Assistant Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

JOB SUMMARY

This job description is an outline of the main duties of the post. The postholder will be required to undertake other duties commensurate with the grade as directed.

The content of this post will be reviewed in consultation with the postholder when necessary and in line with the service developments.

To support and enhance the professional psychological care of clients within the service, across all sectors of care; providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions under the supervision of a HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist, working independently according to a plan agreed with a HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist and within the overall framework of the teams policies and procedures. To assist in clinically related administration, conduct of audits, collection of statistics, and development of audit and / or research projects, teaching and project work.

KEY RESULT AREAS:

Clinical:

1. To undertake protocol based psychological assessments of clients applying psychological theory, including neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care.

2. To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and / or management of a clients problems, under the supervision of a HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist.

3. To assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups or clinical projects.

4. To work with other staff to assess community patients and review their care in preparation for multi-disciplinary reviews.

5. To assist in the development of a psychological based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings where care takes place.

6. To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.

7. To respect diversity. To treat everyone with dignity and respect and act in ways that acknowledge and recognise peoples expressed beliefs, preferences and choices.

IT responsibilities (clinical)

1. To use highly developed IT skills.

2. To access knowledge through Internet searches (e.g. Psych.Lit, Medline) to keep up to date with clinical and professional development

3. For the preparation and presentation of materials of effective teaching and training (e.g. power point, graphic representations) to record and analyse data for research and audit (e.g. databases, spreadsheets, statistical analysis packages e.g. SPPS).

4. To create graphs or charts to collate or summarise data on individual interventions or treatment programmes.

5. To assist in producing visual or material or user friendly information for interventions with clients.

Teaching, training and supervision

1. In common with all HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologists, to receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines.

2. 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.

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

4. To contribute to the training and support of other staff, working within the Service in psychological care.

Management, recruitment and service development

1. To assist in the design and implementation of service development projects with the service as required.

2. To attend meetings in which service developments are planned and discussed.

Research and service evaluation

1. To assist in the design and implementation of audit and research projects.

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

3. To undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research to assist HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologists in evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

Trust Values:

The Trust is committed to ensuring the highest standards of care and treatment and expects that all staff treat people e.g, service users, their carers, relatives, friends, colleagues, visitors etc, with dignity and respectat all time. The post holder must all time act in accordance with the Trusts Values:

Honest, open, transparent

Respectful

Person first and in the centre

Improve and be outstanding

Relevant today, ready for tomorrow

Families and carers matter

Safeguarding:

Report any concerns regarding the safety or wellbeing of children, adults service users, members of their families etc, in accordance with Trust Policy.

Prevent and respond appropriately to abuse and understand own role in this by undertaking Safeguarding training.

Trust policies and commitments to be read in line with the relevant Trust Policy:

All staff employed by the Trust must comply with the Trusts policies and procedures, undertake appropriate training required for their role and commit to:

ensure they are aware of the Whistleblowing Policy and how they raise concerns;

maintain confidentiality, in line with the Trusts Confidentiality Policy and Code of Conduct;

understand their personal responsibilities with regards to data quality for any information which they create, use or process in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and Trust Data Protection policy;

comply with the provisions of The Trusts Health and Safety Policy and Protocol. Ensuring their own safety and that of colleagues, service users and visitors. Know the action to be taken in the event of a fire and must undertake fire training annually;

receive supervision in line with the Trusts Supervision Policy and an annual Appraisal in line with the Trusts Appraisal Policy, during which mandatory, role specific and personal development needs should be identified and agreed;

understand their responsibilities under the Trusts Equal Opportunities in Employment Policy and ensure that they adhere to the provisions of the policy;

recognise, respect and support the equality diversity of staff, colleagues, service users, carers and the public. Contribute to a working environment which promotes and responds positively to difference and diversity;

ensure they carry out their duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under the age of 18 years, as issued under Section 11 of The Children Act 2004, by being familiar with and adhering to Trust safeguarding policies and participatingin relevanttraining;

comply with their professional responsibilities to develop their practice and deliver care through a Clinical Governance framework (i.e. CPD, Audit, Supervision);

demonstrate, through practice and practical understanding, the importance of the continual development of individual, team and service wide quality improvement;

abide by relevant codes of professional practice, with the organisation taking action when codes of conduct are breached;

work flexibly to meet the needs of the service/organisation, whilst working within a culture of progressive employment practices and commitment to the Investors in People (IiP) Standards.

adhere to the Trusts smoke free policies, which prohibits smoking anywhere on Trust grounds;

being socially responsible by complying with measures that support the Trust in reducing or offsetting our environmental impact;

Identify and report risks, hazards, incidents, accidents and near misses promptly;

In addition to the Trusts own responsibilities under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance, for your safety, ALL staff (and contractors) are responsible for ensuring their work adheres to this Code in the delivery of safe patient care.

This job description is an outline of the main duties of the post. The postholder will be required to undertake other duties commensurate with the band as directed. The content of this post will be reviewed in consultation with the postholder when necessary and in line with the service developments.

For full details of the role please see the supporting documents attached,

Person Specification

TRAINING

Desirable

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

Experience

Essential

• Practical experience of working with people with mental health problems and/or learning disabilities and/or psychological/behavioural/ neurological problems.

Desirable

• Experience of paid work in direct care provision, particularly in the care group of the specialty of this post.
• Experience of administering and scoring neuropsychological assessments.

SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS

Essential

• 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.
• Ability to communicate information which may be perceived as contentious to patients, carers and colleagues in a manner that promotes understanding and acceptance.
• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and/or other disabilities.
• An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to health and social service contexts.
• An understanding of psychology applied to health care.

Desirable

• Experience using computers for databases or data-analysis.
• Experience using microcomputers for databases or data analysis especially SPSS for Windows.
• High standard of report writing.

Qualifications

Essential

• An Honours degree in Psychology (2:1).
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society.

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

Essential

• An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines.
• An ability to interact effectively with people with mental health problems or learning disabilities.
• Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals.
• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
• Able to travel throughout the catchment area, without unnecessary delays.
• A current driving licence and access to a car during the working day is essential (reasonable adjustments will be considered for any applicants who are unable to drive due to a disability).

Desirable

• An interest in working with people with mental health problems.
• A desire to explore a career in Professional Psychology.

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES

Essential

• Ability to undertake the duties and demands of the post. A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to the need to act with fairness and equality of opportunity, particularly where the sickness is related to a disability and/or pregnancy).

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

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust

Address

New Street Health Centre

Upper New Street

Barnsley

S70 1LP

Employer's website

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