Job summary
This post offers an exceptional opportunity to make a significant contribution to the development of a pioneering service offering specialist holistic neurorehabilitation to children and adolescents with acquired brain injuries. This is the first NHS service for this client group in the UK. The role is for a rehabilitation assistant/ assistant psychologist to support the interdisciplinary team including Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Neuropsychology and Psychology.
Based at Brookside, Trumpington Road, Cambridge and sharing close links with the Department of Psychological Medicine for Children Young People and Families at Cambridge University Hospital the service is also housed in the same building as the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, provided by Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.
As a member of an 8 strong interdisciplinary team, you will contribute to the provision of highly specialist neuropsychological assessments and interventions for the individual cognitive, social, emotional and physical needs of children and young people with non-progressive brain injury, referred to the service from local, regional, national and international sources.
Main duties of the job
To support and enhance the professional psychological care of children within the service, across all sectors of care; contributing to neuropsychological interdisciplinary assessment and rehabilitation interventions under the supervision of a qualified registered psychologist and other therapists in the team, working independently according to a plan agreed with a qualified psychologist and within the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures.
To assist in clinically related administration. This post is part of the interdisciplinary service commitment to deliver Rehabilitation Packages to children who have experience of acquired brain injuries.
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 andempowering 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.
Please be advised 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 description
Job responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities
To undertake protocol based rehabilitation assessments of children and their families applying neuropsychological rehabilitation, tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with children, family members and others involved in the childs care.
To assist in the formulation and delivery of interdisciplinary neuro-rehabilitation involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a child and their familys difficulties, under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, Occupational Therapist and Speech and Language Therapist, in the community.
To assist in the coordination and running of group intervention (e.g. socialcommunication or mindfulness groups).
To work with the team to assess patients and review their intervention for regular multi-disciplinary meetings.
To assist in the development of a neuropsychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all children of the service, across all settings where care takes place.
To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities
To undertake protocol based rehabilitation assessments of children and their families applying neuropsychological rehabilitation, tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with children, family members and others involved in the childs care.
To assist in the formulation and delivery of interdisciplinary neuro-rehabilitation involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a child and their familys difficulties, under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, Occupational Therapist and Speech and Language Therapist, in the community.
To assist in the coordination and running of group intervention (e.g. socialcommunication or mindfulness groups).
To work with the team to assess patients and review their intervention for regular multi-disciplinary meetings.
To assist in the development of a neuropsychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all children of the service, across all settings where care takes place.
To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.
Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential
- An upper second class honours degree or higher in education, social care, psychology or other health related degree and/or a relevant Master's Degree
Desirable
- Further post graduate training or a doctoral degree in relevant areas of professional psychology, social care, education, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
Experience
Essential
- At least one year's experience working with vulnerable children and young people and their families in a health, education or social care setting
- Work with children and adolescents with mental health needs and/or other disabilities
- Formalised assessments of children with atypical development and/or acquired brain injury
Desirable
- Experience of paid work in direct care provision.
- Experience of working in NHS CAMHS
- Experience of research relevant to child and adolescent mental health
- Experience of cognitive assessments as part of a wider formulation of need
- Experience of rehabilitation
Skills & Abilities
Essential
- 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 patients, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance
- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities
- An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context
- An understanding of psychology applied to health care
- An understanding of current, evidence based, stepped care models of care as detailed in NICE guidance
Desirable
- Experience using databases or data-analysis, especially SPSS for Windows
- High standard of report writing
- Experience in interpreting neuropsychological assessment and report writing according to the reader's needs
- Experience of supporting collation of research data as part of routine service delivery
Knowledge and Understanding
Essential
- The needs of children with disabilities
- Multidisciplinary therapeutic approaches to intervention for children with disabilities
- Adaptations required for access to the curriculum for children with disabilities
Desirable
- The neuropsychological sequalae of paediatric ABI
- The impact of ABI on families including siblings
Personal
Essential
- An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines
- An ability to interact with people with mental health needs or other disabilities
- Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals
Desirable
- An interest in working with people with mental health needs or other disabilities
Physical Requirements
Essential
- Must have ability to travel across East of England and to remote communities
Other
Essential
- Positive approach
- Recognise peoples right to privacy and dignity, treating every person with respect
- Willingness to embrace integrated model and new ways of working
- Willingness to be flexible in approach and attitude
- Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively
Desirable
- A desire to explore a career in Professional Psychology, Occupational Therapy or Speech and Language Therapy
Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential
- An upper second class honours degree or higher in education, social care, psychology or other health related degree and/or a relevant Master's Degree
Desirable
- Further post graduate training or a doctoral degree in relevant areas of professional psychology, social care, education, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
Experience
Essential
- At least one year's experience working with vulnerable children and young people and their families in a health, education or social care setting
- Work with children and adolescents with mental health needs and/or other disabilities
- Formalised assessments of children with atypical development and/or acquired brain injury
Desirable
- Experience of paid work in direct care provision.
- Experience of working in NHS CAMHS
- Experience of research relevant to child and adolescent mental health
- Experience of cognitive assessments as part of a wider formulation of need
- Experience of rehabilitation
Skills & Abilities
Essential
- 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 patients, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance
- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities
- An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context
- An understanding of psychology applied to health care
- An understanding of current, evidence based, stepped care models of care as detailed in NICE guidance
Desirable
- Experience using databases or data-analysis, especially SPSS for Windows
- High standard of report writing
- Experience in interpreting neuropsychological assessment and report writing according to the reader's needs
- Experience of supporting collation of research data as part of routine service delivery
Knowledge and Understanding
Essential
- The needs of children with disabilities
- Multidisciplinary therapeutic approaches to intervention for children with disabilities
- Adaptations required for access to the curriculum for children with disabilities
Desirable
- The neuropsychological sequalae of paediatric ABI
- The impact of ABI on families including siblings
Personal
Essential
- An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines
- An ability to interact with people with mental health needs or other disabilities
- Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals
Desirable
- An interest in working with people with mental health needs or other disabilities
Physical Requirements
Essential
- Must have ability to travel across East of England and to remote communities
Other
Essential
- Positive approach
- Recognise peoples right to privacy and dignity, treating every person with respect
- Willingness to embrace integrated model and new ways of working
- Willingness to be flexible in approach and attitude
- Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively
Desirable
- A desire to explore a career in Professional Psychology, Occupational Therapy or Speech and Language Therapy
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.
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).
Additional information
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.
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).
