Assistant Psychologist

Transformationunitgm; Wallsend; On-site; GBP 27,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS organization in Wallsend is seeking a committed Assistant Psychologist for their Community Learning Disability Team. This role requires a degree in Psychology and offers full-time flexible working hours. You will assist in psychological assessments and interventions, collaborating with a multidisciplinary team. The organization prioritizes staff well-being and offers numerous professional development opportunities. Join a highly rated NHS trust dedicated to exceptional patient care and employee experience.

Benefits

Extensive staff health and well-being programme

Generous annual leave and pension scheme

Flexible working opportunities

Opportunities for professional development

Qualifications

• Essential requirement: valid driving licence and use of a car for work purposes.
• Experience in psychology-related roles, either paid or voluntary.
• Experience with people with learning disabilities, desirable.

Responsibilities

• Support assessments and therapeutic interventions under supervision.
• Assist in research projects and clinical administration.
• Model compassionate leadership and foster team collaboration.

Skills

Empathy

Adaptability

Emotional resilience

Experience with learning disabilities

Data analysis skills

Education

1st/2i level degree in Psychology

Graduate membership of the BPS

Post-graduate training in counselling skills

Job description

Main area Clinical Psychology Grade Band 4 Contract 12 months (Fixed term) Hours

• Full time
• Flexible working

37.5 hours per week (8.30-4.30 Monday to Friday) Job ref 319-7650880LH

Employer Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Wallsend Health Centre Town Wallsend Salary £27,485 - £30,162 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 04/01/2026 23:59

Assistant Psychologist

Band 4

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022). Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!

What the Northumbria Way means for you:

• Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
• Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
• A range of flexible working opportunities
• Generous annual leave and pension scheme
• Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
• Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
• Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank

We work closely with Kids First Nurseries that are based within our trust grounds at Wansbeck, North Tyneside and Hexham hospitals to care for our Trust family's children, they offer care for children from 6 weeks old up to 4 years. There are a number of funding options run by the government to help working parents, including Early Years Funding and Tax Free Childcare.

Flexible working offers choice in where, when, and how we work, ensuring patients remain at the heart of all we do. It’s open to everyone, and we aim to find solutions that work for both you and the organisation. All arrangements must be reasonable and balanced to maintain safe and effective patient care.

We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.

We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy.

If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.

Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.

Job overview

We are looking to recruit a highly motivated, committed, and compassionate Assistant Psychologist to join our Community Learning Disability Team in North Tyneside. The newly appointed clinician will join our multi‑disciplinary team, consisting of Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Community Learning Disability Nurses and Support Workers.

We are a lifespan service and provide a wide range of services to both adults and children with learning disabilities and physical health needs, mental health needs, forensic histories, behavioural expressions of need, and dementia, amongst other areas of work.

The ideal candidate will be passionate about working in collaboration with individuals, their carers, family, systems and professional colleagues to enhance health and well‑being, improve quality of life for our clients and their systems, address health inequalities, and promote positive health outcomes.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be managed and professionally led by the principal clinical psychologist for North Tyneside Community Learning Disabilities Team and supervised by other qualified staff. The post combines administrative support for qualified psychologists; a clinical role, focussing on supporting our qualified staff in assessments and therapeutic interventions; and support with research/service development and audit.

The post-holder will be empathetic, adaptable and responsive to the needs of our patients and have experience of working with people with learning disabilities. Experience of working with dementia is also desirable. The post-holder will also demonstrate emotional resilience and a capacity to maintain a compassionate approach even in stressful situations. Experience of using psychometrics or carrying out research would be beneficial as this will be a key part of the role.

Working for our organisation

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, in addition to our state‑of‑the‑art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres.

We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate. High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us. We have one of the most extensive patient experience programmes of any trust in England.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To assist in research projects and/or project work including clinically related administration, conduct of audits, and the collection and interpretation of research data under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist where tasks are agreed and reviewed at appropriate intervals.

To support with assessment, formulation, and intervention work, working under the supervision of qualified clinical psychologists. The post-holder may also support with facilitating group‑based interventions including DBT skills and CFT parent/carer support groups. There will be opportunities for shadowing Psychologists trained in a variety of evidence‑based interventions.

To role‑model compassionate and inclusive leadership in order to shape the creation of a collective leadership culture within the trust. This means demonstrating a consistent leadership style which (a) engages, enables and empowers others (b) uses coaching to promote ownership of learning and quality improvement and (c) facilitates team working and collaboration within teams / departments and across organisational boundaries.

Person specification

Qualifications

• A 1st/2i level degree in Psychology (BA or BSc) (or Masters degree in Psychology, following a degree in a non‑psychology subject) recognised by the BPS
• Eligible for graduate membership of the BPS
• Post‑graduate training in counselling skills or other areas of psychology

Other Requirements

• It is an essential requirement of the role that the post holder has a valid driving licence and is either a car owner and able to use the car for work purposes, or has a Trust personal lease vehicle which may be used for the role. However, the Trust would consider making reasonable adjustments to the role, if necessary, to enable a disabled person to undertake the role
• Some evidence of an attempt to gain experience in areas relevant to psychology either via paid or voluntary work. Or having worked previously as an assistant psychologist.
• Having worked with people with learning disabilities, either via paid or voluntary work.
• Experience of qualitative and quantitative data analysis

Applicants who are members of the Armed Forces, and those who have a disability that requires support in the work place (two ticks pledge) and who meet the essential criteria will be interviewed under the Trust's interview guarantee scheme.

We recognise the positive value of diversity and inclusion and are committed to a workforce that is diverse, equal and inclusive. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME people are currently under‑represented in our workforce as well as other under‑represented groups such as LGBT+ and disabled candidates. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, we have a Gold award from the Defense Recognition Scheme, and we are delighted to support Apprenticeships, Age Posi+ive and are a mindful employer.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend interview please make the recruitment team aware as soon as possible by calling our HR Recruitment Team on 0191 203 1415 option 2.

Applicants who meet the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (FPPR) will require additional pre‑employment checks in line with CQC and NHS England statutory guidance.

Make sure to read the ‘applicant guidance notes’ before submitting your application and make sure you know everything there is to know before joining our fantastic trust!

Certificate of Sponsorship

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust proudly hold a sponsor licence. In order to provide sponsorship you and the role you are applying for must meet UKVI eligibility requirements. Please check your eligibility prior to submitting an application. Skilled Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

It is a requirement of this Trust that all successful applicants pay for their own DBS certification if a DBS check is required for the post. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first monthly pay.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name Dr Fiona Bamford
Job title Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist
Email address [e-mail]
Telephone number 01912952764