Job summary
Assistant Psychologist Early Interventions (FREED) pathway
We are looking for a skilled
and enthusiastic assistant psychologist to join our team of supportive and experienced clinicians in the Community Eating Disorders Service
for Adults (CEDS). The FREED pathway is for young adults 18 - 25 years to enable rapid access to treatment to prevent the eating disorder
becoming more severe and/or chronic. This post is based in Exeter but will require travel to Mid and North Devon and so own transport is required
The Assistant Psychologist will work within in
a mini team with other qualified mental health staff to track referrals and
conduct engagement calls and offer assessments and initial psychological
interventions to young people with eating disorders. These processes will be
supported by a qualified clinical psychologist and other colleagues in the wider
CEDS service.
The successful candidate will have a specific interest
and passion for working with young people suffering from eating
disorders and their families/ carers. You will need to be able to work flexibly
within an MDT, and have well developed interpersonal skills and experience of
working within an eating disorder service would be highly desirable.
A degree in psychology is essential to this post and experience of working with
individuals with eating disordered presentations or within other
specialities and excited by the prospect of transferring their skills to an
eating disorder service is highly desirable.
Main duties of the job
To
contribute to the provision of a psychological therapy service within the
Eating Disorders Service under the management of the Lead Clinical Psychologist
for CEDS
To
contribute to the Early Interventions (FREED) service within CEDS: To assist in
clinically related administration, including tracking of referrals, collection
of relevant data, and development and reporting of the evaluation for this
service
To
provide structured assessments and psychological interventions under the
supervision of a qualified professional Clinical Psychologist or psychological therapist; working
independently according to a plan agreed with a qualified Clinical
Psychologist, and within the overall framework of the teams policies and
procedures
To liaise
appropriately and carry out joint tasks with other services including the
University, IAPT, CAHMS and the wider CEDS and Mental Health Service in DPT
About us
About Devon Partnership Trust
We provide mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services, as well as a range of specialist & secure services for the wider south west region & nationally. We are passionate about promoting good mental health & wellbeing. We strive to use the expertise & resources within our organisation, and through our partnerships, to deliver high quality services that are safe & focused on people's recovery.
We are committed to developing a culture of coproduction, involving patients, families & carers in everything we do
Our values
We not only recruit based on qualifications & experience - we recruit individuals who possess & demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. These include such attributes as showing a commitment to quality of care, improving lives of others, giving respect, dignity & compassion. We can bring those values to life in our everyday tasks by giving a smile; making time for people; challenging ourselves & others, & being open to new ideas.
We are committed to being an inclusive employer & applications are encouraged & welcomed from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics as governed by the Equality Act 2010. Part time & flexible working applications will be considered & supported, where possible. We particularly encourage applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions, neurodiversity or learning disabilities. We are a Disability Confident Leader.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical Activities
-
To contribute to the provision of a
Psychology service to the Eating Disorders Team.
- To undertake protocol based
psychological assessments of clients, including the use of 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, under the supervision of a qualified
professional Clinical Psychologist, in both community and
in-patient/residential settings.
- To maintain an appropriate caseload for psychological interventions with individual clients, and carers, in a variety of locations, under the supervision of a qualified professional Clinical Psychologist.
-
To provide information regarding the
service and eating disorders to parents and carers in a sensitive and
informative way where they be psychological barriers to understanding.
-
To assist in the running of
therapeutic groups for clients and/or carers.
-
To work with staff to assess clients
in a variety of settings and review their care in preparation for multi-disciplinary
reviews.
-
To assist in the development of a
psychologically based framework of understanding/care to the benefit of all
clients of he of the service, across all settings where care takes place.
-
To attend and contribute to
appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.
-
To Liaise and work closely with other
services within the wider mental health service.
Management and Personal
Development
-
To receive regular clinical
supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines.
-
To receive appropriate managerial
supervision by the named CEDs professional in the locality
-
To contribute to the training and
support of other staff involved with psychological care.
-
To undertake compulsory and statutory
training relevant to the post and attend Continuing Professional Development
s as appropriate to the post.
Strategic Development,
Planning and Organising
-
To assist with the design, and
routinely contribute to the implementation of service audit and service
evaluation.
