Assistant Psychologist

Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit; Warrington; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A health service provider in Warrington is seeking an Assistant Psychologist to support the Later Life and Memory Service team. This role involves assisting in psychological assessments and delivering group interventions for service users, notably in a multi-disciplinary environment. Candidates must possess a second class honours degree in psychology and have relevant experience with mental health disorders. This position offers the opportunity to enhance psychological care through innovative interventions. Flexible working arrangements will be considered.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 12 months experience with people with mental health problems.
• Experience of teaching and training in applying psychological principles to mental health.
• Ability to communicate and work in highly emotive settings.

Responsibilities

• Support psychological assessments under the supervision of a qualified Psychologist.
• Deliver group interventions for service users on the ward.
• Assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans under supervision.

Skills

High level communication skills

Experience of report writing

Ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to mental health context

Education

Second class honours degree or higher in psychology

Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society

Tools

SPSS for Windows

Job description

Overview

We are looking for an Assistant Psychologist to work as an integral part of our Later Life and Memory Service (LLAMS) inpatient ward team. This is an exciting opportunity for an Assistant to join a new service and contribute to new and innovative interventions. Successful candidates will support and enhance the professional psychological care of service users working as part of a multi-disciplinary team including psychology, psychiatry, nursing staff, occupational therapy, and activities staff. The team regularly work with other services including social care and community mental health teams, based on individual need.

Main duties of the job

The role will involve supporting psychological assessments and evidence-based interventions under the supervision of a qualified Psychologist. Assistant Psychologists will work with the Psychologist in the neuropsychological assessment, formulation, and treatment planning for people with various dementias and complex mental health presentations.

Assistant Psychologists will work alongside the therapy and nursing team to promote the Newcastle Model of care for people with dementias who present with behaviours others find challenging, and to support the development and embedding of the Newcastle Pathway of care on the ward.

Assistant Psychologists will be given the opportunity to gain experience in systemic interventions, which may include reflective practice, delivering care spaces for staff to support wellbeing and facilitate Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) when working with behaviour that challenges. As part of the psychology offer, the ward is involved in a project using immersive virtual reality rooms. The Assistant Psychologist will be able to incorporate the Immersive room into their therapeutic offer on the ward and contribute to the ward’s understanding of its potential in enhancing care.

The successful applicants must have a degree in psychology, which confers Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership with the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Working for our organisation

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.

Detailed Job Description and Main Responsibilities

We are also looking for someone with excellent communication and people skills and a passion for improving the lives of clients and their families.

You may be expected to audit and evaluate a range of outcomes in terms of the benefit for service users, staff and the wider service. Furthermore, within the team, we are keen to encourage research submissions to relevant conferences and for publication. An active interest in research and publication will therefore be an advantage.

There will be opportunities to support inpatient services in audit and research, in order to inform service development and support best practice.

The Assistant Psychologist will deliver group interventions for service users on the ward, which can include groups such as Managing Emotions, Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST), Relaxation and Recovery through Art. This is a well-respected role for Assistants wishing to gain further experience of inpatient services, in a supportive and welcoming team.

To undertake psychological assessments of service users under the supervision of a qualified psychologist which may include, as appropriate, a range of psychometric tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, carers and others involved in the client’s care.

To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s problems, under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist.

To work with other disciplines to assess inpatients, outpatients, day patients or residents and review their care in preparation for multi-disciplinary reviews.

To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings as directed by the qualified psychologists.

Person specification

QUALIFICATIONS

Essential criteria

• A second class honours degree or higher in psychology or psychology as a main subject
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society

Desirable criteria

• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis

KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE

Essential criteria

• 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 problems
• Experience of research evaluation and audit of the application of psychological principles to mental health problems

Desirable criteria

• Experience of paid work in direct care provision.
• Previous experience as an Assistant in an NHS setting.
• Experience of psychometric assessment.
• Proven track record of experience of research evaluation and audit of the application of psychological principles to mental health problems

VALUES

Essential Criteria

• Continuous Improvement
• Accountability
• Respectfulness
• Enthusiasm
• Support
• High professional standards
• Responsive to service users
• Engaging leadership
• Strong customer service belief
• Transparency and honesty
• Discreet
• Change oriented

SKILLS

Essential criteria

• High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.
• 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

Desirable criteria

• Skills in SPSS for Windows.
• Undertaking further relevant post-graduate study leading to recognised qualification.

PERSONAL

Essential Criteria

• Clear experience of interacting effectively with staff from all disciplines
• An interest in working with people with mental health problems or other disabilities
• Clear experience of interacting with people with mental health problems
• Ability to work with a high level of autonomy within the boundaries of the assistant role.