Assistant Psychologist – Aspiring Clinical Psychologist-CUH

Closing date is 26 November 2025

Assistant Psychologist – Aspiring Clinical Psychologist-CUH

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) is looking for a number of candidates for Assistant Psychologist roles, working part‑time (3 days a week) for a fixed term of 6 months. This is part of the Health Education England provision for Paid Opportunities for Aspiring Clinical Psychologists.

Health Education England (HEE) plans to improve equity of access and inclusion for entrants to Clinical Psychology training for groups who are currently under‑represented. Part of the NHS Long Term Plan is to improve diversity in the workforce to better represent the users that it supports. These posts, funded by Health Education England, are intended to give opportunities to develop initial clinical experience for aspiring clinical psychologists who would otherwise be excluded from entering the profession through unpaid work experience (e.g., from voluntary or honorary Assistant Psychologist roles).

Main duties of the job

Successful applicants will work under the supervision of a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered Clinical Psychologist to gain experience to support future career development within clinical psychology. There will be opportunities to meet as a cohort of staff, to engage with the Trust’s existing Assistant Psychologists’ group, and to meet with current Trainee Clinical Psychologists on placement in the Trust.

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines.

About us

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high‑quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children’s, adult and older people’s mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high‑calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under‑represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

We reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk

Job responsibilities

- To support the psychology team and wider team in psychological assessment, care provision, planning, and delivery of evidence‑based interventions, under the supervision of a Practitioner Psychologist.

- To provide psychological interventions and maintain a clinical caseload under supervision.

- To assist the psychology team in the development of individual or group clinical materials or training materials, such as the development of treatment manuals and group interventions.

- As required, to support the team in delivering, managing, and evaluating other psychological interventions, such as psychology groups.

- To act in a manner that supports a psychologically informed framework for the service.

- To assess and manage risk within an appropriate psychological framework.

- To work with other staff to assess and review service users care in preparation for multidisciplinary treatment reviews.

- To attend and contribute to appropriate multi‑disciplinary and psychology meetings.

- To participate in the services delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.

- To ensure that service users are appropriately consulted about relevant aspects of their care and are empowered to express their views in a responsive environment.

Person Specification

Education / Qualifications

- Graduated with at least a Second Class Psychology undergraduate degree

- Entitlement to Graduate Basis for Chartership with the British Psychological Society

- Applicants must not be currently salaried or post graduate trainees in a university programme

- Applicants have not studied and are not currently studying a Masters’ degree* (MSc 4 year combined undergraduate and postgraduate degree is accepted. MSc as a conversion from a non‑psychology undergraduate degree is accepted). *see guidance document

Experience

- Applicants must NOT have been employed as an Assistant Psychologist, Research Assistant, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP) or similar / equivalent role. (Very brief - less than 4 weeks - paid roles can be disregarded)

- Lived experience of membership with a group/ identity that is currently underrepresented within Clinical Psychology

- Experience of working with people with complex needs

- Experience of completing research projects or audits

- Experience of working with children or families

Skills & Abilities

- Able to demonstrate commitment to high quality care and service provision

- High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive

- Ability to communicate sensitive information to people with different needs, e.g. patients, their families/carers, and staff

- Ability to manage occasional emotionally stressful situations

- An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to mental and physical health contexts

- Ability to work with diverse populations

- Ability to work effectively within a group or team

- Ability to understand research materials

- Ability to interpret data as part of service evaluation, audit, and possible research

- Ability to recognise limits of competence and seek support from supervisors and other sources when needed

- Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively

- Good organisational and time managements skills

- Ability and willingness to reflect on work practice and be open to constructive feedback

- Ability to work independently, reliably, and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals

- Ability to maintain a high degree of ethical and professional standards

- Able to contain and work with high levels of distress from service users

- An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines

- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental or physical health problems or disabilities

- An understanding of psychology applied to health care

- An understanding of multidisciplinary therapeutic approaches to intervention

- An understanding of current, evidence based, stepped‑care models of care as detailed in NICE guidance

Physical Requirements

- Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments, and psychological interventions

- Ability to travel across CPFT locality

Other

- Demonstrate an interest in a career in Clinical Psychology

- Evidence of personal values in accordance with those of the Trust and the NHS

- A positive approach to work and learning

- Recognise people’s right to privacy and dignity, treating every person with respect

- Willingness to embrace an integrated model and new ways of working

- Willingness to be flexible in approach and attitude

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.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

£27,485 to £30,162 a year per annum, pro rata

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