Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Assistant Psychologist

The closing date is 06 April 2026

Job summary

No visa sponsorship applicants. Due to high number of applications, we may close the advert early.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Assistant Psychologist to join the multidisciplinary team providing services under supervision to oursecure services for men, based in Ipswich. This is a post for inpatient low-secure ward.

Our inpatient secure services form part of a wide and growing body of clinical services operating in a variety of settings linked to criminal justiceservices. NSFT Secure Services offer low and medium secure mental health services for men, an innovative integrated secure mental healthservice for women, mental health and personality disorder services in the local prisons, community forensic services, criminal justice liaison anddiversion services and Offender Personality Disorder services in partnership with probation services

Main duties of the job

In this role, the post-holder will work alongside a Psychologist on a 16-bedded admission, assessment and rehabilitation low-secure ward for menat Foxhall House team. The post-holder will work under the umbrella of the wider, well established NSFT Secure Services Psychology Team. Within this role, you will have the opportunity to help deliver risk assessments, mentalhealth assessments and brief psychological interventions to service users, as well as co-facilitating therapeutic group work. As part of the MDT,you will be working with the ward team to help create and implement positive behaviour support plans, and to support the ward team withpsychological formulations and psychologically informed practice.

The posts involve working with a range of mental health difficulties, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, personality disorderand neurodevelopmental disorders. There will also be the opportunity to learn about offence specific assessments, formulations and interventionswhich are delivered by the team.

About us

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.

Details

Date posted

30 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£28,392 to £31,157 a year Gross per annum

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

18 months

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number

246-GYW7885508

Job locations

Cedar House/Foxhall House

The Willow Centre

Ipswich

IP3 8LS


Job description

Job responsibilities

Benefits included with this role are:- NHS pension a comprehensive in house & external training programmes career progression starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays) staff physio service NHS discounts and many more.

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing theirexperiences and learning from each other.NSFT is committed to lifelong learning and continuous professional development (CPD) for its entire staff. There are a variety ofdefinitions of CPD across the professions but it is usually taken to mean learning activities which update existing skills.CPD is determined through appraisal with a personal development plan agreed between an individual and their manager, with thecommitment of the necessary time and resources.

Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what ittakes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!Please visit our Facebook and Twitter page @NSFTjobs

Job description

Job responsibilities

Benefits included with this role are:- NHS pension a comprehensive in house & external training programmes career progression starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays) staff physio service NHS discounts and many more.

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing theirexperiences and learning from each other.NSFT is committed to lifelong learning and continuous professional development (CPD) for its entire staff. There are a variety ofdefinitions of CPD across the professions but it is usually taken to mean learning activities which update existing skills.CPD is determined through appraisal with a personal development plan agreed between an individual and their manager, with thecommitment of the necessary time and resources.

Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what ittakes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!Please visit our Facebook and Twitter page @NSFTjobs

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • A BPS accredited degree in Psychology, conferring eligibility for GBC.

Desirable

  • Further post-graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis.

Experience

Essential

  • Experience of work with people with mental health needs.
  • Experience of working with people who display behaviour that challenges.

Desirable

  • Experience of research in the NHS.
  • Experience of quantitative research and use of data processing software e.g., excel & SPSS
  • Experience of work with people with complex mental health needs
  • Experience of working in forensic/secure services
  • Paid work providing direct care to patients in a medical setting

Skills

Essential

  • High level of interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal), including an ability to work and effectively communicate complex or sensitive information in highly emotive and emotionally charged settings which can involve conflict and significant personal distress
  • High levels of computer literacy and proficiency in the use of Microsoft Suite
  • Ability in organising workload while working within limits of own competency

Desirable

  • Skills in administering psychometric tests and using psychological equipment in accordance with standardised guidance under supervision
  • Ability to deliver group and individual psychologically informed interventions independently and under the supervision of a Practitioner Psychologist

Knowledge

Essential

  • Knowledge of mental health
  • An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities

Desirable

  • Knowledge of the criminal justice system and its interactions with health services
  • Knowledge of forensic risk assessment
  • An ability to link and apply psychological theory; principles, understanding and knowledge to applied practice within a mental health context

Other

Essential

  • Ability to travel independently
  • Ability to interact with clients with mental health problems and forensic backgrounds
  • Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively

Desirable

  • A desire to pursue a career in professional psychology
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • A BPS accredited degree in Psychology, conferring eligibility for GBC.

Desirable

  • Further post-graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis.

Experience

Essential

  • Experience of work with people with mental health needs.
  • Experience of working with people who display behaviour that challenges.

Desirable

  • Experience of research in the NHS.
  • Experience of quantitative research and use of data processing software e.g., excel & SPSS
  • Experience of work with people with complex mental health needs
  • Experience of working in forensic/secure services
  • Paid work providing direct care to patients in a medical setting

Skills

Essential

  • High level of interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal), including an ability to work and effectively communicate complex or sensitive information in highly emotive and emotionally charged settings which can involve conflict and significant personal distress
  • High levels of computer literacy and proficiency in the use of Microsoft Suite
  • Ability in organising workload while working within limits of own competency

Desirable

  • Skills in administering psychometric tests and using psychological equipment in accordance with standardised guidance under supervision
  • Ability to deliver group and individual psychologically informed interventions independently and under the supervision of a Practitioner Psychologist

Knowledge

Essential

  • Knowledge of mental health
  • An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities

Desirable

  • Knowledge of the criminal justice system and its interactions with health services
  • Knowledge of forensic risk assessment
  • An ability to link and apply psychological theory; principles, understanding and knowledge to applied practice within a mental health context

Other

Essential

  • Ability to travel independently
  • Ability to interact with clients with mental health problems and forensic backgrounds
  • Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively

Desirable

  • A desire to pursue a career in professional psychology

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is 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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Additional information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is 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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Address

Cedar House/Foxhall House

The Willow Centre

Ipswich

IP3 8LS


Employer's website

https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/Pages/Home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Address

Cedar House/Foxhall House

The Willow Centre

Ipswich

IP3 8LS


Employer's website

https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/Pages/Home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Senior Counselling Psychologist

Dr Kwun Chan

kwun.chan@nsft.nhs.uk

Details

Date posted

30 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£28,392 to £31,157 a year Gross per annum

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

18 months

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number

246-GYW7885508

Job locations

Cedar House/Foxhall House

The Willow Centre

Ipswich

IP3 8LS


Supporting documents

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