Clinical Associate in Psychology

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 37,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust seeks a Clinical Associate in Psychology to provide specialist psychological assessments and evidence-based interventions for adults with autism. You will work under supervision within a multidisciplinary team across community, VCSE and clinic settings.

Engagement with lived experience representatives and local stakeholders is central, aiming to improve mental health outcomes and social inclusion for service users and their networks.

Qualifications

• Qualified CAPs working under HCPC supervision.
• Experience with adults with autism is desirable.
• Ability to work across community and clinic settings.

Responsibilities

• Provide psychological assessment using evidence-based tools for adults with autism under supervision.
• Communicate constructively with a range of healthcare professionals as part of an MDT.
• Build relationships with stakeholders including service users and carers.
• Work as part of a multiprofessional autism team and liaise with external agencies.
• Share learning and feedback to improve psychological practice and service delivery.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Interventions

MDT collaboration

Stakeholder liaison

Job description

Job Overview

The post holder will engage with individuals under the care of NELFT Adult Autism Service and will be involved in providing specialist assessments and evidence based psychological interventions to individuals, families and networks who receive support from The Adult Autism Service across the Trust. Under the supervision of a qualified Practitioner Psychologist, they will explore social and psychological interventions, and other potential options which may improve health outcomes and help clients to achieve agreed goals.

Assessments and interventions will be delivered in a range of settings, including community, Community and Voluntary and Social Enterprises (VCSE) as well as clinics in person, by telephone or digital platform. The post holder would be expected to work closely with lived experience representatives, local communities and VCSEs to co-produce and co-develop services. The post holder will primarily be involved in partnership working, liaising with various stakeholders in the system, e.g. GPs, primary and secondary care mental health services, local recovery colleges, educational institutions, and the 3rd sector. The post holder will also be involved in raising the awareness of the complexity of the health and social challenges many people with autism face and the impact this has on mental Health & well-being and vice versa. A key aim of the service is to help people build resilience and feel more connected to and included in their community.

Clinical Associates in Psychology (CAPs) working within our services have a crucial role to play in improving access to support and in promoting greater community engagement and partnership working with our complex and diverse client group. The work will be under the supervision of a qualified HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist who will retain clinical responsibility for clinical work carried out.

Qualified CAPs will be working psychologically with adults with autism presenting with complex needs, in community settings at the individual, group, couple and family level through to teams, systems and community level.

In order to maintain professional standards across NELFT services, it is expected that CAPs working with NELFT will be added to the Wider Psychological Workforce Register with the British Psychological Society, as and when this becomes possible.

We sincerely welcome applications from people who have previous experience of using Mental Health services, and/or individuals who are/have been a carer for someone. We are also very interested in receiving application from people who have strong local connections to the local populations we serve.

Main duties of the job

• Provide psychological assessment, using evidence-based tools, formulation and evidence-based interventions to adults with autism who have complex needs, under the supervision of a qualified Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical or Counselling Psychologist).


• To communicate constructively with a range of healthcare professionals in a variety of services including nurses, social workers, allied health professionals (AHPs) and medical colleagues as part of a multidisciplinary team (MDT).


• Build relationships with key stakeholders, which include Service Users, people who care for and about service users, Lived Experience Representatives, Local Operational Leads in health and social care, Psychological Therapies Lead/supervisor, Qualified, trainee and assistant psychologist & psychological therapists, Multiprofessional colleagues working in community services and Primary Care Networks, Local Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Organisations and other community assets, key stakeholders in the wider health and social care system.


• Work as part of a multiprofessional specialist autism team/service and liaise with relevant external agencies to facilitate and enable psychological interventions.


• Communicate new learning approaches and provide constructive feedback to challenge and overcome barriers to implementation of best psychological practice.


• Communicate to others the core concepts of psychological theory, research and practice in order to enhance their delivery of psychological interventions.


• Contribute to the training and development of the wider MDT regarding key psychological concepts and principles relevant to the clinical care of service users.


• To effectively communicate decision making processes which have informed the psychological management of risk; implement and respond appropriately to risk, using appropriate guidance and support, maintaining compliance with service policy and values.


• Understand impact of multiple perspectives within the context of multidisciplinary teams.

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes Hospital, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

High Cost Area Supplement Outer London

(B&D, Redbridge, Havering and Waltham Forest)

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4870 to a maximum of £5,137 p.a. (pro rata for part time).

Working for Us

Joining Team NELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.

They Are

• We are kind.


• We are respectful.


• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate’s own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content in applications. Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience. We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.

Name: Rosa Henderson

Job title: Practitioner Psychologist

Contact Number: 03005551200 ext. 57596

Email: [e-mail]