Trainee Forensic Psychologist | Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust; Liverpool; On-site; AUD 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working consideration

Job summary

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting a Trainee Forensic Psychologist within Resettle & Reintegrate (Intensive Intervention & Risk Management Services). The role focuses on conducting offending-related therapies and assessments, developing evidence-based interventions, and contributing to ongoing research across a high-risk, complex client group.

The post supports multi-disciplinary collaboration and includes opportunities to deliver individual and group therapies, inform treatment

Qualifications

• Must be enrolled on the Doctorate in Forensic Psychology.
• Experience with offender populations and risk assessment is desirable.
• Ability to develop and evaluate evidence-based interventions.

Responsibilities

• Assist lead with offending related therapies and assessments.
• Develop and maintain high-quality intervention services for high-risk individuals.
• Lead or contribute to research projects and evaluate treatment effectiveness.
• Provide specialized psychological assessments using diverse data sources.
• Offer training and guidance to multidisciplinary teams on managing offending needs.

Skills

Offender assessment

Therapy delivery

Research methods

Education

Doctorate in Forensic Psychology

Tools

Neuropsychological tests

Structured interviews

Rating scales

Job description

Trainee Forensic Psychologist | Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Resettle & Reintegrate (Intensive Intervention & Risk Management Services) are innovative community services, providing an alternative approach to enhancing the lives of service users who have complex needs due to their personality related needs and offending histories. We are a true partnership model between Merseycare NHS Trust, the Probation Service and Merseyside Police and are part of the Offender Personality Pathway.

This post is only open to individuals enrolled on the Doctorate in Forensic Psychology, due to the short term contract and role.

Applications are welcomed from individuals with an optimistic, realistic attitude to working with individuals who have committed sexual and/or violent offences who also have significant personality difficulties. If you are flexible in outlook, able to work as part of a multi-agency, MDT to manage risk and address psychological needs and are resilient and empathic, you could become part of a welcoming and effective team, committed to helping people make changes.

The post holder will assist the service lead in conducting offending related therapies and assessments in the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist intervention service for service users, across the service. To assist the team in the development, delivery and maintenance of evidence-based offence related interventions for a high risk and complex group of individuals, including the on-going development and evaluation of the effectiveness of such treatment via the conductance of systematic empirical research.

Mersey 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.

To assist the nominated intervention lead with the development, delivery and maintenance of evidence based offending intervention initiatives for a high risk and complex group of individuals, with such initiatives to include individual and group therapy and to account for the development and refinement of psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

To provide complex, sensitive and contentious information to service users presenting with a range of offence related risks, medium to high risk for aggression, attending to the principles of motivational interviewing and feedback, and managing personal exposure to highly distressing or emotional circumstances /material.

To provide highly specialist psychological assessments for clients referred to the team for offence related difficulties, based on the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological 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 formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological intervention and/or management of a service user’s offending difficulties, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of their complex problems, and employing methods of proven efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

To deliver psychological intervention to service users, as required and directed by the violence treatment lead. Such intervention to relate to needs identified through the process of assessment and formulation as part of secure forensic services.

Provision of specialised consultation (including advice and guidance) to multi-disciplinary teams and other professionals with regards to the effective psychological management, intervention and enhanced understanding of service user’s offending needs, that includes provision of hypotheses and formulations that account for psychological models of understanding.

To provide teaching and training to staff under guidance of the nominated psychology lead on the effective psychological management of violent offending concerning service users. To assist with on-going post-qualification training (CPD) of facilitators on areas falling within the postholder’s area of developing expertise.

To develop and deliver awareness training across the service connected to the secure forensic psychology service.

To formulate, design and implement research projects to further the knowledge in working with offending behaviours. This will include working with other members of the service but with an expectation that the post holder will lead some research projects. Also, to provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.

This advert closes on Wednesday 14 Oct 2026