-
Contribute to local and national
research projects under the supervision of a Clinical Psychologist.
-
To undertake searches of
evidence-based literature and research to assist qualified Clinical Psychologists/Team
in monitoring developments in evidence based practice.
-
To utilise clinical outcome assessment
tools.
-
To contribute to the recording of
clinical data using the Electronic Patient Health Records software, and the
recording of clinical activity data using the Integrated Care System.
-
To be responsible for using a NHS
e-mail account to generate, monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by
which the Trust conducts much of its internal communication.
-
To maintain keyboard skills to Royal
Society of Arts (RSA) 1 standard, or above, and general computer literacy
skills to European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) standard, or above.
-
To utilise computerised programmes for
the purposes of service audit and research, including the use of databases and
the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).
-
To maintain and develop databases
relevant to appropriate audit and evaluation of the service.
Communication
and Working Relationship Skills
- Team colleagues: To work closely with colleagues in the CEDs team
and attend MDT meetings
- Senior managers &
professional staff: To maintain and
build good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers
in the CEDs team and to enable effective negotiation.
- Clients, family and
carers: To communicate in a skilled
and sensitive manner with clients who may have specific difficulties in
understand and/or communicating and who may be distressed.
Analytical and
Judgemental Skills
- Solid analytic and judgement skills will be
necessary relative to the need to carry out research into patient
experience and therapeutic effectiveness.
Planning
and Organisational Skills
- To plan and
prioritise own workload with the help of management supervision.
Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment
and Therapy
- Consultation &
guidance: To provide valuable feedback to individual clinicians and to CEDs
management concerning patient experience of services as well as therapeutic
outcomes.
Responsibility
for Policy and Service Development Implementation
- Policy &
service To follow policy guidance in own role and to
comment on proposed policy changes and service developments.
Responsibility
for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources
Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g. Supervision,
Training, HR Advice and Management
- To assist the work of less experienced assistants &/or trainees as
required.
Responsibility
for Information Resources and Administrative Duties
- To
maintain accurate records
- To be
responsible for the management and maintenance of a database.
- To be
responsible for using an email account to generate, monitor, and respond to
the e-mail traffic by which the Trust conducts much of its internal
communication.
Responsibility
for Research and Development
- R & D: To undertake
service-relevant research as indicated above and development activity agreed
within the service.
Freedom
to Act
- The post holder is accountable for their own
professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional
Practice Guidelines.
- In a supervised context, to work within clinical
professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the governance of
practice.
Any
Other Specific Tasks Required
- To ensure that all
psychologists continuously update the skills and techniques relevant to their
clinical work.
General Information
Equality &
Diversity
Devon Partnership
NHS Trust is committed to recruiting and supporting a diverse workforce and so
we welcome applications from all sections of the community regardless of age,
disability, sex, race, religion or sexual orientation, maternity/pregnancy,
marriage/civil partnership or transgender status. The Trust expects all staff
to behave in a way which recognises and respects this diversity in line with
the appropriate standards.
Recovery
It is a
requirement of all employees to have an understanding of the broad principles
of the Recovery Approach and to incorporate them into every aspect of their
work in support of the Trusts aim to provide services that support peoples
recovery through being holistic and promoting social inclusion, self
management, personal autonomy and independence.
Risk Management
/ Health and Safety
Employees must be
aware of the responsibilities placed on them under the Health & Safety at
Work Act 1974, ensure that agreed safety procedures are carried out and
maintain a safe environment for employees, patients and visitors.
Records
Management
The post holder
has responsibility for the timely and accurate creation, maintenance and
storage of records in accordance with Trust policy, including email documents
and with regard to the Data Protection Act, The Freedom of Information Act and
any other relevant statutory requirements.
Clinical Governance, Compliance and
Performance
The post holder will be responsible for proving
that the Care Quality Commission outcome areas have been met in all
registered/related activities for which the post holder is responsible. Where
outcomes are not met the post holder is expected to put in place/recommend
action to improve. The post holder will proactively seek and engage the support
of the governance teams in the Compliance and Corporate Development directorate
to gather information as required. The post holder will build an understanding
of and adhere to the CQC guidelines as well as the Trusts guidelines on the
approach to maintaining CQC registration.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical Activities
-
To contribute to the provision of a
Psychology service to the Eating Disorders Team.
- To undertake protocol based
psychological assessments of clients, including the use of 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, under the supervision of a qualified
professional Clinical Psychologist, in both community and
in-patient/residential settings.
- To maintain an appropriate caseload for psychological interventions with individual clients, and carers, in a variety of locations, under the supervision of a qualified professional Clinical Psychologist.
-
To provide information regarding the
service and eating disorders to parents and carers in a sensitive and
informative way where they be psychological barriers to understanding.
-
To assist in the running of
therapeutic groups for clients and/or carers.
-
To work with staff to assess clients
in a variety of settings and review their care in preparation for multi-disciplinary
reviews.
-
To assist in the development of a
psychologically based framework of understanding/care to the benefit of all
clients of he of the service, across all settings where care takes place.
-
To attend and contribute to
appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.
-
To Liaise and work closely with other
services within the wider mental health service.
Management and Personal
Development
-
To receive regular clinical
supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines.
-
To receive appropriate managerial
supervision by the named CEDs professional in the locality
-
To contribute to the training and
support of other staff involved with psychological care.
-
To undertake compulsory and statutory
training relevant to the post and attend Continuing Professional Development
s as appropriate to the post.
Strategic Development,
Planning and Organising
-
To assist with the design, and
routinely contribute to the implementation of service audit and service
evaluation.
-
Contribute to local and national
research projects under the supervision of a Clinical Psychologist.
-
To undertake searches of
evidence-based literature and research to assist qualified Clinical Psychologists/Team
in monitoring developments in evidence based practice.
-
To utilise clinical outcome assessment
tools.
-
To contribute to the recording of
clinical data using the Electronic Patient Health Records software, and the
recording of clinical activity data using the Integrated Care System.
-
To be responsible for using a NHS
e-mail account to generate, monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by
which the Trust conducts much of its internal communication.
-
To maintain keyboard skills to Royal
Society of Arts (RSA) 1 standard, or above, and general computer literacy
skills to European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) standard, or above.
-
To utilise computerised programmes for
the purposes of service audit and research, including the use of databases and
the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).
-
To maintain and develop databases
relevant to appropriate audit and evaluation of the service.
Communication
and Working Relationship Skills
- Team colleagues: To work closely with colleagues in the CEDs team
and attend MDT meetings
- Senior managers &
professional staff: To maintain and
build good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers
in the CEDs team and to enable effective negotiation.
- Clients, family and
carers: To communicate in a skilled
and sensitive manner with clients who may have specific difficulties in
understand and/or communicating and who may be distressed.
Analytical and
Judgemental Skills
- Solid analytic and judgement skills will be
necessary relative to the need to carry out research into patient
experience and therapeutic effectiveness.
Planning
and Organisational Skills
- To plan and
prioritise own workload with the help of management supervision.
Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment
and Therapy
- Consultation &
guidance: To provide valuable feedback to individual clinicians and to CEDs
management concerning patient experience of services as well as therapeutic
outcomes.
Responsibility
for Policy and Service Development Implementation
- Policy &
service To follow policy guidance in own role and to
comment on proposed policy changes and service developments.
Responsibility
for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources
Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g. Supervision,
Training, HR Advice and Management
- To assist the work of less experienced assistants &/or trainees as
required.
Responsibility
for Information Resources and Administrative Duties
- To
maintain accurate records
- To be
responsible for the management and maintenance of a database.
- To be
responsible for using an email account to generate, monitor, and respond to
the e-mail traffic by which the Trust conducts much of its internal
communication.
Responsibility
for Research and Development
- R & D: To undertake
service-relevant research as indicated above and development activity agreed
within the service.
Freedom
to Act
- The post holder is accountable for their own
professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional
Practice Guidelines.
- In a supervised context, to work within clinical
professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the governance of
practice.
Any
Other Specific Tasks Required
- To ensure that all
psychologists continuously update the skills and techniques relevant to their
clinical work.
General Information
Equality &
Diversity
Devon Partnership
NHS Trust is committed to recruiting and supporting a diverse workforce and so
we welcome applications from all sections of the community regardless of age,
disability, sex, race, religion or sexual orientation, maternity/pregnancy,
marriage/civil partnership or transgender status. The Trust expects all staff
to behave in a way which recognises and respects this diversity in line with
the appropriate standards.
Recovery
It is a
requirement of all employees to have an understanding of the broad principles
of the Recovery Approach and to incorporate them into every aspect of their
work in support of the Trusts aim to provide services that support peoples
recovery through being holistic and promoting social inclusion, self
management, personal autonomy and independence.
Risk Management
/ Health and Safety
Employees must be
aware of the responsibilities placed on them under the Health & Safety at
Work Act 1974, ensure that agreed safety procedures are carried out and
maintain a safe environment for employees, patients and visitors.
Records
Management
The post holder
has responsibility for the timely and accurate creation, maintenance and
storage of records in accordance with Trust policy, including email documents
and with regard to the Data Protection Act, The Freedom of Information Act and
any other relevant statutory requirements.
Clinical Governance, Compliance and
Performance
The post holder will be responsible for proving
that the Care Quality Commission outcome areas have been met in all
registered/related activities for which the post holder is responsible. Where
outcomes are not met the post holder is expected to put in place/recommend
action to improve. The post holder will proactively seek and engage the support
of the governance teams in the Compliance and Corporate Development directorate
to gather information as required. The post holder will build an understanding
of and adhere to the CQC guidelines as well as the Trusts guidelines on the
approach to maintaining CQC registration.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- QUALIFICATIONS & TRAINING
- BA or BSc in Psychology recognised by the British Psychological Society.
- IT Skills
Desirable
- Further training in Eating Disorders and/or Mental health issues
- Further training in an applied/clinical psychology or therapy interventions
- Knowledge/qualifications in quantitative and qualitative research methods
- Clinical placements and supervised practice
Experience
Essential
- Experience and or training in diversity awareness and social inequalities
Desirable
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of people who use services across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
- Experience of working with people with eating disorders
- Experience in working with teenagers/young adults.
- Experience gained during supervised training of working in applied psychology
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Communication and Working Relationship Skills:
- Excellent verbal, nonverbal and written communication skills
- Analytical & Judgemental Skills:
- Ability to integrate complex data; make highly skilled evaluations and decisions.
- Planning & Organisational Skills:
- Organisation and time management skills
- Project management skills
- Physical Skills:
- Presentable
- Clear telephone voice
- Calm, methodical approach, friendly but concise
- Good communication skills when presenting / facilitating to varying groups of people
- Ability to work independently within defined occupational procedures and use initiative within a community based service
- Ability to work as a member of a clinical team.
- Ability to tolerate ambiguity, and maintain own morale and motivation in challenging service delivery contexts.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- QUALIFICATIONS & TRAINING
- BA or BSc in Psychology recognised by the British Psychological Society.
- IT Skills
Desirable
- Further training in Eating Disorders and/or Mental health issues
- Further training in an applied/clinical psychology or therapy interventions
- Knowledge/qualifications in quantitative and qualitative research methods
- Clinical placements and supervised practice
Experience
Essential
- Experience and or training in diversity awareness and social inequalities
Desirable
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of people who use services across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
- Experience of working with people with eating disorders
- Experience in working with teenagers/young adults.
- Experience gained during supervised training of working in applied psychology
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Communication and Working Relationship Skills:
- Excellent verbal, nonverbal and written communication skills
- Analytical & Judgemental Skills:
- Ability to integrate complex data; make highly skilled evaluations and decisions.
- Planning & Organisational Skills:
- Organisation and time management skills
- Project management skills
- Physical Skills:
- Presentable
- Clear telephone voice
- Calm, methodical approach, friendly but concise
- Good communication skills when presenting / facilitating to varying groups of people
- Ability to work independently within defined occupational procedures and use initiative within a community based service
- Ability to work as a member of a clinical team.
- Ability to tolerate ambiguity, and maintain own morale and motivation in challenging service delivery contexts.
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.
