Job summary
- Main area
- Applied Psychology
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 5
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 334-CLI-7371605-A
- Employer
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Maudsley Hospital
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £37,259 - £45,356 per annum Incl. HCAs
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 21/10/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Assistant Psychologist (Higher Level) B5
NHS AfC: Band 5
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.
We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’.
We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.
The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.
Our Values
We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.
As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.
Job overview
Would you like to join a progressive, award winning, multi-disciplinary team spearheading innovative practices in the treatment of people with eating disorders?
We would like to invite applications for the post of Higher Assistant Psychologist (Assistant Psychologist - Higher Level). These posts will be based at the Eating Disorders Outpatients Department (EDOPD/Day Services), Maudsley Hospital.
The EDOPD is internationally renowned for providing best practice, evidence-based care for adults with the full range of eating disorder difficulties. Community outpatient treatments include guided self-help, group and individual interventions.
The team is renowned for its high quality clinical and research contributions to the evidence base, and in 2017, won the prestigious BMJ Award for Mental Health Team of the Year. The team focuses on learning and development, and you would have the opportunity to work alongside qualified psychologists and psychotherapists and to attend weekly multidisciplinary team meetings, supervision, and training forums.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will provide individual and group psychological therapy interventions, under the close clinical and professional supervision of a qualified psychologist, psychotherapist or CBT therapist.
The successful applicants will be engaging, approachable, motivated, committed to personal and professional development, and able to engage with people with complex mental health difficulties. They will be organised, with existing experience working with mental health care and good research skills.
The role will include delivering low-intensity individual psychological interventions (such as guided self-help and 10-session cognitive behavioural therapy for eating disorders; CBT-T) and assisting with group interventions, under supervision. You will be involved in delivering patient workshops and carer support groups. You will gain experience with assessment processes and working within a multidisciplinary team.
Please note – we will not cap the number of applications and therefore expect to receive a large number of applications. Please ensure that you address the following essential requirement and explain how you can apply this experience to our Eating Disorders Outpatients Department, in the first paragraph of your supporting statement: “Sufficient post-graduate experience of psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs to be able to work clinically without direct supervision.”
Working for our organisation
The team focuses on learning and development, and you would have the opportunity to work alongside qualified psychologists and to attend weekly multidisciplinary team meetings, supervision, and training forums.
As a department, we have close links to the clinical psychology doctoral training programmes at the IOPPN and Salomon's training centres, and frequently have clinical and counselling psychology trainees on placement.
Our Trust headquarters is located at Denmark Hill less than 5 minutes from the train station (zone 2).
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the full job description for further information.
· To assist practitioner psychologists, psychotherapists and CBT therapists in the delivery of a specialist applied psychology service in the Community Eating Disorders Outpatients Service & Day Service.
· To provide clinical work as required by the service, under the clinical and professional supervision of a practitioner psychologist, psychotherapist or CBT therapist, with oversight from a clinical psychologist.
· To assist in clinically related administration, conduct of audits, collection of statistics, development of audit and/or research projects, teaching and project work.
· To work as at appropriate levels of independence, following clinical guidelines and the policies and procedures of the service, and seeking help from clinical/professional supervisor or manager as required.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- A First-class or Upper-second-class Bachelors degree with Honours in Psychology that is accredited by the British Psychological Society and confers the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership of the British Psychological Society.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Sufficient post-graduate experience of psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs to be able to work clinically without direct supervision. Please ensure you address this requirement and how you can apply this experience to our Eating Disorders Outpatients Department in the first paragraph of your supporting statement.
- Post-graduate experience of conducting research projects or audits.
- Experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities. This may have been gained through work, research, volunteering and / or lived experience.
Desirable criteria
- The Trust encourages and welcomes applications from people with lived experience of mental health challenges. We see this as valuable and recognise the positive impact this experience can have on the work we do.
- Direct clinical experience with individuals with eating disorders.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Graduate level knowledge of psychological research methodology and statistical analysis.
- Awareness of racial and diversity issues through attendance of relevant training.
- Skills in relevant psychological assessment and interventions that enable working independently as a pre-qualified practitioner with clinical supervision.
- Well-developed verbal and written communication skills including communicating complex, sensitive or contentious information to clients, families and colleagues.
Abilities
Essential criteria
- Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles.
- Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions.
- Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive behaviour.
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
- Karina Allen
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0203 228 3180
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