Trainee Clinical Associate in Psychology: Sponsorship Available

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for applications to train as a Clinical Associate Psychologist in the Older People’s Community Mental Health Service with the Coastal Team, based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Funding has been secured from NHSE for the tuition fees for you to complete a Master’s degree in Clinical Associate Psychology through The University of Essex, EPUT, starting in November 2026.

While you are completing the degree, you will work as a Band 5 for part of the week in the Older People’s Team in Coastal, being supported to learn and clinically apply your learning to deliver evidence-based psychological intervention to older people with a mental health need, and also support the team with embedding psychological thinking in their practice.

The Coastal team are part of a wider locality, with three older people’s CMHT’s in East Suffolk, with a range of psychological professionals who have strong and supportive relationships and who work in an integrated way. You will be well supported to complete your Master’s degree and learn the clinical skills required for the role.

Following the completion of your degree, you will work as a full-time substantive Clinical Associate Psychologist, Band 6, in the Coastal team. This is an excellent opportunity for a psychology graduate to learn the clinical and academic skills required for a career as a Clinical Associate Psychologist, which plays an invaluable role in our older people’s mental health services.

Main duties of the job

As a Trainee Clinical Associate in Psychology, you will work closely with the existing Clinical Psychologist and wider multidisciplinary team to deliver a psychologically-minded secondary mental health service to older people within the coastal community.

In addition to the academic component of this role, your duties within the workplace would include:

  • Providing psychological assessments and formulation of individuals’ mental health difficulties, strengths, and any risk/safety concerns.
  • Delivering personalised, evidence-based individual and group interventions.
  • Thinking and working creatively to provide effective interventions where there may not be an existing evidence base, such as in complex or chronic clinical presentations.
  • Active participation in multidisciplinary case discussion, team formulation, and reflective practice meetings.
  • Gathering, analysing and disseminating data for audit, service development and research purposes.
  • Involvement in research and service development activities.
  • Providing support, guidance, training and consultation to multidisciplinary colleagues to enhance the range of psychological intervention that other professionals may utilise.

The post holder will be expected to maintain a high standard of professionalism and accountability within the CAP scope of practice.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Level 2 qualifications in English and Mathematics (eg. GCSE pass grade 9 to 4 or A* to C)
  • Bachelors degree in Psychology accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) as conferring Graduate Basis for Chartership (GBS), or Bachelors degree plus master degree, or PGDip in Psychology accredited by the BPS as conferring GBC (minimum 2:2)

Experience

Essential

  • Demonstrate experience of effective working with others including peers, managers and more junior members of staff

Knowledge

Essential

  • Able assess limits of professional boundaries and capacity and understand when to seek appropriate supervision/advice on practice and whom to refer to ensure best care

Desirable

  • Discuss observation or understanding of cognitive-behavioural and other psychological assessment methods used within applied clinical practice to underpin assessmen

Other

Essential

  • Ability to travel independently where required
  • Skilled in continuous self-reflection, seeking and responding to support and feedback to develop professional knowledge and skills

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Closing Date: 24 August 2026

To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.