Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience
Please note, NSFT uses tools to screen any applications generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Job overview
Passionate about the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people? We are excited to be recruiting one Assistant Psychologist to the Suffolk Mental Health Support Team (MHST). The MHST is based within education settings, ensuring children and young people receive faster access to earlier mental health support through direct work with children, young people and families and Whole School/College Approach methods. The successful candidate will play a key role in delivering and evaluating this service. We are a dynamic mental health team working in a creative environment: Suffolk has had MHSTs since 2020 and have expanded considerably in the past five years. You will need to be adaptable and have a passion for working with children and young people in education settings. This is an exciting role in the MHST which you will be able to contribute to the development of.
Main duties of the job
MHSTs provide targeted and evidence-based interventions to support the management of mild to moderate mental health needs. As an Assistant Psychologist in the team, you will support:
- assessment, formulation and intervention with children, young people and their families and the education setting community
- the team to provide group intervention programmes
- with the research and evaluation that is critical to the team’s development
- with developing psychological resources used by the team
You will work closely alongside a team of mental health professionals, will utilise regular supervision sessions, reflective practice and training opportunities in the team to develop your practice and ensure a high level of clinical support is provided.
We have several teams across the county. The successful candidate will primarily support the teams in the East of Suffolk.
Interviews will take place in mid-September 2025.
Working for our organisation
A job in the Suffolk MHSTs will inevitably be challenging and demanding at times, but it will also be immensely rewarding and provide you with great opportunities to make a genuine difference to the lives of others. You will join a team that has developed a caring, creative and hard-working environment; your ideas about how this new service continues to develop and grow will be highly valued.
NSFT
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.
Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.
Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you’ll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We’re an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We will ensure that you continue to access training and supervision to develop your own practice and further your career ambitions.
For further details regarding the role, please see attached job description and person specification.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- BPS Accredited Degree in Psychology
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- An understanding of psychology applied to healthcare
- High standard of report writing.
- Knowledge of mental health
Desirable criteria
- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of quantitative research
Desirable criteria
- Experience of research in the NHS
Skills
Desirable criteria
- Ability to adapt communication to the needs of the audience
YOUR APPLICATION
We can provide all our job application materials in alternative formats so that these are accessible to everyone. Should you require any documents within this job pack in an alternative format, please do not hesitate to contact us at recruitment@nsft.nhs.uk.
PLEASE NOTE: If you use a hotmail, msn or yahoo e-mail account, you will need to check your "junk" mail regularly as these email providers will divert any communication from this Trust/NHS JOBS straight into your " junk" inbox.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief.
As a part of the Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview Scheme we interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job vacancy (outlined in the Person Specification).. We encourage you to indicate your eligibility through TRAC jobs when applying.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post may be 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 certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
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.