Job summary
- Main area
- Psychology
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent: 80% of annual leave must be taken during school holidays
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 380-CED022
- Employer
- Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Vinters Business Park, Maidstone Studios
- Town
- Maidstone, Kent
- Salary
- £28,392 - £31,157 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 02/07/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Assistant Psychologist
NHS AfC: 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
We are looking to recruit a full-time Assistant Psychologist to join the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) in Kent. MHSTs are a new service designed to support children and young people with mild to moderate mental health in education settings.
MHSTs aim to:
support children and YP with mental health problems through evidence-based interventions
support schools in developing their whole school approach to mental health
provide timely advice to school staff and to liaise with other services to help children and young people get the right help and stay in education.
We are asking candidates to utilise the person specification to outline: What experience you have working with children in a community setting.
One trust, one mental health service for Kent and Medway - Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust
This is an exceptional opportunity within the NHS to gain essential clinical experience and develop specialist skills in CBT, psychoeducation, initial interventions, complex trauma and personality-related needs, working within a structured, relational environment.
The role requires a combination of advanced data management skills for service evaluation and a passion for group process and clinical support. You will receive supervision from a qualified Clinical/Counselling Psychologist. The AP will fulfil a crucial dual role, supporting both the clinical delivery and the service's robust data, audit, and research agenda.
Main duties of the job
We are looking for a committed, capable, resilient, and enthusiastic team player to join us at the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) to work with clients with low to moderate mental health needs.
We are looking for an Assistant Psychologist with a genuine interest and experience in working with people who have complex emotional needs and personality disorders. We are a supportive team with a commitment to reflective practice, formulation and co-production. We offer a group-based programme, so we are looking for someone who can co-facilitate groups, particularly CBT psychoeducation, and take a key role in evaluating the programme.
This is a varied role that also involves clinical work, audit & evaluation, administration, consultation, reflective practice and training other agencies to work with personality disorder. You will be well supported in individual supervision and team reflective practice sessions to take up this role.
Working for our organisation
We are Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway and are rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Our teams support children, young people and adults with a wide range of mental health needs. We also provide specialist services, including all-age eating disorder services and neurodevelopmental assessments for children and young people, such as autism and ADHD.
Because we work across the whole county and across hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the people we serve.
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. 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 working well together.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification
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).
Person specification
Training Qualification
Essential criteria
- Psychology Qualification - An upper second class honours degree or higher
- Entitlement to Graduate Membership of the British Psychological Society.
Desirable criteria
- Paid or voluntary work with people with mental health problems or and other difficulties
- Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis knowledge
Good communication skills
Essential criteria
- High level communication skills demonstrated within personal statement. Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance
- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities, demonstrated with additional training or within personal statement
- Personal statement demonstrates an understanding of psychology applied to health care, and an awareness of NHS Plan and clinical governance priorities.
Desirable criteria
- Experience using RIO and a passion for databases or data- analysis, especially Windows, Excel
- Knowledge of the educational system in England
- Additional training relating either to child development or mental health
Experience
Essential criteria
- Working with children and young people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities
- Working within the community setting
Desirable criteria
- A full valid UK driving licence for business purpose
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Stephen Kumi-Yeboah
- Job title
- Operational Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07764972142
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