Assistant Psychologist - Fixed term | Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust

DCHS Foundation Trust; Chesterfield; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

A community health service provider in Chesterfield is seeking an experienced Assistant Psychologist for their Cancer Psychology Service. You will support service evaluation, contribute to interventions, and engage in research under clinical supervision. This role requires strong interpersonal and analytical skills, along with a relevant psychology degree. Flexible work and training opportunities are provided within a supportive team environment. This position closes on 17 Nov 2025.

Benefits

Comprehensive training and supervision

Peer support from experienced colleagues

Opportunity for broad clinical experience

Qualifications

• Experience of clinical work with adults in a physical health setting.
• Strong academic background in psychology.
• Flexibility to work autonomously and collaboratively.

Responsibilities

• Develop psychologically informed resources.
• Co-facilitate psycho-education and peer support groups.
• Conduct supervised one-to-one psycho-education sessions.
• Assist in research and service evaluation activities.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Analytical skills

Organizational skills

Judgment skills

Education

Relevant psychology degree

Job description

We are looking for an experienced and compassionate Assistant Psychologist to join our Cancer Psychology Service. This is a varied role, offering the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the development of psychologically informed care for people affected by cancer.

You will support service evaluation and help shape service delivery through co‑production with patients, staff, and stakeholders. A key focus will be on promoting trauma‑informed care and addressing health inequalities.

Where needed, you will contribute to individual and group interventions.

You will also support research, literature reviews, and the development of training, teaching, and digital resources. The role requires flexibility, the ability to work independently, and will evolve over time in response to service needs.

You must clearly demonstrate how your experience meets the person specification, using specific examples that evidence the relevance and depth of your experience to support shortlisting.

This is an excellent opportunity to gain broad experience in clinical health psychology within a supportive and innovative team.

You will work under the supervision of the Clinical Lead Psychologist to support the development and delivery of the service. You will contribute to service evaluation and help engage staff, patients, and stakeholders in co‑producing the service, addressing health inequalities, and promoting a trauma‑informed approach. You will also support research and literature reviews, and may assist in developing digital resources, as well as contributing to teaching and training.

This is a varied role that requires the ability to work autonomously. We are seeking someone with strong interpersonal and academic skills, and experience of clinical work with adults in a physical health setting.

You will be well supported with training, supervision and peer support.

Our Clinical Health Psychology team provides input across a range of physical health pathways, including: Pain Management, Cancer Services, Specialist Weight Management, Diabetes Education, Post‑COVID Psychology, and our Public Health Psychological Insights Team. We also deliver care through the core Clinical Health Psychology service.

You’ll be part of a supportive and experienced team, with access to colleagues working across a wide range of physical health conditions and psychological approaches, offering a rich learning environment.

Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust (DCHS) employs over 4,200 staff and delivers community health services to more than one million people across Derbyshire and the city of Derby, as part of the Joined Up Care Derbyshire integrated care system.

Duties could include:

• Developing and implementing psychologically informed resources
• Co‑facilitating psycho‑education and peer support groups for service users under clinical supervision and guidance
• Supervised one‑to‑one psycho‑education and guided self‑help with service‑users
• Establishing and working within therapeutic boundaries
• Basic Cognitive assessment (with training and supervision provided)
• Being involved with patient and public involvement initiatives to help inform, develop, and promote the rehabilitation offer
• Supporting audit, service evaluation and research activity
• Encouraging and supporting the development of psychological knowledge and skills for multi‑disciplinary colleagues
• Assist in the delivery of training for colleagues and other staff groups on relevant psychological skills and perspectives
• Contributing to multi‑disciplinary and other team meetings

In addition:

• To responsibly maintain and protect clinical records
• To contribute to audit, service evaluation and research activity, as required
• To receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with good practice guidelines
• Reporting back to the Clinical Lead on matters of concern or which need a decision from Clinical Lead level
• To contribute to Service and Trust objectives
• To follow Trust policies and procedures
• To provide information, as required, on performance and outcome measures
• Analytical and judgement skills: To assess and judge service‑user needs and decide upon appropriate interventions within group and individual work; and to analyse and make decisions based upon group dynamics
• Planning and organisational skills: To plan and prioritise own workload; and to plan and organise structure and content of individual and group work with service‑users
• Responsibility for Human Resources: May be required to demonstrate own duties to others, including other assistant psychologists and other health care professionals
• Health and Safety: To adhere to the Trust health and safety policies and procedures and to have due regard in their practice to the health and safety of themselves, their colleagues and the general public

This is a varied role, that may change week to week and will adapt over time to respond to the service's evolving needs. It is likely that a number of longer term projects may be developing simultaneously at any one time.

Key duties, tasks and responsibilities are detailed in the Job description.

This advert closes on Monday 17 Nov 2025