Assistant Psychologist - Eating Disorders Inpatient

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose:

To assist practitioner psychologists in the delivery of a specialist applied psychology service at the adult inpatient eating disorder service at the Maudsley Hospital.

To provide clinical work as required by the service, under the direct guidance, close clinical and professional supervision of a qualified psychological therapist.

To assist in clinically related administration, conduct of audits, organising weekly psychology meetings, chairing community weekly meetings on rotation bases, collection of statistics, development of audit and/or research projects, assisting in teaching and project work.

To support the role of PEACE pathway champion; co-ordinating and chairing weekly PEACE huddles, focussing on adaptations for patients with neurodiversity (this includes conducting and scoring self reported questionnaires, supporting team with case presentations (e.g preparing slides and circulating to multidisciplinary team); participating and supporting organisation of PEACE annual conference (for detailed information see www.peacepathway.org).

To work following clinical guidelines and the policies and procedures of the service, while closely supervised and regularly seeking help from clinical/professional supervisor or manager.

Relevant Information about the Trust and/or the area of work:

The Gerald Russel Eating Disorders unit is part of the South London Partnership (SLP), which comprises the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM), Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust (SWLSG). The SLP operates a single point of referral which prioritises local patients who are admitted either to Gerald Russel (SLaM) or Avalon (SWLSG), when there are available beds, national referrals can also be considered. The wider Eating Disorders Service, including outpatients, day services and an enhanced treatment team, provides a catchment area service for residents covered by Lambeth, Southwark & Lewisham, Croydon and Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley (population approximately 2 million).

The inpatient ward is an 18 bed all gender unit. Research underpins service protocols which are continuously reviewed and adapted according to new developments. Our service has pioneered treatments for eating disorders which are included in the NICE Guidelines, including the Maudsley Model of Anorexia Treatment for Adults (MANTRA) and the New Maudsley Model of collaborative care which involves sharing information and skills with supporters of people with eating disorders. In addition, the inpatient unit has developed its own novel adjunct therapies including Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT), Cognitive Remediation and Emotion Skills Training (CREST), and an evidence informed group therapy program. The ward is accredited with The Quality Network for Eating Disorders (QED) and became the first eating disorder service in the UK to also achieve accreditation with the National Autism Society as part of the PEACE pathway for patients with high autism traits alongside anorexia.

Key Responsibilities:

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

To provide psychological assessments for inpatients under the close supervision of a qualified psychological therapist including psychometrics, neuropsychological profiles and patient histories.

To provide protocol based (manualised) individual psychological interventions for inpatients including Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) and Cognitive Remediation Therapy and Emotion Skills Training (CREST), under close supervision.

To arrange, schedule and co-facilitate protocol based group psychological interventions for inpatients on topics including flexibility, emotion regulation, positive communication, body image, self-esteem, perfectionism, sensory wellbeing, and to contribute to virtual Carers Workshops.

To assist the psychological therapy team in the development/preparation of individual or group clinical materials or training materials.

To support patients to gain confidence in eating meals/snacks in the community and with their loved ones.

KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

To contribute to the effective working of the inpatient eating disorder service (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 patients).

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 the safe-keeping of databases of outcome data, SPSS licence update, preparing copies of outcome measures ready for admissions and discharges. The post holder will be responsible for informing the supervising psychologist or manager when stock requires replenishing (e.g. 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 assist/disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations or published articles co-authored with other clinical/research colleagues.

To support the role of PEACE pathway champion, co-ordinating and chairing weekly PEACE huddle (our pathway for patients with comorbid autism or autism spectrum traits) and to contribute case studies to discuss treatment adaptations within the team and wider ED service.

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 a qualified psychological therapy practitioner 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 assist submitting forms for service innovation projects to clinical governance committee.

To support ongoing co production work with the patients and families. 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 psychological therapist and the manager.

KR 9 General

To travel to Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience Kings College London and Maudsley hospital as well as other clinics as appropriate and across the Trust when required.

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, in particular distress around eating and feeding, trauma, deliberate self-harm as well as the interpersonal difficulties demonstrated by patients and to support others involved in such situations.

To work flexibly which may include offering some regular commitment to late working if appropriate, within the overall Job Plan.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• A degree in Psychology that is accredited by the British Psychological Society and confers the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership of the British Psychological Society. or Equivalent experience

Experience

Essential

• Graduate level knowledge of psychological research methodology and statistical analysis
• Good knowledge of SPSS and Excel

Desirable

• Academic research (ideally clinical-based, or relevant academic research setting)
• Academic research (ideally clinical-based, or relevant academic research setting)
• Experience of administering psychometric tests
• Experience of facilitating groups
• Experience of meal support
• Experience of delivering guided self-help interventions
• Experience of delivering CBT

Knowledge

Essential

• Research methods and report writing
• Proven experience using SPSS and/or other statistical software
• Post-graduate experience of conducting research projects or audits

Desirable

• Knowledge of psychological disorders including Eating Disorders

Skills

Essential

• Good communication skills (written and verbal)
• Ability to work in a team
• Excellent interpersonal skills (sensitivity and respect of ethical research and clinical practice)
• Skills in providing supporting teaching and training provided by psychologists or others to other professional groups
• Well-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data

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).

Employer details

Employer name

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Eating Disorders Inpatients

Maudsley Hospital

Denmark Hill

SE5 8AZ

Employer's website

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