Assistant Psychologist

LSCft; Chorley; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) is seeking a Band 4 Assistant Psychologist for the Central and West Adult Mental Health Inpatient Team at Chorley. The role involves delivering DBT-informed interventions on the female acute ward, running group sessions and supporting evaluation while working within a multi-disciplinary team in a busy inpatient setting.

You should hold a 2:1 in psychology, be eligible for BPS graduate membership, and have experience in NHS or acute

Qualifications

• A 2:1 honours degree in psychology.
• Eligibility for graduate membership of the BPS.
• Awareness of confidentiality and professional boundaries.
• Experience in healthcare settings with adults is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Deliver structured individual DBT-informed interventions on the female acute ward (Duxbury ward).
• Facilitate group-based psychological intervention sessions.
• Complete clinical documentation and reports under supervision.
• Support evaluation through outcome measures and data collection.
• Provide assistant psychology input across other wards.

Skills

Communication skills

Written communication

Teamwork

Interpersonal skills

Education

2:1 honours degree in psychology

Eligibility for graduate membership of the BPS

Job description

Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism, community, and physical health services for the populations we serve.

As an integrated Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) delivers a comprehensive range of services, including:

• Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults, including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, and forensic services with low and medium secure care.
• Specialist mental health inpatient care for individuals with learning disabilities, alongside specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
• Extensive community physical health and well-being services for children and adults, covering prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term condition management.

The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,500 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health, general nurses, children’s nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers, as well as those specialising in learning disabilities and community physical health services.

This role is not eligible for sponsorship. Applicants must have an existing right to work in the UK and be able to maintain that right for the duration of employment without sponsorship from the Trust

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 4 Assistant Psychologist to join the Central and West Adult Mental Health Inpatient Team at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, Chorley. The Chorley Inpatient Unit comprises of a 15 bed female acute ward, a 15 bed male acute ward and a 6 bed female psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU). The Inpatient unit provides care for people with complex mental health needs in the least restrictive and safest way. The aim of inpatient admission is to provide a service which can offer a whole pathway of support locally, identified in both national plans and clinical guidance, which would include an inpatient service offer that is matched against the identified need of LSCFT population.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for a suitably qualified and experienced individual with a genuine interest and desire of working with this client group. The post will primarily involve supporting the implementation and evaluation of a DBT-informed psychological intervention on the female acute ward (Duxbury ward) who may experience high levels of distress, emotional and behavioural dysregulation and/or self-harming behaviours. This will involve (but is not limited to) delivering structured individual intervention sessions, facilitating group-based psychological intervention sessions and completing associated clinical documentation and report writing, under the supervision of the Clinical Psychologist, as well as supporting the evaluation of the intervention through the administration and scoring of outcome measures, collation of clinical activity data, recording of statistics and contribution to relevant evaluation reports. The post also involved providing assistant psychologist input to the wider psychology service across the other wards.
You should have good verbal and written communication skills, be able to co-work effectively with colleagues and enjoy working in a busy multi-disciplinary team.

Working for our organisation

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you’d like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role.

Education/qualifications

• A 2:1 honours degree or higher in psychology.
• Eligibility for graduate membership of the BPS

Knowledge

• Awareness of the psychological, social and systemic needs of adults with complex mental health difficulties.
• Awareness of the principles of psychological assessment, formulation and intervention.
• Understanding of the importance of confidentiality, consent, professional boundaries and working within limits of competence

Experience

• Experience of working as a healthcare assistant within an acute or PICU inpatient setting with adults and/or experience of working as an employed assistant psychologist in the NHS, supervised by a qualified clinical psychologist.
• Direct clinical and/or clinical research experience with service users presenting with complex, chronic and co-occurring mental health and/or substance use challenges, or who present with risk to self or others.
• Experience of working within multidisciplinary teams.

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information clearly, sensitively and professionally in both oral and written formats.
• Ability to communicate with service users who may be distressed, ambivalent or withdrawn and where there may be significant clinical and systemic barriers to engagement.
• Ability to write clear, accurate and timely clinical notes, summaries and reports under supervision.
• Able to demonstrate and integrate self-awareness, reflective capacity and openness to feedback within practice, with guidance and under supervision.
• Ability to work independently and using own initiative on a day-to-day basis, using problem solving skills, whilst remaining within the limits of the role.

You are advised to consider applying for LSCFT vacancies as soon as possible as in some instances vacancies are closed as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received. If you are not invited to interview within four weeks of the closing date then please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful, as it is not possible to contact all unsuccessful candidates.

Please note that further communication from LSCFT will normally be to the email address given on the application form. You should also ensure that email addresses and telephone numbers are provided for your referees, to enable LSCFT to contact them.

Please ensure that you read the person specification as your application will be measured against this document.

If you use AI to assist with your application, you must declare this. Undeclared use may result in withdrawal. Please ensure your application reflects your own skills and experiences. While AI tools can assist, they may produce generic or inaccurate content. We encourage you to provide personal examples that demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria.

For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).

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.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. You are therefore advised to consider applying for this vacancy as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.