Trainee Sport Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Wellbeing Support:

To provide the young people taking part in the football programme with emotional wellbeing support by being present during football practices, participating, and building trusting relationships with them.

To help with organising wellbeing workshops for young people during school holidays based on their needs and wants (e.g. mindfulness meditation and yoga; sex and relationship education). These may be delivered by external partners.

To provide holistic wellbeing support and guidance around a range of psychosocial issues, as appropriate (e.g. personal development / education guidance / relationship guidance / conflict resolution).

To embed psychological principles and skills into the practice sessions, under the guidance of their supervisor (e.g. increasing resilience, values, strengths, recovery from mistakes, effective communication on and off the pitch, goal setting).

To support the coachs development, particularly by helping them to embed psychological principles into their coaching practice.

General:

To treat all young people in a sensitive and non-judgmental manner.

To maintain confidentiality following national, local and Brandon Centre policies, with specific consideration to those under the age of 16 years.

Supervisory duties

To receive regular clinical supervision from the Lead Sport and Exercise Psychologist.

Service Evaluation

• To participate in evaluating the work with young people at the football club.

Administration

To record a summary of each session with young people anonymously, including any themes or discussion topics that emerged during the session.

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development

• Proactively participate in one-to-one meetings with line manager, identifying own learning needs, and ways that these may be met.
• Communicate issues of concern relating to the behaviour, conduct or practice of colleagues to the line manager as appropriate.
• Report untoward incidents and any other relevant information to the line manager and complete an incident report if necessary.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• BA or BSc 2:1 or 1st class honours or equivalent in psychology or a related field of study or an MSc/PGDip in Psychology (psychology conversion course) with Merit or Distinction.
• Eligibility for Graduate Basis for Registration (GBR) with the British Psychological Society (BPS)
• Currently enrolled in a Stage 1 or Stage 2 Sport and Exercise Psychology Programme (BPS or BASES)

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• Excellent ICT skills, including the use of full Microsoft Office
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent time management skills.
• Ability to communicate well on sensitive subjects with a range of stakeholders in a non-judgmental way.
• Ability to be tactful and diplomatic when discussing sensitive and confidential issues with young people, displaying appropriate empathy.
• Ability to work with young people from a range of different and diverse backgrounds and needs (e.g. neurodivergent young people)
• Ability to work accurately with attention to detail e.g., data inputting.
• Ability to work as part of a team and establish and maintain good working relationships.
• Ability to work independently and use initiative to identify tasks.
• Capacity to show flexibility when required.
• Demonstrate awareness and commitment to equality within the workplace and in the delivery of all services.

Experience

Essential

• Experience working with young people.
• Experience and interest in sport and physical activity.
• An interest in football.

Desirable

• Experience working in a busy, public-facing service
• Working knowledge of safeguarding children and young people
• Experience working or volunteering in community sports.
• Experience in direct individual work with young people or adults
• Good knowledge and understanding of outcome measures and why we use them
• Interest and knowledge in community psychology principles of co-construction and youth participation.

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 details

Employer name

Brandon Centre

Address

26 Prince of Wales Rd

Kentish Town

London

NW5 3LG

Employer's website

https://brandon-centre.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)