Job responsibilities
CONTEXT
An exciting opportunity has arisen within Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for a highly motivated, compassionate and enthusiastic Assistant Psychologist to work in our Cared for Childrens CAMHS team and our Adoption Psychology team. We are seeking someone with an interest in developing therapeutic skills and supporting the teams in their functioning.
MFT CAMHS provides two targeted services to support the emotional and behavioural needs of children and young people looked after by Manchester City Council (CAMHS LAC) and those placed for adoption (Adoption Psychology Service).
CAMHS LAC is a well established multi-disciplinary team of staff based across the three Manchester CAMHS bases offering assessment, intervention, consultation and training. Extra funding has now been secured to develop an Intensive Support Team to support high risk young people in residential care. The Assistant Psychologist will be working as part of CAMHS LAC and the Intensive Support Team-Residential (IST-R) and will support with undertaking assessments, delivering interventions and supporting the work and evaluation of the team.
The Adoption Psychology Service is a multi-disciplinary service commissioned by the Regional Adoption Agency, Adoption Counts and offers a targeted regional service to families, their children and the system supporting them. The assistant will offer a range of support to the team.
JOB PURPOSE
This post involves working for the Regional Adoption Psychology Service (0.4wte) and CAMHS LAC (0.6 wte) to support the teams in service provision. You will be based in a CAMHs service where
there is a small group of assistant psychologists working for a range of services. The base is North Manchester but there is an expectation that the applicant can travel to other clinics and to be able to offer home visits. For the IST-R role, the post holder will be involved clinically with high risk young people and their carers, under the supervision of a Senior Clinical Psychologist and will be given appropriate supervision to enable the successful performance of clinical and other duties. In both roles, the post holder will be expected to manage databases, develop new systems as required, analyse information and present results to the clinical team. The post holder will also be expected to assist the teams in the preparation, instigation and evaluation of a variety of clinical, teaching and research tasks.
KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITES
Assistance with clinical tasks:
1. Under supervision from a Senior Clinical Psychologist, the post holder will be expected to assist the teams in implementing psychological interventions. This will include using a variety of assessment procedures to collect relevant data, analysis of data, undertaking clinical interventions with others and evaluating interventions as required. This may be with the young person directly or with the staff team.
2. In undertaking these duties, the post holder will be expected to communicate sensitive information with children, families and parent groups both verbally and in writing.
3.The post holder will also be expected to liaise with other professionals such as school teachers and social workers in arranging meetings, gathering information and undertaking assessments and interventions.
Clinical governance and research
1.The post holder will be expected to assist qualified Clinical Psychologists in undertaking teaching and training. This will include the production of relevant literature and contributing to training initiatives under supervision.
2.The post holder will also assist clinical psychologists in undertaking clinical research. This will include undertaking literature searches relevant to particular projects and the preparation and presentation of summaries and reports.
3. To have an awareness of local and national policy and its impact on the development of services for children.
Administrative:
1. To undertake administrative duties appropriate to the tasks, including use of IT.
2. To ensure appropriate communication with patients, parents/carers, referrers and professionals from other statutory and non-statutory agencies involved in work with children.
3. To comply with service standards and practices to ensure that safe practices are maintained at all times.
4. To keep activity data and other information relating to CAMHS as required.
5. To gather the required data and outcomes and support the Senior Clinical Psychologist to produce an annual report.
Infection Control
It is a requirement for all staff to comply with all infection control policies and procedures as set out in the Trusts Infection Control manual.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
The Trust has a statutory responsibility to provide and maintain a healthy and safe environment for its staff to work in. You equally have a responsibility to ensure that you do nothing to jeopardize the health and safety to either yourself or of anybody else. The Trusts Health and Safety Policies outline your responsibilities regarding Health & Safety at Work.
The post holder must not willingly endanger him/herself or others whilst at work. Safe working practices and safety precautions must be adhered to. Protective clothing and equipment must be used where appropriate.
All accidents/incidents must be reported to your Senior Manager and documented as per Trust Policy, including the reporting of potential hazards.
SAFEGUARDING
Ensure that the policy and legislation relating to child protection and Safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults are adhered to. It is the responsibility of all staff to report any concerns to the identified person within your department/division or area of responsibility.
SECURITY
The post holder has a responsibility to ensure the preservation of NHS property and resources.
CONFIDENTIALITY
The post holder is required to maintain confidentiality at all times in all aspects of their work.
TEAM BRIEFING
The Trust operates a system of Team Briefing, which is based on the principles that people will be more committed to their work if they fully understand the reason behind what is happening in their organisation and how it is performing.
NO SMOKING POLICY
The Trust operates a no smoking control policy, which applies to all staff, patients and visitors and extends to the hospital grounds as well as internal areas.
THE TRUST IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYER
This job description indicates the main functions of the post holder and may be subject to regular review and amendment in the light of service development. Any review will be undertaken in conjunction with the post holder and in line with Trust policy.
