care Experience as an Assistant Psychologist in an healthcare setting VALUESAccountability Support High professional standards Responsive to service users Transparency and honesty Discreet SKILLSExperience in managing conflict, and balancing demand for resources with availability and prioritisation Experience of working with complex presentations Experience of taking decisions relating to the risk or safety of individuals and carrying professional responsibility for those decisions within a safeguarding and risk framework Clear experience of interacting effectively with staff from all disciplines An interest in working with people with mental health problems or other disabilities Clear experience of interacting with people with mental health problems Ability to work with a high level of autonomy within the boundaries of the assistant role Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply for all correspondence. All information regarding your application will come from apps.trac.jobs not NHS Jobs. Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview. As a Disability Confident Employer, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who consider themselves to be disabled who meet the minimum (essential) criteria for the role in the person specification. If you would like your application to be considered under the Trust’s guaranteed interview scheme you can indicate this in the personal information section of your online application form. Should you require a reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process please email to ensure that measures can be put in place to support you. We reserve the right to close any vacancies from further applications when we have received a minimum number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role. The Trust expects all post holders who require an enhanced DBS for their role 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. Trans applicants who require a DBS check and do not want to reveal details of their previous identity can contact the DBS Sensitive Applications Team (01516761452 or email ) with their application number once they have completed their DBS application form. The team can prevent any previous identity showing on the DBS Certificate, unless the applicant has a conviction under their previous details in which case this will need to be disclosed. Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website - Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles. Please be advised that the use of Artificial Intelligence on applications is monitored and if you choose to use this, you must declare this on your application form. Please note: new entrants to the NHS will commence on the first pay point of the relevant band. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Employer certification / accreditation badgesThis 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.#J-18808-Ljbffr