Assistant Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose

The principal purpose of the role is to improve the psychological health & wellbeing of people in receipt of services by Devon Partnership Trust Memory Service. This will be achieved in this post by:

Providing a Psychology and Psychological Therapies service to the Devon Memory Service as a key component of integrated mental health and wellbeing services in Devon Partnership Trust.

Implement specific assessment and psychological interventions and provide advice and consultancy to patients, family members, carers and professionals under the supervision and management of the Clinical Psychologist.

The post holder will be line managed by the Psychology and Psychological Therapies Professional Lead and supported by senior colleagues within the local Older Adults Psychology team. The post holder will be expected:

to make good use of the expertise of others within the service to further develop their knowledge and clinical skills with this client group

to work independently within a defined managed and occupational context.

to work within professional guidelines and Devon Partnership Trust procedures and protocols.

The post holder will receive regular professional and clinical supervision in accordance with Trust policy and to Professional Practice Guidelines set out by the British Psychological Society.

Duties and Responsibilities

Communication and Working Relationship Skills

Clients, family and carers

To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner with clients who may have specific difficulties in understanding and/or communicating and who may be hostile, antagonistic or highly emotionally disturbed.

Multidisciplinary team colleagues

To work closely with colleagues in the multi-professional integrated mental health and wellbeing service on a day to day basis.

Health & social care staff

To communicate with a wide range of health & social care staff in hospital and in community settings in a skilled and sensitive manner, complex and sensitive information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under the services care. To provide support & guidance in the application of psychological principles and techniques and to foster reflective practice.

Senior managers & professional staff

To maintain and build good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers in Devon Partnership Trust. To foster a positive approach to the integrated mental health and wellbeing service and to enable effective negotiation.

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

The post-holder will recognise own clinical competencies, knowledge base and experience, and practice within this, acting as a positive role model, and seek support as required.

To make informed and well-reasoned decisions, recognising when to seek further advice from a registered practitioner.

To take part and be aware of Health and Safety matters as appropriate.

The post holder will present punctually for duty in a professional manner, correctly dressed according to Trust Policy.

Planning and Organisational Skills

The psychology and psychological therapies service

To plan and prioritise own workload, balancing the demands of patient care, support and guidance of carers and professionals, service research and development activities.

The multidisciplinary service

To provide psychology knowledge to the multi-professional planning, development and marketing of mental health and wellbeing services.

Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy

Assessment & intervention

To undertake assessments, and deliver treatment plans within a supervised context for individuals, carers, families and groups. To demonstrate awareness of diversity issues.

Consultation & guidance

To provide advice, guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of patient care to colleagues, other service providers, patients, supporters and families.

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development Implementation

The post holder is responsible for their own professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines, working within clearly defined occupational procedures.

Policy & service

To follow policy guidance in own role and to comment on proposed policy changes and service developments.

Research and Development

To undertake service-relevant research and development activity agreed within the psychology service. To organise personal or service led research and development activities, as required.

Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources

Careful use of equipment.

Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g. Supervision, Training, HR Advice and

Management

Leadership & supervision

To assist the work of less experienced assistants and/or trainees as required.

To provide supervision to health and social care colleagues relevant to their role under the supervision of a qualified psychologist.

Responsibility for Information Resources and Administrative Duties

To maintain accurate records in accordance with professional and local guidelines and policies.

To be responsible for using an email account to generate, monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by which the Trust conducts much of its internal communication.

Develop and maintain information systems as required including relevant and accurate notes on electronic care records.

Ensure information resources including the Intranet are consulted regularly to maintain a current knowledge of Trust, Directorate and Team priorities and safety initiatives.

Ensure information is shared with key stakeholders and other agencies in a secure manner.

Responsibility for Research and Development

To take part in research projects and audit when required to do so.

Freedom to Act

To work within the Trust operational policies and service specifications of the teams.

To organise and take responsibility for own work and caseload under the guidance of a Clinical Psychologist and within standard protocols.

Any Other Specific Tasks Required

To ensure all clinical care and treatment provided by psychologists is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership.

To ensure that all psychologists continuously update the skills and techniques relevant to their clinical work.

Review of this Job Description

This job description is intended as an outline indicator of general areas of activity and will be amended in the light of changing service needs. This job description is to be reviewed in conjunction with the post holder on an annual basis.

Person Specification

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Essential

• Personal: An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines and with people with mental health problems.
• Excellent verbal, nonverbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to integrate complex data; make evaluations formulations and decisions.
• Organisation and time management skills.
• Ability to work independently within defined occupational procedures and use initiative within the service setting.
• Ability to work as a member of a clinical team.
• Ability to tolerate ambiguity, and maintain own morale and motivation in challenging service delivery contexts.
• Able to travel/drive
• A DBS Check will be required for this role.

Desirable

• Clinical placement and/or supervised practise in mental health services or working with older people, people with dementia, or people with complex mental health needs.
• Further training in an Older Adults clinical setting
• Basic knowledge of Dementia
• Basic knowledge/experience of neuropsychological assessments
• Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients, carers and colleagues.
• Small -scale project management.
• Able to remain in, concentrate on and carry out cognitive assessments over prolonged periods of time.
• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively

Experience

Essential

• Experience, and/or training in diversity awareness and social inequality

Desirable

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
• Experience gained during supervised training of working In Older Peoples Mental Health Services
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.

Qualifications

Essential

• BA or BSc in Psychology (recognised by the British Psychological Society)
• Eligible for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society

Desirable

• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
• IT Skills

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

Devon Partnership NHS Trust

Address

North Devon District Hospital

Raleigh Park

Barnstaple

Devon

EX31 4JB

Employer's website

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