Assistant Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

To provide psychological assessments for clients at ARC-MK under the close supervision of a practitioner psychologist including to apply psychological 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 provide protocol based individual psychological interventions for clients attending ARC-MK, including cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and third-wave CBT interventions.

To arrange, schedule and provide protocol-based group psychological interventions for clients referred to the Recovery Day Programme.

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

To encourage clients at ARC-MK to receive appropriate follow up treatment and support for their needs (i.e. health education, blood borne virus testing and harm minimisation approaches)

KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

To contribute to the effective working of the Recovery Day Programme (RDP) within ARC-MK by e.g., screening and 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.

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.

To adhere to all Addictions service data recording policies

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 travel for home visits, community placements, psychology meetings 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, such as challenging behaviour, verbal abuse and aggression and to support others involved in such situations.

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

Person Specification

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Essential

• Graduate level knowledge of psychological research methodology and statistical analysis
• Good theoretical knowledge of the problems experienced by and needs of adults of working age and older adults who experience problems associated with alcohol and substance use and of methods of assessment and treatment.
• Awareness of racial and diversity issues through attendance of relevant training.
• Skills in relevant psychological assessment and interventions that enable working as a pre-qualified practitioner with close clinical supervision.
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills including communicating complex, information to clients, families and colleagues.
• Skills in providing supporting teaching and training provided by psychologists or others to other professional groups.
• Skills in providing supporting teaching and training provided by psychologists or others to other professional groups.

TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS

Essential

• A First-class or Upper-second-class Bachelor's 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.

EXPERIENCE

Essential

• Sufficient post-graduate experience of psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs relating to adult mental health to be able to work clinically with close direct supervision.
• Post-graduate experience of conducting research projects or audits
• 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

• The Trust encourages and welcomes applications from people with lived experience of mental health challenges. We see this as valuable and recognise the positive impact this experience can have on the work we do.
• Experience of working within an addictions service.

OTHER

Essential

• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.

Desirable

• A desire to explore a career in Professional Psychology

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

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

ARC-MK

33-37 Farthing Grove

Netherfield, Milton Keynes

MK6 4JH

Employer's website

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