Job summary
The Deaf Adult Community Team is part of a high-quality regional service for adults (18 years +) who are profoundly deaf and have significant difficulties with their mental health. You would be joining a well established multi-disciplinary team; currently consisting of Psychiatry, Psychology, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Speech & Language Therapy and Social work.
The role of the Assistant Psychologist is 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 qualified psychologist, working independently according to a plan agreed with a qualified psychologist and within the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures. The post holder will also assist in clinically related administration, conduct audits, collection of statistics, and development of audit and/or research projects, teaching and project work.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be based in the community team but will provide some input to the inpatient ward, Bluebell and receive clinical supervision and support from the Clinical/Counselling Psychologists within these teams.
You will need at least a 2:1 degree in Psychology, Level one BSL and good conversational skills in BSL, an understanding of the needs and difficulties of deaf people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities, experience of working with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities, and good research skills (including up to date I.T. skills). Experience of working with d/Deaf people would be valuable, but we recognise that not all applicants will have had this opportunity. Tailored induction and training will be provided to enable you to work effectively with this client group. Applications from people who are Deaf are strongly encouraged to apply and/or have personal experience of mental health difficulties.
About us
We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.
We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.
This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services.
We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.
We offer flexible working, career development and a variety ofbenefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.
Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- To undertake protocol based psychological assessments of clients applying psychological, 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.
- To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a clients problems.
- To work with other staff to assess outpatients, develop individualised intervention / treatment plans and review their care.
- To assist in the development of a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings where care takes place.
- To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- To undertake protocol based psychological assessments of clients applying psychological, 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.
- To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a clients problems.
- To work with other staff to assess outpatients, develop individualised intervention / treatment plans and review their care.
- To assist in the development of a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings where care takes place.
- To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- An upper second class honours degree or higher in psychology
- Eligible for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society
- British Sign Language Level 1
Desirable
- Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
- British Sign Language level 3+
- Post-qualification training in the field of psychological therapies
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities
Desirable
- Experience of paid work in direct care provision
- Experience of working with deaf people as colleagues and/or clients
- Experience of using computers for report writing, databases or data-analysis, especially SPSS for Windows
- The lived experience of being deaf
Skills & Knowledge
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
- Good conversational British Sign Language
- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of deaf people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities
- Knowledge of psychological assessment and behavioural analysis
- An understanding of psychology applied to health care
- An ability to interact effectively with people from different cultural and professional backgrounds
- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of deaf people
- Ability to work independently, creatively, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals
- Basic IT skills
Desirable
- An understanding of mental health and its relationship with deafness
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- An upper second class honours degree or higher in psychology
- Eligible for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society
- British Sign Language Level 1
Desirable
- Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
- British Sign Language level 3+
- Post-qualification training in the field of psychological therapies
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities
Desirable
- Experience of paid work in direct care provision
- Experience of working with deaf people as colleagues and/or clients
- Experience of using computers for report writing, databases or data-analysis, especially SPSS for Windows
- The lived experience of being deaf
Skills & Knowledge
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
- Good conversational British Sign Language
- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of deaf people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities
- Knowledge of psychological assessment and behavioural analysis
- An understanding of psychology applied to health care
- An ability to interact effectively with people from different cultural and professional backgrounds
- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of deaf people
- Ability to work independently, creatively, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals
- Basic IT skills
Desirable
- An understanding of mental health and its relationship with deafness
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).
