Women's Team Sports PyschologistIpswich Town

Purpose/overview of the role:

• Apply the principles of sport psychology to support the development of players, staff, and teams by enhancing how they think, feel, and behave in relation to performance, using an evidence-informed and individually tailored practitioner approach.
• Place athlete health and welfare at the heart of all aspects of training and competition, ensuring psychological wellbeing is a fundamental consideration in decision-making and practice.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders and multidisciplinary staff to support the holistic development of individuals, enabling them to flourish both as people and as footballers.
• Provide psychological support, education, and resources that enhance psychological flexibility, enabling players, staff, and teams to adapt to the evolving demands of the game and consistently perform under pressure.
• Create and maintain an environment in which players feel psychologically and physically safe, secure, supported, and empowered to achieve their potential.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of a caring, inclusive culture within a high-performance environment that promotes respect, trust, accountability, and positive behaviours.

Accountabilities:
• To develop, implement, and deliver an evidence-based psychology provision for the Women's First Team.
• Enhance performance through applied psychological practice, enabling players and staff to cultivate self-awareness and intentionally shape their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours to meet the demands of the game with consistency.
• Deliver appropriate psychological support within the scope of professional competence, referring individuals to specialist services where appropriate.
• Regularly monitor and evaluate the impact of performance psychology support across the Women's First Team programme, using insights to inform continuous improvement.
• Design and deliver a comprehensive programme of one-to-one and group performance psychology sessions to support, educate, and develop, Players, Coaching and performance support staff
• Contribute to the planning and delivery of life skills and career development programmes in collaboration with the Performance Lifestyle Manager.
• Take part in multi-disciplinary ‘case meetings ‘providing input to discussions and decisions about players

What good looks like:
• Working collaboratively with the multidisciplinary performance team to develop and maintain a mental health and wellbeing strategy and action plan.
• Support coach development by applying and sharing core psychological principles, including learning styles, feedback processes, and personality preferences.
• Maintain detailed, accurate, and up-to-date records and databases of psychological work conducted with athletes, ensuring compliance with relevant policies and data protection standards.
• Provide psychological support to players across the demands of elite football, including injury rehabilitation, return-to-play processes, performance transitions, and ongoing management of performance-related pressure.
• Skilled in translating evidence-based information into clear, practical advice for different stakeholders.
• In collaboration with the wider Performance Team, support workshops, education sessions, and wellbeing initiatives that promote high-performance habits and personal development across the programme.

Skills, knowledge & experience required:
• Experience supporting high-performance female athletes, addressing both performance-related and off-field challenges, including societal pressures, wellbeing, and career transitions.
• Proven experience delivering psychological support to high-performance athletes, teams, and organisations within multidisciplinary environments.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate effectively into established and evolving multidisciplinary and management teams, particularly within women's professional sport.
• Expertise in designing and delivering psychological interventions that optimise individual performance, team dynamics, and collective behaviours.
• Strong understanding of the psychological demands faced by high-performance athletes both on and off the field of play, with a track record of applying evidence-based approaches to enhance performance and wellbeing.

Essential:

• MSc in psychology / sport psychology.
• British Psychological Society Chartered Status or BASES Accredited (or equivalent).
• Registered with the Health & Care Professions Council (“HCPC”) in the UK
• Mental Health England First Aid Certification
• FA Safeguarding Children Course
• FA Safeguarding Adults Course
• Experience of Women’s Elite Sport and/or Football

Desirable:

• Emergency First Aid / FA IFAiF
• PhD in psychology / sport psychology or relevant equivalent
• Qualification in validated psychometric instruments
• Experience of women’s high-performance sport and football
• Active engagement in professional development such as participation in conferences, workshops and ongoing learning opportunities.