Assistant Psychologist

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded Mental Health Trust of the Year, due to a focus on co-production and having expanded our mental health staffing in the Trust, working from within community settings through to specialist NHS mental health settings, to enable people to access the right interventions, at the right time and in the right place. The Learning Disabilities team offer a specialist health service for those who cannot access mainstream services, and also supports mainstream services with how to make reasonable adjustments for people with learning disabilities. We are advertising for an Assistant Psychology post (part-time) who will be an integral part of delivering psychologically informed care to adults with learning disabilities. We work with people struggling with their mental health, physical health, dementia and where behaviour challenges services.

This post will be attractive to applicants who would like to develop professionally across a broad range of psychological competencies. We are recruiting Assistant Psychologists at band 5 to reflect the applicants’ skills in undertaking psychological interventions drawing on evidence base models of care, multi-disciplinary and multiagency liaison skills, as well as having experience of working with risk and complexity.

We are looking for applicants who are resilient, reflective and motivated to work psychologically with these client groups and with an interest in developing the service further.

As an Assistant Psychologist joining the Mendip team you will be working into our local multi-disciplinary team. You’ll be offering a broad range of activities (assisting in assessment, formulation, intervention, evaluation etc.). The post is based with the Mendip team, but part of the role is to offer support to other parts of the county. There may be opportunities for additional hours on a fixed term basis.

Somerset Foundation Trust and the Learning Disability team have a network of Psychology Assistants and Clinical Associate Psychologists and therefore there are opportunities for peer support. These post holders will, with the support and supervision of Clinical Psychologists, be working with a range of presenting difficulties, and offering interventions made bespoke to the individual needs. We are an innovative Trust and this post will be well suited to someone who is interested in improving services, to deliver effective, compassionate and trauma informed care. We recognize that Assistant Psychologists are looking to further their career in the Psychology professions and promote opportunities for development whenever possible.

As an organisation, the NHS offers a wide range of benefits including flexible working, pension contributions, market leading annual leave allowance, career progression and regular conversations, not to mention our Blue Light Card and NHS exclusive discounts.

The benefits of working in Somerset include the idyllic countryside, with our areas of outstanding beauty and stunning coastlines. You will get to enjoy these perks whilst still only being a stone’s throw away from bustling city centres like Bristol, Bath and Exeter and only two hours away from London.

There are excellent educational facilities in the area and, when compared to other regions, house prices are reasonable. You will experience the best of both in Somerset, the countryside and the cosmopolitan - there is truly something for everyone

The base is currently at Shepton Mallet Community Hospital but the plan is for the team to move to Priory Park in Wells later in the year.

See detailed job description for an over view of the main responsibilities of this exciting and innovative post.