Assistant Psychologist - Tees Personality and Relational Service

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust; Tees Valley; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Lease car scheme

Continuous development and training

Flexible working possibilities

Job summary

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an Assistant Psychologist within the Personality and Relational Service based in Teesside. The post involves working across planned and urgent care settings, with supervision from a registered psychologist and opportunities for professional development.

The role emphasizes systemic work with diverse professionals, including indirect and direct interactions, with responsibilities for risk planning, assessments, and report writing.

Qualifications

• Degree in psychology and eligibility for graduate BPS membership.
• Postgraduate training in relevant areas of psychology, mental health practice or research methods.
• Experience communicating sensitive information and working with diverse populations.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to multidisciplinary discussions about diagnosis, treatment and care plans.
• Develop formulations focusing on risk assessment by reviewing notes and histories.
• Provide direct support to service users with safety planning and short interventions as appropriate.
• Support supervision and training on relevant psychological practices.
• Engage in literature reviews related to the client group.

Skills

Communication

Record keeping

Data analysis

Psychometric tools

Report writing

Clinical supervision/teaching

Education

Degree in psychology

Graduate BPS membership eligibility

Postgraduate training in psychology/research methods

Tools

R Studio

Job description

Go back Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

Assistant Psychologist - Tees Personality and Relational Service

The closing date is 18 October 2026

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Personality and Relational (P&R) Service based in Teesside. The team supports individuals with complex emotional needs and works with staff teams across planned and urgent care services in Teesside. This role offers experience of working in a systemic way across multiple agencies, teams. It includes both indirect and direct ways of working and the ability to develop excellent working relationships with a diverse range of professionals.

You must have the Right to Work in the UK in order to be successfully appointed to this role. Sponsorship may be available for this role in specific circumstances in line with Home Office regulations, where applicants were granted permission as a Skilled Worker under the immigration rules in place before 22 July 2025, and have had continuous permission as a Skilled Worker since then. We recommend that you assess your eligibility before applying for this position. VisitImmigration Rules - Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Occupations - Guidance - GOV.UK

Main duties of the job

• complex safety and risk planning, including multi-agency safety plans
• contributing to multidisciplinary discussions about a patient's diagnosis, treatment and care plan
• Developing formulations by reading notes, investigating histories etcwith a focus on understanding risk
• working directly with service users supporting with safety planning, short interventions if appropriate
• Supporting the supervision of staff teams
• Supporting teaching and training on Structured Clinical Management and topics related to complex emotional needs.
• Evaluation of the service
• Literature reviews related to the client group

You’ll be supervised by a registered practitioner psychologist with overall clinical responsibility for the patients you work with.

You will also be provided with ongoing supervision to help you engage in self-reflection, seek and respond to feedback, and develop your professional knowledge and skills.

You’ll need to keep clear written records, draft reports, evaluations and document safety plans / multi-agency plans.

About us

We are the Mental Health & Learning Disability NHS Trust for County Durham and Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.

From education and prevention, to crisis and specialist care --our talented and compassionate teams work in partnership with our patients, communities and partners to help the people of our region feel safe, understood, believed in and cared for.

We nurture the recovery journey of anyone in need of our help. In Our Trust, everyone has a say in how they are supported and treated because we listen to every person in our care until they feel understood. Our patients, their families and carers work together with us towards better mental health.

We're committed to new thinking that improves the wellbeing of our region. We connect with our communities and partners to get mental health care right, in areas that really need it.

We won't rest until everyone in our region has the mental health care they need, to lead their best possible life.

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further detailed information to ensure that you meet the role criteria before applying.

Working for Tees, Esk & Wear Valley comes with a variety of staff benefits including the opportunity for us to consider more flexible ways of working, a lease car scheme, continuous development, and training opportunities.

In return the successful candidate can expect the following:

• Support with settling into the team and developing into the role.
• A commitment to supporting you to remain up to date with your practice and develop skills through formal and informal training.
• Regular management, clinical and caseload supervision.
• Warm, friendly and supportive colleagues.
• Colleagues who are committed to the psychological and physical wellbeing of staff in the team.

Psychologists & Psychological Therapists provide key leadership roles within the Trust. To support this we have developed leadership profiles for each psychology band and the profile card associated with this post is attached on NHS Jobs. You can find more information about the NHS Leadership Academys Healthcare Leadership Model and the profiles at their website. We encourage you to look at these resources as they will play a part in the interview process.

Person Specification

Knowledge/Experience

• Experience of communicating sensitive information
• Experience of work interacting with the public
• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental ill health or learning disabilities
• An awareness of the application of psychology to health care
• Demonstrate an awareness of confidentiality within healthcare
• Awareness of the British Psychological Society Code of Conduct
• Awareness of systemic barriers to accessing psychological services/healthcare for minoritised communities
• Experience as a psychology assistant (paid or voluntary)
• Experience working with people with mental health distress, learning disabilities or neurodiversity (paid or voluntary)
• Experience of clinical audit, research or service evaluation.
• Experience using statistical software packages e.g. R Studio
• Experience of using psychometric assessments
• Awareness of increasing access to psychological services/healthcare for minoritised communities.
• An ability to apply psychological knowledge to the population described in the job advert

Skills

• Ability to communicate information (verbal and written) effectively in a manner appropriate to the individual and situation
• Record Keeping (within agreed timescale)
• Methodical and accurate approach to data collection and analysis.
• Competence in using psychometric assessment tools (within agreed timescale)
• Breakaway techniques (within agreed timescale)
• Awareness of the need to learn and develop through a variety of methods and experiences.
• Experience of clinical report writing

Experience

• Some experience of people using services in psychological, mental health and/or social care settings. This may include, for example, personal experience or supporting a family member to access services
• Experience in discussing and responding to issues related to cultural diversity, intersectionality and inclusivity, including working with vulnerable groups (e.g. those for whom English is not their first language)

Qualifications

• Degree in psychology.
• Eligible for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society
• Post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis.

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.

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust