Assistant Psychologist

The Methodist Church in Britain; Forest Hall; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

The Methodist Church in Britain invites applications for a full-time, 24-month fixed-term Assistant Psychologist in the North At Risk Mental State (ARMS) service. The role covers Northumberland and North Tyneside alongside Early Intervention in Psychosis teams and focuses on evaluating the service, data collection and entry, interviewing service users, and monitoring wellbeing with escalation to qualified clinicians when risk increases.

Enhanced DBS clearance is required before starting.

Qualifications

• Upper second class honours degree or higher in psychology.
• Eligibility for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society.
• Enhanced DBS clearance is required before starting.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate the ARMS service impact and collect input data.
• Interview service users as part of the evaluation.
• Monitor wellbeing and escalate risk to clinicians as needed.
• Assist with day-to-day functioning of the service and data management.
• Contribute to the assessment process and supervise/assist group work.

Skills

Communication skills

Psychology knowledge

Research methods

Clinical awareness

Data interpretation

Education

Psychology degree (2:1 or above)

Graduate membership of the British Psychological Society

Tools

SPSS

Job description

A full-time, 24-month fixed-term Assistant Psychologist post in the North At Risk Mental State (ARMS) service, covering Northumberland and North Tyneside alongside the Early Intervention in Psychosis teams. The work centres on evaluating the service, collecting and entering data, and interviewing service users, with monitoring of their wellbeing and escalation to qualified clinicians when risk rises. The service is newly established for people at risk of psychosis, with some supervised direct clinical work under the Principal Clinical Psychologist. Enhanced DBS clearance is needed before starting.

What the job involves

• Evaluate the impact of the ARMS service, including collecting and inputting data
• Interview service users as part of the evaluation
• Monitor service users and alert qualified clinicians to any deterioration in their mental health
• Support the day-to-day functioning of the service
• Contribute to the assessment process
• Support group work and other therapeutic work under close supervision
• Work flexibly to support the service

Qualifications

• Upper second class honours degree or higher in psychology
• Eligibility for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society

Experience

• Paid or unpaid work with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities

Skills & knowledge

• High level written and oral communication, including in highly emotive circumstances, and communicating sensitive information to clients, carers and colleagues
• Understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems and other disabilities
• Ability to apply psychological knowledge to a mental health, cognitive impairment or disability context
• Understanding of psychology applied to healthcare
• Graduate-level knowledge of research and research methodology
• Knowledge of evidence-based practice

Other

• Computer literacy, including databases and data analysis (e.g. SPSS for Windows)

Nice to have

• Further postgraduate training in relevant areas of psychology, mental health practice or research design and analysis
• Experience of paid work in direct care provision
• Experience with the client group relevant to the post
• Experience of psychometric test administration and interpretation
• Experience of providing individual or group interventions
• A high standard of report writing