Assistant Psychologist - Intensive Life Skills (ILS)

NHS; Telford; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading mental health service as an Assistant Psychologist, where you'll support the professional psychological care of service users with complex emotional difficulties. This role emphasizes teamwork, supervision, and ongoing training, offering a collaborative environment focused on recovery and skill development.

Benefits

Generous maternity, paternity and adoption leave

Options for flexible working

Up to 27 days annual leave

Extensive Health and Wellbeing support

Free car parking at all trust sites

Free flu vaccinations every year

Qualifications

• Experience of working in an inpatient or community mental health setting.
• Further training in relevant areas of professional psychology.

Responsibilities

• Support and enhance professional psychological care of service users.
• Co-facilitate the delivery of 3 groups per week.
• Assist with clinical administration and service audits.

Skills

Communication

Teamwork

Psychological Knowledge

Education

First or Upper Second honours degree in psychology

Post-graduate qualification (e.g., Masters degree)

Job description

Go back Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Assistant Psychologist - Intensive Life Skills (ILS)

The closing date is 21 May 2025

37.5 hours per week 6 month fixed term contract (secondments would be considered)

The Intensive Life Skills service is a multi-disciplinary community mental health team providing assessment and intervention for adults who experience the complex emotional and personality difficulties, associated with adverse experiences and trauma.

We are a specialist community team providing assessment, formulation and intervention using a Structured Clinical Management (SCM) framework. Our focus is on treatment, recovery and enablement to increase emotional, social and practical functioning, through a combination of group skill based learning and individual therapy.

You will have an interest in working with people with complex emotional and personality difficulties, to contribute and enhance the professional psychological care of our service users, with a particular emphasis on organising and delivering group based intervention.

There is an emphasis on team based multi-disciplinary care and decision making. We value compassionate reflective approaches, supporting collaborative ways of working alongside service users.

We have a culture of active service development which involves practitioners of all bands and experience.

Supervision is a high priority and is offered both individually and as part of a group on a frequent basis, alongside priority given to ongoing training and development.

Main duties of the job

• To support and enhance the professional psychological care of service users by assisting qualified practitioners in the delivery and evaluation of services that meet Trust and Directorate objectives, National strategic and policy guidelines, commissioner requirements and user and carer needs and expectations.
• To support and enhance the professional psychological care of service users within the pathway by providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions, which will be mostly group based. It is envisioned that the post holder will co facilitate the delivery of 3 groups per week.
• You will be able to work autonomously and collaboratively with team colleagues according to an agreed work plan, under the supervision of the team Clinical Psychologists.
• Assist with clinical administration, conducting service audits, collating statistics, and developing audit and/or research projects.

We are primarily based at Hall Court in Telford and Severnfield's Health Village in Shrewsbury and serve the county of Shropshire. There will be the expectation to travel between bases as required for the job role.

About us

By joining Team MPFT, you will be helping your communities and in return for this, we will support you by;

• Supporting your career development and progression
• Generous maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• Options for flexible working
• Up to 27 days annual leave (increasing with service up to 33 days) and the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Extensive Health and Wellbeing support and resources
• If you work in our community teams, we pay for your time travelling between patients
• Lease car if you complete more than 500 business miles per annum, fully insured and maintained (including tyres), mileage paid at lease car rate
• Salary sacrifice car - fully insured and maintained (including tyres), your gross pay is reduced by the cost of the vehicle before tax, NI and pension deductions are calculated, mileage paid at business rates
• Salary sacrifice bikes up to £2k
• Free car parking at all trust sites
• Free flu vaccinations every year
• Citizens Advice support linked with a Hardship Fund for one off additional support up to £250 (if the criteria is met)

And more. We are proud to be a diverse and inclusive organisation and there is a choice of staff networks that help you meet like-minded people.

We recommend that applications are submitted as early as possible as we reserve the right to close the advert early depending upon the volume of applications received.

Job responsibilities

Check out the videos below showcasing why you should grow your career here with us at MPFT:

Why Work for Mental Health Services at MPFT - YouTube

Development and Progression Within Mental Health Services at MPFT - YouTube

The service utilises Structured Clinical Management (SCM) as a core therapeutic model, combining individual and group based interventions. A range of additional therapeutic models are utilised including attachment theory, behavioural theory, Compassion-Focussed Therapy, Trauma-Focussed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, EMDR, NET, Mentalisation-Based Treatment, and DBT informed interventions. Therefore a range of experience will be available.

The successful candidate will support the running of Structured Clinical Management (SCM) educational skills groups. These are an evidence-based group intervention for clients who struggle with emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, and managing relationships. The groups are delivered through both face to face and online therefore the successful candidate having strong ICT skills and being able to communicate effectively with others through technology is essential.

The role will also involve supporting the team with service evaluation and audit. There will also be opportunity to work alongside psychology colleagues, and other team members, in the delivery of individual and group based interventions.

Regular clinical supervision will be offered by a qualified Clinical Psychologist, along with a range of supervisory and developmental opportunities.

Services are provided from locations in both Telford and Shrewsbury and the successful candidate will be expected to work from both sites.

For further information please contact Amanda Crawshaw [e-mail], Consultant Psychologist. Alternatively, you can contact Stephanie Leach [e-mail], ILS team manager.

Please be aware that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in completing application forms will be monitored to ensure fairness and transparency. If you have used AI you must state this in your application.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• A First or Upper Second honours degree in psychology OR a lower class with a post-graduate qualification e.g.: Masters degree.
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society.
• Experience of working in an inpatient or community mental health setting
• Further training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice, autism, personality disorder and/or research design and analysis.

Experience

• Significant experience of face-to-face work with, mental health and/or offender clients
• Has experience of working within a team setting
• Experience of working with people with emotional dysregulation, poor impulse control, and self harm
• Experience of involvement in the delivery of group-based treatment
• Experience of working within multi-disciplinary settings and multi-agency settings.

Skills & Knowledge

• High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive, clients may show hostile or severely challenging behaviour and may be verbally abusive or physically violent.
• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities.
• An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to an acute or community mental health context

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer name

Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust