Assistant Psychologist

Lancashire & South Cumbria Nhs Foundation Trust; Lancaster; Hybrid; GBP 24,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust seeks an Assistant Psychologist to support Home Based Treatment Teams in Lancaster and Morecambe. The role involves psychological assessment, formulation, and delivering 1:1 and group interventions, with supervision from a Clinical Psychologist and opportunities for service development work.

The post holder will travel across the locality, including home visits, and a hybrid working option may be arranged to align with service needs.

Qualifications

• Second class honours degree or higher in psychology OR BPS approved conversion degree.
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society.

Responsibilities

• Assist in development, design and implementation of programme and project work.
• Assist in administration and interpretation of outcome-related measures, data collection and reporting.
• Under supervision from a qualified psychologist, assist in professional and psychological care of clients across care sectors by providing basic psychological assessment and interventions.
• All clinical work under supervision according to plan and policies with weekly formal supervision and informal guidance.

Skills

Lifespan psychology

Computer literacy

Reflective practice

Education

Second class honours degree in psychology

BPS approved conversion degree

Job description

Job summary

Home Based Treatment Teams provide services to people with complex mental health needs. The post holder will be an integral and valued team member of the team, with the support of Clinical Psychologists and other multidisciplinary colleagues, including Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Social Workers, Psychiatrists and support workers. The postholder will receive weekly clinical supervision from a Clinical Psychologist.

The post holder will gain experience in psychological assessment, developing psychological formulations of specific problems, delivering 1:1 and group interventions. The role also involves engaging in indirect work within the team, with family members, carers and external agencies. There will be opportunities to be part of service development projects and to deliver training. An interest in working with individuals with a range of presentations across the lifespan will be essential, as is an interest in developing skills in working within a multidisciplinary framework. We are interested in recruiting people who have gained psychological knowledge and skills through a range of experiences.

Whilst the base for this role would be Lancaster and Morecambe, work completed may feed into the three Home Based Treatment Teams across the locality (The Bay - South Lakes, Furness and Lancaster & Morecambe). The role requires travelling within the community, including home visits. There is an option for hybrid working to align with service need.

Main duties of the job

To assist in the development, design and implementation of programme and project work.

To assist in the administration and interpretation of outcome related measures, collation and recording of statistics and production of relevant reports.

Under supervision from a qualified psychologist to assist in the professional and psychological care of clients within the service across all sectors of care by providing basic aspects of psychological assessment and psychological interventions.

All clinical work and actions to take place under the management and supervision of qualified psychology staff according to an agreed plan and associated goals within parameters set out by the Division of Clinical Psychology and Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust departmental policies and procedures in connection with Assistant Psychologists.

Formal supervision with a named member of qualified psychology staff to take place on a weekly basis to facilitate work with additional frequent opportunities for informal contact with qualified psychology staff for guidance and advice.

Travel is a requirement of this post. Clinical activity involves sitting, often in a constrained position for long periods of time. Related activities will require the use of a VDU screen for approximately 50% of working hours.

Work completed may feed into the three Home Based Treatment Teams in The Bay, and is based predominantly in Lancaster.

About us

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you'd like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Job responsibilities

For more information about this vacancy please review that attached job description and person specification.

Qualifications

• A second class honours degree or higher in psychology OR BPS approved conversion degree
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society.

Knowledge

• A good knowledge of lifespan psychology applied to health care.
• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with psychological/mental health difficulties or other disabilities.

Experience

• Psychological knowledge and skills developed through personal experience and the ability to reflect on this
• Experience using computers for literature research and data analysis

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.

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