Assistant Psychologist | Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Lancashire Care Foundation Trust; Preston; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A mental health service provider is seeking an Assistant Psychologist to join their team at a new inpatient learning disability service. This position, set to open in November 2025, involves assisting in assessments and psychological interventions under supervision. The ideal candidate will have a passion for working with learning disabilities, excellent interpersonal skills, and will support high-quality patient care. Flexible working patterns are encouraged.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Supportive team environment

Qualifications

• Experience with learning disabilities in an inpatient setting.
• Ability to support psychological assessments and interventions.

Responsibilities

• Assist in the assessment of service users.
• Aid in psychological treatment formulation and care plans.
• Contribute to multi-disciplinary meetings and audits.

Skills

Engaging with service users

Compassionate care

Time management

Organizational skills

IT skills

Education

Degree in psychology or related field

Job description

Overview

We are excited to announce a fantastic opportunity for an Assistant Psychologist to be part of the clinical team for the brand new mental health Inpatient Learning Disability Services at Water Meadow View. This purpose-built unit, which was collaboratively designed with service users, is due to open in November 2025 on our site in Whittingham, Preston. As we prepare for the opening we are recruiting to the clinical posts in preparation for a start date for staff of November 2025.

One of the Trust’s aims is to deliver the best possible care to our patients. Water Meadow View will offer trauma informed care, clinical excellence, support and safety with patient-centred care at its heart. Working under the supervision of a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and alongside the MDT the successful post holder will be part of the team providing psychologically informed high-quality, compassionate, evidence based care patient experience.

This new post offers an opportunity to contribute to providing a fantastic new psychologically informed service and make a real difference to service users, their carers and their families.

Responsibilities

• Assist in the assessment of service users within the inpatient learning disability service.
• Assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a service user’s problems under the supervision of a clinical psychologist.
• Work alongside other team members and ensure close liaison and communication within the team and with colleagues in other agencies.
• Attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings, reflective practice sessions, team formulation sessions, referral meetings and multi-agency meetings where appropriate.
• Assist in collection of data, completing functional analyses and undertake audits under the supervision of a clinical psychologist.

About the service

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care. The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.

Working pattern and benefits

Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages 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, flexi-time and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.

Qualifications and requirements

We are seeking a dynamic and enthusiastic person with a passion to work with service users with a learning disability in an inpatient setting. Experience of working with learning disability and/or experience of an inpatient setting would be advantageous. As an Assistant Psychologist you’ll play a key role in supporting psychological assessments and interventions under the supervision of a clinical psychologist. You\'ll work both independently and collaboratively, contributing to clinical work, service evaluations, data collection, audits, research and project work. Successful applicants will be engaging, compassionate, motivated and have excellent time management, organisational and IT skills.

How to apply / Additional information

For more information please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT.

For more details on this vacancy please review the attached job description and person specification.

Please note we reserve the right to close this job advert early once sufficient applications have been received.

This advert closes on Wednesday 3 Sep 2025