Are you motivated to provide psychological support to older people with mental health difficulties, on KMPT’s acute wards, while completing a postgraduate apprenticeship leading to a Clinical Associate in Psychology MSc Degree?

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a motivated and compassionate trainee Clinical Associate Psychologist (CAP), to undertake a structured curriculum of learning, supported by the University of Essex (including campus-based teaching, academic work, personal study, placement learning and assessment) - leading to the award of an MSc and employment as a Clinical Associate Psychologist.

The post-holder will work within KMPT’s Acute Directorate and will join a dynamic and supportive team, alongside practitioners on older adult wards who are passionate about working in and developing the specialism.

The post-holder will work alongside other psychological practitioners (e.g., art, music and drama therapists) and multidisciplinary colleagues, across two older adult wards, and will work under the professional guidance of an HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist.

The post will be based in Maidstone and may require travel to other sites. You will be expected to fulfil apprenticeship / MSc course requirements, which include academic work and attending some face-to-face teaching at the University of Essex.

The successful applicant will need to be in post by the end of October 2025.

The post-holder will pay particular attention to later life issues and will facilitate specialist psychological assessments, formulation, individual and group interventions appropriate to their level of training.

A key part of the role will be supporting multidisciplinary teams with developing their psychological perspective, through contributing to case discussions, training and consultation. The post-holder will also offer psycho-education and support to carers/ families (including guidance related to mental health and/or cognitive difficulties, including dementia) and will liaise with community mental health teams and other agencies (e.g., social services) to support timely and safe discharges from the wards. The role may also include clinical audit, research and service improvement projects.

Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life.

We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people in Kent and Medway, as well as specialist services for adults in Sussex and Surrey. We are rated Good overall by the CQC.

Each year we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 people in the community.

We are proud to employ over 3,800 people from 66 nationalities, and to serve an increasingly diverse range of communities across rural and urban areas.

You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones.

The nature of our work attracts kindness and compassion as standard and everyone from our cleaners and porters to the chief executive and chairman are recognised as playing a vital role in providing an exemplary service.

Our strategy

Our mission is what we set out to do every day
We deliver brilliant care through brilliant people

Our vision is where we want to be in the future
To provide outstanding care and to work in partnership to deliver this in the right place, for every service user, every time.

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Please see the attached job description for full details of the main duties and responsibilities of the role.

The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).