Job summary
- Main area
- AMH
- Grade
- Band 4
- Contract
- 5 months (Fixed Term until September 30th 2026)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.7 hours per week
- Job ref
- 380-NK266
- Employer
- Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- DGS MHT, Arndale House, Dartford DA1 2DR
- Town
- Dartford
- Salary
- £25,147 - £27,596 per annum (plus HCA allowance)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 16/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Assistant Psychologist for Initial Interventions
Band 4
We are the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We offer a range of ongoing benefits to our valued workforce. From an active health and wellbeing programme to regular recognition events, we work hard to provide varied benefits that make a difference to your work-life balance.
Here are some clips of our Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust staff, speaking about their role and why they enjoy working for us
Would you like to work flexibly? In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you.
Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement.
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Job overview
This is an exciting opportunity to employ an Assistant Psychologists to deliver the Clinical Care Pathways in KMMH's North Kent Directorate on a 5-month fixed contract until September 30th 2026. Intent on bringing innovative ideas into practice, ‘Initial Interventions’ is an evidence-based clinical interventions delivered across Dartford MHT services but the new posts will be expected to deliver this Initial Intervention for the population in Dartford secondary care and in Mental Health Together.
With a focus on psychologically informed interventions, these roles play a significant part in delivering a brief manualized intervention known as ‘Initial Interventions' under the supervision of qualified psychological practitioners.
You will be part of a dedicated community mental health team delivering ii and will have focused clinical supervision from an experienced psychological practitioner and be managed by MHT senior practitioner. You will have plenty of scope and backing to develop your own clinical practice with a chance to input into ii research and evaluation.
You will be working closely with a group of 3 Assistant Psychologists in the DGS, North Kent Directorate . You will be expected to work on your own and deliver Initial Interventions in both individual and group formats, for which you will receive training and weekly supervision, and also offer structured assessments using Dialog Plus.
Main duties of the job
To participate in the provision of direct clinical work through the delivery of manualized psychologically informed structured interventions as part of Psychological Services to adults with mental health difficulties within the community & recovery service line of Kent & Medway Mental Health Trust.
In particular:
- To deliver ‘initial interventions’ to people accessing adult mental health services as part of the Clinical Care Pathways in the MHT service. Specific and targeted training will be provided by experienced Psychological Practitioners and all interventions supported by weekly clinical supervision from Psychological Practitioners.
- To undertake other structured therapeutic psychological interventions in an identified service or services using own independent initiative within guidelines provided by a qualified psychologist and MHT manager.
- To undertake clinical and service performance-related administration, audit and research projects, teaching, and service improvement project work under the professional guidance of a qualified psychologist.
Working for our organisation
We are the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway. Our teams support adults with a wide range of mental health needs. Because we cover the whole county and both hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the 1.8 million people of Kent and Medway. Rated ‘Good’ by the CQC, we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 in the community each year.
Our vision is simple: We are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It’s why we’re passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. And everything we do is guided by our values caring, inclusive, curious and confident.
Join us - if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that’s doing well together.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- To undertake training in the delivery of the CBT-informed intervention known as ‘Initial Interventions’ delivered by a group of specialist psychological practitioners.
- To deliver CBT-informed interventions to a range of adults accessing Secondary Care Mental Health Services under the direct responsibility and clinical supervision of experienced Psychological Practitioners.
- To undertake a range of other skills-based or protocol-driven psychological therapeutic interventions, in addition to Initial Interventions, depending upon the needs of the service.
- To receive and participate in weekly clinical supervision around all clinical work.
- To provide psychological guidance and support to carers and families of service users under the clinical supervision of a qualified psychologist.
- To use initiative and act independently within guidelines, knowing when to refer to a qualified psychologist for clinical decisions and guidance.
What is High Cost Area Allowance?
The High-Cost Area (HCA) allowance, also referred to as London Weighting is a payment made to employees who work in London and the surrounding areas.
As this post is based in Dartford, Gravesham or Swanley, the successful applicant will receive an additional payment each month.
As this post is based in Dartford, Gravesham or Swanley, the successful applicant will receive an additional payment each month. 5% of basic salary, subject to a minimum payment of £1,258 and a maximum payment of £2,121. (the agreed annual amount will be divided into 12 equal amounts and paid monthly).
Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification
Person specification
Essential
Essential criteria
- An upper second-class honours degree or higher in Psychology.
- Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society.
- Basic competence in statistical analysis.
- Good communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.
- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other difficulties
- An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context.
- An understanding of psychology applied to health care.
- Advanced keyboard skills
Desirable
Essential criteria
- Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis.
- Paid or voluntary work with people with mental health problems and/or other difficulties.
- Experience using computers for databases or data-analysis, including SPSS and Excel.
- High standard of report writing.
- Ability to overcome psychological resistance to potentially threatening information.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
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.
Application numbers
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Paula Maggi
- Job title
- LocalityLeadfor NorthKentYAPsychologicalservices
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01322 622134
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