Senior Assistant Psychologist - Austen House

Senior Assistant Psychologist - Austen House

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

We are looking to recruit two experienced, enthusiastic, organised and motivated Senior Assistant Psychologists who are keen to use their initiative. Both Senior Assistant Psychologists will have the opportunity to work within Austen House, a CAMHS inpatient service for adolescents. Austen House is currently in the process of developing a new seven bedded adolescent Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) to sit alongside the existing Low Secure Unit (LSU).

One Senior Assistant Psychologist will be required to work within the Low Secure Unit and one Senior Assistant Psychologist will be required to work within the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit. Although both roles may involve flexible working across both wards at times, dependent upon clinical need.

Main duties of the job

This post provides an exciting opportunity to contribute to the development of a comprehensive and high-quality service for young people experiencing a range of complex presenting problems. The post offers close multi-agency and multi-disciplinary working. The role will involve the use and development of psychological skills to contribute to the understanding and treatment of psychological distress and risk within an attachment and trauma informed model of care.

There will be opportunities for direct clinical work with young people and the systems around them, within individual and group settings. The appointed AP will contribute to a psychologically informed environment via formulation, training, and reflective practice. Continuing professional development is encouraged and opportunities to use research skills.

About us

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a newly established organisation, bringing together expertise from across mental health, learning disabilities, community, and physical health services. We are dedicated to delivering compassionate, high-quality, and accessible care to the diverse communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

With over 13,000 dedicated staff working across more than 300 sites, we place patients and staff at the centre of everything we do. Our goal is to create an integrated healthcare system that improves accessibility and ensures more consistent care for patients. By working together, we aim to improve patient outcomes, drive innovation, and meet the unique needs of the populations we serve.

Our Trust unites services from Southern Health, Solent NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trusts community and mental health teams, as well as Hampshire CAMHS, originally part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. This transformation enables us to deliver more seamless care across the region, ensuring that patients receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We are deeply committed to our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence, and offer outstanding opportunities for career development, training, and collaborative working.

Job responsibilities

Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone. We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• BA or BSc in Psychology or related fields (e.g., conversion Masters) recognised by the British Psychological Society.
• Further training in psychological skills or principles e.g., MSc/MA in Psychology.

Experience

• At least 1 years' experience working as an Assistant Psychologist (band 4 or band 5). This needs to have been a paid post under supervision of a Clinical Psychologist or Psychological therapist.
• Experience of teaching or training. Experience of the application of psychological therapies in different cultural contexts. Experience of delivering group programmes.

Additional Criteria

• Skills and Values
• An understanding, or a keenness to develop an understanding, of the application of psychological principles or skills to ameliorate emotional distress and or risk.
• Excellent verbal, non-verbal and written communication skills.
• Analytical and judgement skills evidenced by an ability to integrate and evaluate complex data to aid formulations and decision-making.
• Organisational and time management skills.
• A willingness to undertake PMVA training, in accordance with the Trust policy.
• An ability to work autonomously within a defined managed and occupational context, using supervision as appropriate.
• Ability to form good working relationships with others in a multidisciplinary and multi-agency setting.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice.
• Approach
• Flexible and adaptive working style; an ability to work flexibly to meet the needs of young people and families from a wide geographical area and across services, as required.
• Calm under pressure.
• An ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse, and the threat of physical abuse.
• Self-motivated and able to work without supervision, as appropriate.
• Diplomatic and empathetic manner.
• Able to maintain confidentiality.
• Full driving licence with access to a car.
• Knowledge of problems faced by young people with mental health problems and their families.
• Experience in project management or research completion.
• Current knowledge of relevant legislation and ethical issues.
• Interest in contributing to service development.

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.

Employer name

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust