Psychology Assistant

NHS; Wetherby; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent mental health service provider in Wetherby is seeking a Psychology Assistant. You will work within a multidisciplinary team to support the mental health needs of young people in a secure environment. This role requires an Honours degree in Psychology and offers opportunities for professional growth in a supportive setting. Candidates will have the chance to make a meaningful impact while developing their clinical skills.

Benefits

Structured supervision

Qualifications

• Experience working with people with mental health problems or learning disabilities.
• Experience administering neuropsychological assessments.
• Ability to communicate sensitive information effectively.

Responsibilities

• Support delivery of trauma-informed mental health service.
• Assist in developing psychological formulations.
• Contribute to care planning and engage directly with children.

Skills

High level communication skills

Experience with mental health problems

Ability to work independently

Education

Honours degree in Psychology (2:1)

Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society

Tools

SPSS

Job description

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust

Psychology Assistant

The closing date is 24 November 2025

This is a rewarding opportunity to work as part of a dynamic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) team within a Young Offenders Institution. You will play a key role in supporting the emotional wellbeing and psychological needs of young people in the secure estate many of whom have experienced significant trauma, adversity, and unmet needs.

The CAMHS team provides initial screening for all children entering the secure estate, and a multi‑disciplinary approach to assessment, formulation and intervention planning for those who wish to work with CAMHS. We work to ensure that the team around the child (including custodial staff) is working together, with the child at the centre.

This role will allow you to develop your clinical skills and understanding of complex presentations, including neurodevelopmental difficulties, emotional dysregulation, and attachment‑related issues. While the environment can be complex and emotionally demanding, it also provides an opportunity to make a genuine difference in the lives of young people many of whom are accessing mental health support for the first time. You’ll be supported by experienced clinicians (including a team of clinical psychologists) and supervision structures to help you grow and thrive in the role.

All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated against COVID‑19 to protect patients.

Main duties of the job

As an Assistant Psychologist at HMYOI Wetherby, you will support the delivery of a trauma‑informed, developmentally aware mental health service as part of the SECURE STAIRS Framework for Integrated Care. Working within a multidisciplinary team, you will assist in developing psychological formulations, contribute to care planning, and engage directly with children and young people to support their wellbeing. You’ll also liaise with teams across the establishment and partner agencies to promote a consistent, formulation‑driven approach. The role involves holding a caseload for neurodevelopmental screening and assessment as part of a multidisciplinary team, and the timely writing of reports following these. This role offers access to structured supervision, tailored training, and professional development opportunities.

At the time of advertising, this role does meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. We look forward to receiving your application.

About us

We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the West Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.

Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, we do this by providing high‑quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non‑clinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families and carers.

We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we value diversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.

Being a foundation Trust means we’re accountable to our members, who can have a say in how we run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.

Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expect all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.

We do reserve the right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.

Job responsibilities

JOB SUMMARY

This job description is an outline of the main duties of the post. The postholder will be required to undertake other duties commensurate with the grade as directed.

The content of this post will be reviewed in consultation with the postholder when necessary and in line with the service developments.

To support and enhance the professional psychological care of clients within the service, across all sectors of care; providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions under the supervision of an HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist, working independently according to a plan agreed with a HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist and within the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures. To assist in clinically related administration, conduct of audits, collection of statistics, and development of audit and/or research projects, teaching and project work.

KEY RESULT AREAS:

Clinical:

• To undertake protocol‑based psychological assessments of clients applying psychological theory, including neuropsychological tests, self‑report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi‑structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client's care.
• To assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups or clinical projects.
• To work with other staff to assess community patients and review their care in preparation for multi‑disciplinary reviews.
• To assist in the development of a psychological‑based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings where care takes place.
• To attend and contribute to appropriate multi‑disciplinary meetings.
• To respect diversity and treat everyone with dignity and respect and act in ways that acknowledge and recognise peoples expressed beliefs, preferences and choices.

IT responsibilities (clinical)

• To use highly developed IT skills.
• To access knowledge through Internet searches (e.g. Psych.Lit, Medline) to keep up to date with clinical and professional development.
• For the preparation and presentation of materials of effective teaching and training (e.g. PowerPoint, graphic representations) to record and analyse data for research and audit (e.g. databases, spreadsheets, statistical analysis packages e.g. SPSS).
• To create graphs or charts to collate or summarise data on individual interventions or treatment programmes.
• To assist in producing visual or user‑friendly information for interventions with clients.

Teaching, training and supervision

• In common with all HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologists, to receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines.
• To gain wider experience of professional psychology within the NHS over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post holder is employed.
• To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties.
• To contribute to the training and support of other staff, working within the Service in psychological care.

For full job description, please see attached supporting documents.

We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Over reliance on AI‑generated content in application forms is strongly discouraged and we will conduct a thorough screening process before selecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form.

Person Specification

Experience

• Practical experience of working with people with mental health problems and/or learning disabilities and/or psychological/behavioural/neuro‑cognitive problems.
• Experience of paid work in direct care provision, particularly in the care group of the specialty of this post.
• Experience of administering and scoring neuropsychological assessments.

Qualifications

• An Honours degree in Psychology (2:1).
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society.

Physical Attributes

• Ability to undertake the duties and demands of the post. A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to the need to act with fairness and equality of opportunity, particularly where the sickness is related to a disability and/or pregnancy).

Special Knowledge & Skills

• High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.
• Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance.
• Ability to communicate information which may be perceived as contentious to patients, carers and colleagues in a manner that promotes understanding and acceptance.
• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and/or other disabilities.
• An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to health and social service contexts.
• An understanding of psychology applied to health care.
• Experience using computers for databases or data‑analysis.
• Experience using microcomputers for databases or data analysis especially SPSS for Windows.
• High standard of report writing.

Personal Attributes

• An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines.
• An ability to interact effectively with people with mental health problems or learning disabilities.
• Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals.
• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
• Able to travel throughout the catchment area, without unnecessary delays.
• A current driving licence and access to a car during the working day is essential (reasonable adjustments will be considered for any applicants who are unable to drive due to a disability).
• An interest in working with people with mental health problems.
• A desire to explore a career in Professional Psychology.

Training

• Further 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.

Employer name

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust

Address

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Wetherby Youth Offending Institute