Assistant Psychologist

Mersey Care Nhs Foundation Trust; Liverpool; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 29,000; Full time

Job summary

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Band 4 Assistant Psychologist to join the Step Forward Services in Liverpool. You will work with a dedicated MDT, providing care for individuals with complex mental health needs and trauma experiences. Prior Assistant Psychologist experience is essential for this post.

You will support clinical psychologists in assessments, formulations, and interventions, while engaging in research and service improvement projects within the MDT framework.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in psychology.
• Graduate membership of the British Psychological Society.
• 12 months minimum experience with mental health or disabilities.
• Experience with psychometric assessment is expected.

Responsibilities

• Support psychologists in assessments using psychometric tests and interviews.
• Assist in formulation and delivery of interventions under supervision.
• Provide one-to-one and group work with service users.
• Maintain regular clinical supervision and CPD opportunities.

Skills

Communication skills

Autonomy

Teamwork

NICE guidelines

Education

Second class honours degree in psychology

Graduate membership of the British Psychological Society

Postgraduate training in psychology/mental health

Job description

Job summary

We have an exciting vacancy for a Band 4 Assistant Psychologist to join our Step Forward Services in Liverpool. You will be joining a dedicated team and will provide care for people with complex mental health difficulties and experiences of trauma. You will be supported by an experienced MDT. It is essential to have experience as an Assistant Psychologist for this post.

Main duties of the job

The role of the Assistant Psychologist is to support and enhance the professional psychological care of clients within the Step Forward service by delivering effective and evidence-based psychological therapies. Under supervision and with access to relevant CPD opportunities the Assistant Psychologists will also undertake direct work with clients individually and in group settings. The Assistant Psychologists will work closely with qualified Clinical Psychology colleagues on research and audit projects and will be expected to be active members of the MDT.

About us

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands. We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities. At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Job responsibilities

• To support Clinical Psychologists undertaking psychological assessments of clients applying psychologically based psychometric 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 interventions involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a clients problems, under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist, in a community setting, as appropriate.
• Having received instruction through supervision, to provide one-to-one consultations with service users, working autonomously within the limits of this instruction and within personal competence.
• To use a degree of initiative and work independently with clients on planned work, and to exercise judgement based on good practice (NICE) and local operating procedures.
• To work with potentially distressing material in relation to service users personal histories and presentation, including risk to self and others.
• Preparing agreed assessment reports accurately in the accepted format.
• Where required, to assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups.
• In common with all professional psychologists, to receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines.
• To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties through management with CPD opportunities and self-guided learning.

Person Specification

Training and Qualifications

Essential

• A second class honours degree or higher in psychology or psychology as a main subject
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society
• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis.
• A minimum of 12 months previous experience of work with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities
• Experience of teaching and training in the application of psychological principles to mental health problemsExperience of research evaluation and audit of the application of psychological principles to mental health problems
• Clear experience of interacting effectively with staff from all disciplines.
• Clear experience of interacting with people with mental health problems
• Experience of paid work in direct care provision.
• Experience of psychometric assessment.
• Proven track record of experience of research evaluation and audit of the application of psychological principles to mental health problems
• Previous experience as an Assistant in an NHS setting.
• High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.
• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively
• An interest in working with people with mental health problems or other disabilities
• Ability to work with a high level of autonomy within the boundaries of the assistant role.
• Experience using computers for databases or data -analysis
• Experience of report writing.
• Demonstrated high level ability to communicate sensitive information to service users, carers and colleagues in a way that facilitates engagement
• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities.
• A demonstrated ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context
• An understanding of psychological principles applied to health care. Undertaken further relevant post -graduate study.
• Skills in SPSS for Windows
• Undertaking further relevant post -graduate study leading to recognised qualification

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.

Employer details

Employer name: Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address: William House, Rathbone Hospital, Rathbone Hospital, Mill Lane, Liverpool, L13 4AW, United Kingdom

Employer's website: https://www.merseycare.nhs.uk/

Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact: Principal Clinical Psychologist Amanda Anderson, [e-mail]

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.