Assistant Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

To provide psychological assessments for clients in the adult acute psychology inpatient services under the close supervision of a practitioner psychologist including development and implementation of the trauma informed approach within KC acute and urgent care mental health services

To provide protocol based individual psychological interventions for clients in the KC acute and urgent care mental health services including trauma informed approach

To arrange, schedule and provide protocol based group psychological interventions for clients in the adult acute psychology inpatient services including trauma informed approach interventions.

To assist the psychologists in the development of individual or group clinical materials or training materials.

KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

To contribute to the effective working of the KC acute and urgent care mental health services by registering new referrals; creating databases to track processes or progress through pathways and keeping them up-to-date; contributing to the training and support of other staff in developing and providing psychological care of clients

To act in a manner that supports a psychologically informed framework for the service.

To participate in the team or services delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.

KR 3 Policy and service development

To follow policies and procedures in own area of work

To participate in the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

KR 4 Care or management of resources

To take care of, and use carefully, the Trusts equipment and physical resources.

To ensure that the post holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting supplies as needed.

To be responsible for safe-keeping of equipment or stock provided to the post holder and informing the supervising psychologist or manager when stock requires replenishing may apply to psychometric tests, specialised stationery etc

KR 5 Teaching and Training

To participate in demonstrating work methods to newly recruited Assistant Psychologists and to support their development of necessary skills.

To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations or published articles.

To (arrange, schedule and) co-facilitate training to employees of the Trust or employees of partner agencies in order to support service improvement

KR 6 Record-keeping and Information Governance

To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.

Under the supervision of the practitioner psychologist to maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

To maintain data bases and enter data, and perform analyses and produce reports.

KR 7 Research and development

To assist in the design and implementation of audit and research projects to inform the service Psychologist and others in the development of Trust psychology and other services, training provision and research activities.

To undertake data collection, analysis, the production of reports and summaries, using IT and statistical programmes

To undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research to assist in the development in the Trust of evidence based practice.

Under guidance to conduct surveys with service users and carers to gather views on service provision

KR 8 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

To receive regular clinical and professional supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines

To gain wider experience of professional psychology within the NHS over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post-holder is employed.

To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties.

To undertake personal training relevant to the post in agreement with the supervising psychologist and the manager.

KR 9 General

To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management

To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations, such as challenging behaviour, abuse etc and to support others involved in such situations.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• A First-class or Upper-second-class Bachelors degree with Honours in Psychology that is accredited by the British Psychological Society and confers the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership of the British Psychological Society.

Desirable

• Further training/s in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis

Knowledge

Essential

• Graduate level knowledge of psychological research methodology and statistical analysis.
• Awareness of racial and diversity issues through attendance of relevant training.
• Good theoretical knowledge of the problems experienced by and needs of clients with adult acute & urgent care mental health service needs, and of methods of assessment and treatment

Desirable

• Knowledge and awareness of the trauma informed approach. An understanding of mental health law as applied to inpatient settings.

Experience

Essential

• Sufficient experience of psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs in acute and urgent care mental health settings to be able to work clinically with close direct supervision.
• Experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities. This may have been gained through work, research, volunteering and / or lived experience.

Desirable

• Work with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities in an inpatient, PICU or Forensics setting
• Experience of group work
• Experience of conducting research projects or audits

Abilities

Essential

• Ability to make warm interpersonal connections with distressed individuals
• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, participating in effective team functioning and holding team roles.
• Ability to identify and follow relevant clinical governance procedures.
• Ability to be in the presence of emotionally stressful situations such as patients, family members or staff who are distressed by present or past events.
• Ability to communicate complex, sensitive or contentious information to people who may have impediments to understanding.

Desirable

• oAbility to manage verbal abuse and hostility directed at self. oAbility to manage physical aggression directed at self, including use of physical interventions as prescribed by Trust policies. oAbility to regulate emotions and maintain resilience while working in a highly emotive environment.

Skills

Essential

• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills including communicating complex, information to colleagues.
• Well-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data.
• Skills in relevant psychological assessment and interventions that enable working as a pre-qualified practitioner with close clinical supervision
• Skills in providing supporting teaching and training provided by psychologists or others to other professional groups

Desirable

• Experience of working within a multicultural framework

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).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

St Charles Hospital Mental Health Centre

Exmoor Street, Kensington & Chelsea

London

W10 6DZ

Employer's website

https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work (Opens in a new tab)