Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Assistant Psychologist, West ATS

The closing date is 30 July 2025

Job summary

Do you want to experience living and working in the bustling seaside city of Brighton & Hove?

Are you a Psychology graduate with a passion for working in the NHS and Mental Health?

Would you like to get experience of working in a specialist mental health service?

The Assessment & Treatment Service is looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Band 4 Assistant Psychologist to join our multi-disciplinary community mental health team, supervised by our psychologists. This is a permanent post for 5 days per week (Mon-Fri). We have two of these posts vacant - one of these is based at Brighton General Hospital (Elm Grove, Brighton), and the other is at Mill View Hospital (Nevill Avenue, Hove).

You will be part of a strong multi-disciplinary specialist community mental health team and will receive clinical supervision from HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologists. Not only will you gain substantial clinical experience, you will be joining us at a time of significant change during our transformation of mental health services. One of our key strategic aims is to increase access to evidence-based psychological and psychotherapeutic interventions for people with severe mental health problems.

Main duties of the job

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

- Providing support, co-ordination and administration to the multi-disciplinary assessment clinics, including sitting in on front-line clinical assessments;

- Gaining first-hand experience of risk assessments & undertaking collaborative care planning to engage people who are unwell and distressed due to their mental health;

- Working alongside qualified mental health practitioners as part of the psychosis, personality disorder or mood & trauma pathways to deliver interventions within our Assessment & Treatment Service (ATS);

- Helping us to develop structures to collect our routine clinical outcomes measures; contributing to waiting list initiatives, and developing skills in the application of Quality Improvement (QI) methods and audit

You will possess excellent IT skills, be proficient in the use of Excel and PowerPoint, have good audit and evaluation skills and a good knowledge of routine outcome measures and service user feedback tools.

We are committed to supporting you on your journey to becoming a practitioner psychologist and to learn about other roles and training opportunities in mental health. Supervision and wider professional support will be available to you, as well as further training and development opportunities on offer within the Trust.

About us

The Trust provides mental health and learning disability care for all ages across Sussex and for children and young people in Hampshire.

Living & Working in Brighton & Hove:

Be spoilt for choice with Brighton's iconic seafront, vibrant lanes and array of shops and attractions
Travel easily between coast and countryside, with a blend of picturesque villages and seaside towns on your doorstep
Embrace the outstanding natural beauty spots including the renowned Devils Dyke and South Downs National Park

We'd love you to join our Trust, rated 'good' overall and 'outstanding' for caring by the CQC. Our staff agree, recent staff survey results told us that 82% recognise that care for patients is our top priority.

Key staff survey results include:

70% highlighting flexible working opportunities as a key point for satisfaction at work
79% reporting feeling able to make suggestions to improve the work in their team
77% identifying the opportunities to show initiative in their roles

Sussex Partnership is a fantastic Trust to work for and psychology is highly valued. Our teams are welcoming and enthusiastic about providing the best possible care for people who access our services.

Date posted

16 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£27,485 to £30,162 a year pa

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

354-AB-20954

Job locations

Mill View Hospital

Neville Hospital

Hove

BN3 7HY

Job description

Job responsibilities

Full details about this role can be found in the attached Job Description and Person Specification. In summary

Gaining psychologically informed skills in different therapy models and providing, under supervision, mental health interventions

Under supervision, developing collaborative risk & care plans with the people who use our services

Learning how to write psychological formulations and risk management plans

Contributing to treatment pathways for psychosis, personality disorder, mood & trauma

Developing a system to monitor routine outcome measures

Assisting with audit and research

Learning the strengths of a multi-disciplinary approach to healthcare

Gaining valuable insight into how services are changing as part of our transformation of mental health services in Sussex

Job description

Job responsibilities

Full details about this role can be found in the attached Job Description and Person Specification. In summary

Gaining psychologically informed skills in different therapy models and providing, under supervision, mental health interventions

Under supervision, developing collaborative risk & care plans with the people who use our services

Learning how to write psychological formulations and risk management plans

Contributing to treatment pathways for psychosis, personality disorder, mood & trauma

Developing a system to monitor routine outcome measures

Assisting with audit and research

Learning the strengths of a multi-disciplinary approach to healthcare

Gaining valuable insight into how services are changing as part of our transformation of mental health services in Sussex

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Honours degree at 2:1 or above in Psychology, or equivalent. Eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartership with the BPS

Knowledge/Experience

Essential

Relevant clinical and research skills
Experience of working as part of a team
Basic knowledge of databases, research skills and methodology
Ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a health context
An understanding of psychology applied to health care

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Honours degree at 2:1 or above in Psychology, or equivalent. Eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartership with the BPS

Knowledge/Experience

Essential

Relevant clinical and research skills
Experience of working as part of a team
Basic knowledge of databases, research skills and methodology
Ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a health context
An understanding of psychology applied to health care

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