Grade
Band 4
Contract
6 months (Fixed term)
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
373-LD0530
Town
Chester
Salary
£27,485 - £30,162 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
25/08/2025 23:59
Job overview
This is a full-time, 6 month fixed-term band 4 assistant psychologist post which will be based at Chester.
This post is NHSE funded and in order to fulfil the cirteria for this funding, the applicant must have experienced financial disadvantage that may limit ability to gain suitable experience to pursue a career in Clinical Psychology (e.g., in receipt of free school meals as a child; received a bursary to attend university to gain a first degree; caring responsibilities; low-income as a single parent or protected characteristics household.
The post holder will support and enhance the psychological care of clients within the service, across all sectors of care. The role will involve working collaboratively with members of the multi disciplinary team providing psychological assessment and interventions under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist, working independently according to agreed plan 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.
This advert is likely to close early due to an expected high level of interest.
The successful applicant will be joining a friendly, supportive, and forward-thinking multi-disciplinary team, and will be well supported by our Clinical Psychologist, including the provision of regular Clinical Supervision.
Main duties of the job
There will be lots of opportunities for development of clinical skills through direct and indirect work with service users and training opportunities. You will take responsibility for carrying out psychological screening assessments and brief interventions, including group interventions. There will also be opportunity to complete audit and small-scale research projects, and to contribute to, and deliver training to colleagues.
Completion of Psychological Screening Assessments, formulations and interventions with service users.
Provision of low-level and brief psychological interventions.
Completion of audits and small scale service-related research.
Supervision to be provided by a qualified Clinical Psychologist.
Working for our organisation
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership (CWP) provides health and care services for a population of over one million people, including mental health, learning disability, community physical health and all-age disability care, as well as the provision of three GP surgeries in Cheshire.
We employ around 4,500 staff across 73 sites and have services across Wirral and Cheshire, as well as Trafford, Warrington, Bolton, Halton and Liverpool.
Our aim is to help improve the lives of everyone in our communities, adopting a compassionate, person-centred approach to everything we do. We are rated as Outstanding for Caring by the Care Quality Commission, with a Good rating overall.
As a Disability Confident Employer, Rainbow Badge Scheme member, Veteran Aware organisation and proud holder of the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award, CWP is committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible and developing a culture that values differences, and welcome applications from people who have direct experience of accessing our services.
All new starters will commence in post on one fixed start date each month, in line with our Prepare to Care (P2C) induction programme date. P2C offers up to 3 weeks training to support you to meet the induction / initial training requirements of the role.
Whether you are just starting out in your career or looking to use your existing skills and experience in a new role, you’ll find something to suit you at CWP.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please download a copy of the job description (see ‘documents to download’ section below) for full details of the main responsibilities for this role.
At CWP, our recruitment selection processes are based on both competence (see person specification for details) and values.
CWP recruits people that can demonstrate the Trust’s Values in their everyday life and we use a values-based approach in our interviews, which explores not only what you do but how and why you do it.
Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trust’s Values and think about how these align with your own personal values. The supporting information section in your application should reflect your understanding of the Trust’s Values and associated behaviours and you should provide examples from your work experience and/or personal life which demonstrate these values through your behaviours.
An applicant guide to help and support you through your recruitment journey can be accessed at the bottom of this page. Further help and support for completing your application can be accessed via our website. If you need any further guidance to help you complete your application, contact our recruitment team via email at: [email protected] or by calling 01244 393100.
If you have a disability that meets the definition set out in the Equality Act 2010, and you can show that you meet the ‘essential’ criteria described in the person specification for an available position, please answer ‘YES’ to the question: ‘Do you wish to be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme?’
Please inform the team if you have any special support needs to be considered as part of the interview and selection processes.
The trust offers a Guaranteed Interview Scheme to any armed forces community applicants who meet the essential criteria for the post and encourages applications from armed forces reservists or cadet force adult volunteers.
Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. A small annual fee of £16 per year applies.
New entrants to the NHS will commence on the minimum of the scale stated above.
Applicants are advised to apply early as if a large number of applications are received for this post we reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the advertised date.
Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team CWP very soon!
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Good honours degree in Psychology (2.i or above). Eligibility for Graduate Membership of BPS
- To undertake breakaway training or equivalent following appointment.
Desirable criteria
- Advanced keyboard skills
- Other related academic qualifications to Masters or Doctorate level.
Knowledge and Expertise
Essential criteria
- The ability to communicate complex/ sensitive information where barriers to understanding exist. For example, instances requiring empathy and reassurance.
- The ability to make judgements involving a range of facts or situations requiring analysis or comparison of a range of options. Also skills for assessing clients in one-to-one sessions, group dynamics or who are participating in research.
- The ability to organise straightforward tasks, activities or programmes, some of which may be ongoing. Also, the ability to plan and prioritises own workload, research programme activities; group sessions, etc.
- Working to Professional Guidelines
Desirable criteria
- Ability to use routinely available spreadsheet/database software (Excel, Access, etc.)
- Record of having published in either peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books
- Relevant work experience of people with mental health problems.
- Desire to progress to Clinical Training (DClinPsy).
Applicant requirements
Further details / informal visits contact
Job title
Clinical Psychologist
Email address
Telephone number
01244 397222
Additional information
