Assistant Psychologist – Level

About The Organisation

Here at NHS Lanarkshire, we put the patient at the heart of everything we do. Each colleague within the organisation plays a key role in how we deliver our healthcare services.

We proudly serve a population of 655,000 across rural and urban communities in both North and South Lanarkshire. NHS Lanarkshire is comprised of Acute Services (which currently provide hospital based services over 3 main sites), Corporate & Property & Support Services, North and South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnerships which provide integrated primary healthcare and social care services to local communities and surrounding areas.

Provide a clinically effective high quality role in the Addiction Psychology Service provided to the NHS Lanarkshire Alcohol and Drug Services.

Additional Information Specific to the Role

Funding for this post was provided by NES Substance Misuse, Trauma, and Mental Health workstream. Funding is fixed term until 31st March 2027

This post offers an exciting opportunity for an Assistant Psychologist to support qualified psychology staff in the delivery, evaluation, and development of psychologically and trauma-informed practice across Addiction Services. Working under the supervision of registered psychologists, the post holder will contribute to a range of service improvement, research, and evaluation activities that support the implementation of trauma-informed care and the enhancement of service user and staff experiences.

The Assistant Psychologist will support the coordination of trauma-informed walkthroughs, including data collection, collation of findings, report preparation, and action planning. They will assist with the delivery of the local trauma training programme through administrative and organisational support, including scheduling, attendance monitoring, and maintaining training records. The role will also involve supporting lived experience and peer-led initiatives, including collaborative events focused on substance use and mental health.

The post holder will contribute to the evaluation of phase-based trauma interventions, including Safety and Stabilisation groups, and support the assessment of reflective practice initiatives across addiction services. They will provide project support to the Psychologically and Trauma-Informed Care Steering Group, assist with data analysis and service evaluations, and contribute to the development of resources and initiatives that promote staff wellbeing and support the implementation of MAT Standard 10

Please note this is a fixed term post until March 2027. Where a post only has temporary funding and an existing member of NHS Lanarkshire staff wishes to apply, this will be treated as a secondment. The employee MUST already have written agreement from their line manager to be released on a secondment before applying for the post.

CLINICAL (50% variable dependent on the current patient group and suitability for assistant input)

• Working with a variety of mental health presentations and behaviours, e.g., Anxiety, depression, psychosis, OCD, Phobias and behavioural and personality difficulties.
• To undertake protocol based psychological assessments of clients applying psychological tests.

These include:

• neuropsychological tests which are validated measures that identify behavioural changes related to brain injury and/or organic changes in brain structure such as the assessment of memory problems in older adults, frontal lobe damage or intelligence testing;
• self report measures e.g., Victims of abuse, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members etc.
• To receive regular supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines.
• To assist in the design and implementation of service development projects within the service e.g. carrying out an audit of re-referrals to provide grounds for the establishment of a time limited psycho-educational group.
• To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and…