Assistant Psychologist | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in the United Kingdom is seeking a graduate psychologist to deliver psychological therapy within prison mental health services. This role involves providing assessments and interventions, supporting colleagues, and participating in service development projects. Ideal candidates should have clinical experience and a willingness to learn in a team. This position offers a structured environment with regular supervision and training opportunities.

Qualifications

• Experience working in clinical services is expected.
• Enthusiasm to learn and work as part of a team.

Responsibilities

• Support dissemination of psychological methods in patient care.
• Provide supervised psychological assessments and interventions.
• Assist in audit-related tasks for the forensic psychology team.
• Develop skills for current duties and service development projects.
• Coordinate therapeutic groups and multidisciplinary care discussions.

Job description

Overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an innovative and conscientious graduate psychologist to join Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust in providing a specialist psychological therapy service within their prison mental health services.

The Psychological Therapies Teams in prisons are integrated into the mental health team to provide psychological support to a complex population of people in prison presenting with a range of needs and risks. The post would suit individuals interested in a career in clinical and/or forensic psychology or psychological therapies, with evidence of experience working in clinical services expected. Forensic experience is not essential, though enthusiasm to learn and a proven ability to work as part of a team is important.

The post holder will work within a busy multi-disciplinary prison mental health team, comprising psychologists and psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and nursing staff. They will have responsibility for the delivery of a range of psychological interventions to young adults in custody and working in partnership with health and operational colleagues.

Clinical responsibilities will include provision of psychological assessment, psychoeducational workshops, and short-term trauma-focussed therapies, with access to regular supervision. Involvement in audit and service development is encouraged. The post-holder will join the wider Bracton forensic psychology department, which has a strong track record in recruiting, training and supporting graduate psychologists within forensic services towards doctoral training. Post-holders would be encouraged to participate in relevant clinical training and existing support systems within the department.

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes. We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We’re Kind
• We’re Fair
• We Listen
• We Care

Responsibilities

• Support the dissemination of psychological ways of working in direct patient work and in supporting colleagues in other disciplines.
• Under supervision, provide supervised psychological assessment, low-intensity therapeutic intervention and consultation using a range of theoretical models, with a focus on risk and need.
• Co-ordinate audit-related tasks on behalf of the wider inpatient forensic psychology team.
• Receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines.
• Contribute to professional psychology experience within the NHS beyond the principal service area where the post is employed.
• Develop skills and competencies to assist in the delivery of current duties.
• Assist in design and implementation of service development projects and attend related meetings.
• Support training and supervision of other staff in psychological care.
• Undertake protocol-based psychological assessments using neuro-psychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in care.
• Assist in formulation and delivery of care plans involving psychological treatment and/or management of client problems under supervision.
• Assist in coordinating and running therapeutic groups or clinical projects; work with other staff to assess or support service users in prison and contribute to multidisciplinary discussions or care guidelines.
• Help develop a psychological framework of understanding and care across settings; create graphs/charts to collate data on interventions; assist in producing user-friendly information for interventions.
• Assist in the design and implementation of audit and research projects; undertake data collection and analysis and produce reports using IT and statistical software.
• Liaise with other psychology team members and other disciplines and agencies responsible for clients’ care.

Requirements and Eligibility

• All applicants must be willing to undertake National Security Vetting to work in a Prison Setting.
• Provide proof of right to work, proof of ID (including one photographic ID) and proof of address.
• Non-UK passport holders must have correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home Office Share code.
• Five years of address history are required; provide a Police Certificate if less than five years UK address history or overseas checks as applicable. UK passport holders who resided abroad for more than six months in the last three years must provide a certificate of good conduct or an overseas police check. Guidance for obtaining Police Certificates is available from Gov.uk and relevant embassies.

Important Information

This advert closes on Thursday 18 Sep 2025.