Job summary
A Senior Assistant Psychologist for the Primary Mental Health Treatment Requirement Team provides low-intensity (usually CBT-informed) interventions for service users who have been court ordered to take up mental health treatment as part of their community sentence. We work with low mood, anxiety, emotional dysregulation, sleep problems, and other symptoms of psychological distress.
Our work is all about being adaptable, responsive, and caring in working with a population that is often overlooked. We are passionate about being inclusive and are constantly looking for ways to improve our diversity and our accessibility, both in how we increase our referrals from under-served populations and in how we offer our interventions in different ways to accommodate different need.
Main duties of the job
You will assist with presentations to different teams to help them to understand our work, why they would refer a service user to us, and how to complete a referral
You will manage the admin of referrals, including passing them on for screening to the Clinical Lead, completing screening assessments, liaising with various court-related personnel and probation staff, and tracking the data associated with the referrals
You will assess if service users are likely to benefit from our service and support them in completing risk assessments
You will complete 12-week programmes of one-to-one interventions based on the specific needs and goals of each service user with our more complex service users
You will support and facilitate our Emotional Coping Skills Group.
You will audit our data and prepare for service evaluations
You will complete Risk Assessments for all service users given a PMHTR
You will assist in court screenings, including completing assessments on the day and making decisions as to who can access a PMHTR
About us
Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is an outstanding organisation with ambitions to match. We are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from the Care Quality Commission, and our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services in the country.
Our family of over 4000 members of staff provide health and social care for over 400,000 people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. We also deliver a range of nationally commissioned specialist services including Tier 4 services for children and young people, perinatal services, plus medium and low secure learning disabilities services.
The care we provide makes a fantastic difference to the lives of our service users, their families and carers - everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout:
Our Trust values are:
Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional.
These values are at the core of who we are, everything we do, and how we do it!
Would you like to be part of the HPFT family? Would you like work with us to ensure our service users live the fullest lives possible they can? Would you like to be supported in your career to be the best that you can be?
Then please read on...
Job description
Job responsibilities
The core work of an AP in the PMHTR is delivering low-intensity psycho-educational interventions for service users who are under a community-based court order.
The senior assistant psychologist, can expect to have approximately 10 service users on your personal caseload who will be seen weekly or fortnightly, in sessions that are held in-person, by video, or by telephone (depending on the needs and preferences of the service user and our service). These will be slightly more complex than those seen by our Band 4 APs
This work will primarily be CBT-based, with future development possible in adding elements of ACT, CFT, and DBT-based interventions.
In addition to the one-to-one working, we are also in the process of developing our DBT-informed skills group for Emotional Coping Skills. This is a six week protocol with a rolling admission that is currently being administered virtually.
In the future, we will seek to develop a hybrid running of this group, which you would be a part of. We are very excited about our group programme, as it is the first of its kind, and we would be particularly interested to hear from candidates who value group working.
In order to ensure that the right service users--and as many as possible--are being referred into our service, we have to work consistently to ensure that other teams in Probation and Liaison and Diversion services understand who we are and what we do.
Therefore, part of your role will be in making presentations about our work and having useful conversations with our colleagues.
The Senior Assistant Psychologist will also complete our Risk Assessments, screen and assess service users in court, and provide next level peer supervision for the other APs
We have recently added a Peer Support Worker to our team and are currently developing a Support Clinic which will provide access to the peer support worker for practical, casual support, as well as an AP for additional skills work.
For a more detailed description, please see attached JD and PS.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The core work of an AP in the PMHTR is delivering low-intensity psycho-educational interventions for service users who are under a community-based court order.
The senior assistant psychologist, can expect to have approximately 10 service users on your personal caseload who will be seen weekly or fortnightly, in sessions that are held in-person, by video, or by telephone (depending on the needs and preferences of the service user and our service). These will be slightly more complex than those seen by our Band 4 APs
This work will primarily be CBT-based, with future development possible in adding elements of ACT, CFT, and DBT-based interventions.
In addition to the one-to-one working, we are also in the process of developing our DBT-informed skills group for Emotional Coping Skills. This is a six week protocol with a rolling admission that is currently being administered virtually.
In the future, we will seek to develop a hybrid running of this group, which you would be a part of. We are very excited about our group programme, as it is the first of its kind, and we would be particularly interested to hear from candidates who value group working.
In order to ensure that the right service users--and as many as possible--are being referred into our service, we have to work consistently to ensure that other teams in Probation and Liaison and Diversion services understand who we are and what we do.
Therefore, part of your role will be in making presentations about our work and having useful conversations with our colleagues.
The Senior Assistant Psychologist will also complete our Risk Assessments, screen and assess service users in court, and provide next level peer supervision for the other APs
We have recently added a Peer Support Worker to our team and are currently developing a Support Clinic which will provide access to the peer support worker for practical, casual support, as well as an AP for additional skills work.
For a more detailed description, please see attached JD and PS.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- A first or upper second-class honours degree in Psychology
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable
- Further post-graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working with people with physical or mental health problems who may at times have the potential to respond to staff with hostility and aggression. Being able to respond to hostility and aggression in a professional manner
- Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
- Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients, carers, and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance.
- Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in reports, letters, and other health correspondence to service users and their referrers
- Ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to mental health context.
Desirable
- Experience of working in forensic mental health services.
- Experience of working with offenders, including people who may have committed violent and/or sexual offences.
- Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.
- Demonstrable experience within a mental health setting.
- Understanding of current NHS/Social Care policies and practices relating to mental health.
- High standard of reporting writing.
Knowledge
Essential
- An understanding of psychology applied to adult mental health problems.
- An understanding of knowledge of personality issues.
Desirable
- An understanding of the criminal justice system
- An interest in developing a career as a professional psychologist
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- A first or upper second-class honours degree in Psychology
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable
- Further post-graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working with people with physical or mental health problems who may at times have the potential to respond to staff with hostility and aggression. Being able to respond to hostility and aggression in a professional manner
- Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.
- Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients, carers, and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance.
- Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in reports, letters, and other health correspondence to service users and their referrers
- Ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to mental health context.
Desirable
- Experience of working in forensic mental health services.
- Experience of working with offenders, including people who may have committed violent and/or sexual offences.
- Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.
- Demonstrable experience within a mental health setting.
- Understanding of current NHS/Social Care policies and practices relating to mental health.
- High standard of reporting writing.
Knowledge
Essential
- An understanding of psychology applied to adult mental health problems.
- An understanding of knowledge of personality issues.
Desirable
- An understanding of the criminal justice system
- An interest in developing a career as a professional psychologist
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).
