Higher Assistant Psychologist

Livewell Southwest; Plymouth; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A social enterprise delivering health services is seeking an experienced assistant psychologist to provide psychological services at the interface of acute inpatient mental health and home treatment teams. The role involves delivering psychological assessments and interventions, supporting teams, and working collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team. This position offers flexibility across service areas while focusing on enhancing psychological understanding for effective patient care. Candidates should have an honours degree in psychology and relevant experience.

Benefits

Training pathways

Leadership programs

Protected CPD time

Qualifications

• Previous experience in an assistant psychologist role.
• Experience working with complex mental health difficulties.
• Ability to conduct psychological assessments and interventions.

Responsibilities

• Provide psychological services in inpatient and community settings.
• Support the qualified psychologists in delivering care.
• Implement psychological assessments and brief interventions.

Skills

Experience in acute mental health services

Psychological assessments

DBT or DBT informed approaches

Excellent communication skills

Ability to work collaboratively in teams

Education

Honours degree in psychology

Further postgraduate training in psychology

Job description

We are looking for an enthusiastic and experienced assistantpsychologist to provide psychological services at the interface of the acute inpatientmental health setting and the home treatment team. This is an excitingopportunity to continue to develop a relatively new role and contribute into.. improving the psychological provision to individuals who transfer between theacute inpatient setting and the home treatment team.

You will be working within and supported by the psychologyteam based at the Glenbourne unit at the Derriford Hospital site with some daysbased at the Home Treatment Team (HTT) at Mount Gould Hospital.

The Glenbourne Unit is located on the Derriford Hospital site and is made up of two acute wards (one male and one female) and the HTT is based at the Mount Gould site predominately providing care at service users homes. Both sites operate MDTs made up of nursing, psychiatry, occupational therapy, psychology and administration. The role will involve being located at both sites requiring flexibility in how time is organised according to need. You will be supervised by and support the work of a forensic and clinical psychologist.

This role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route.

Please note that Livewell may close the job advertisement earlier than the specified deadline.

All Livewell staff are expected to be able and willing to work across a 7 day service.

Interviews for the role are planned for 29thJanuary

Main duties of the job

We are looking for an experienced assistant psychologist toprovide psychological services at the interface of the acute inpatient mentalhealth setting and the home treatment team (HTT). You will work with amultidisciplinary team (MDT) to support people facing complex mental healthchallenges during a period of crisis. This includes those in inpatient care orunder the Home Treatment Team (HTT), which offers an alternative to hospitaladmission.

The position involves supporting teams in enhancing theirpsychological understanding of individuals to optimise care. You will promotepsychological approaches with staff and develop and apply psychologicalformulations with teams and individuals. You will facilitate continuity ofpsychological support as service users transition between inpatient andcommunity settingsand provide brief assessments and interventions toservice users both individually and in groups. You will collaborate withstakeholders and third sector organisations across Plymouth to strengthensupport networks.There is also opportunity to contribute to serviceevaluations, clinical audits and training of staff.

You will join a collaborative team of psychologistsoperating across in-patient and specialist community mental health services.The role offers opportunities for professional development through informal CPDand peer supervision. Livewell is committed to ensuring each psychologist is avalued member of the psychological therapies workforce.

About us

Livewell Southwest is an independent, award-winning social enterprise delivering integrated health and social care services across Plymouth, South Hams, and West Devon, with specialist services in parts of Devon and Cornwall. Our teams work in community hospitals, GP practices, sports centres, and health hubs.

As an organisation with a strong social conscience we are guided by our values, kindness, respect, inclusivity, ambition, responsibility, and collaboration. We focus on transforming services to ensure sustainability, while empowering staff and those we serve.

We involve the people we care for, along with their families and carers, in shaping the care they receive, striving to deliver the right care at the right time and place. Centering our work on individual needs helps people lead healthy, independent lives.

We prioritise employees' development, offering protected CPD time, training pathways, leadership programs, and funding for qualifications like the Care Certificate and Nurse Training Scholarships. Our induction and preceptorship programs ensure a smooth transition into our organisation.

Livewell Southwest values diversity and encourages applications from all sections of the community, including those with armed forces experience, lived experience of mental health, neuro-diverse conditions and learning disabilities. If you need assistance or reasonable adjustments during the application process, contact the Recruiting Manager listed in the job advert.

Job responsibilities

JOB PURPOSE

Tosupport the qualified psychologists working within the acute pathway throughundertaking clinically supervised psychologically-informed assessments andintervention with people with varying and complex mental health challenges whoare admitted to an acute inpatient setting or are under the care of the HomeTreatment Team either as an alternative to an admission or post discharge. Toundertake brief psychological interventions, individually or in groups, andwith families and professional carers. To proactively work with MDTs andservice users to support the development of psychological formulations and communicatehow these can inform care and treatment in both the inpatient and communitysettings. To support research projects, service evaluations and clinical auditsas required

SCOPE AND RANGE

The post relates to the two 18 beddedacute mental health wards (one male and one female) housed in the Glenbourne Unitand the Home Treatment Team (HTT). Referrals to the acute wards are gatekept byHTT and can be received from across Plymouth and other areas of Devon, with anumber of beds commissioned by Denon Partnership Trust. The Home Treatmentteam, which offers an alternative to hospital admission, to keep people who areexperiencing acute mental health difficulties out of hospital and living in thecommunity, is based at Riverview on the Mount Gould Hospital site. The postholder will work flexibly across the service areas depending on demand andservice priorities.

The post holder will provide a range ofpsychological assessments and interventions, likely to include contributing toinitial assessments to clarify psychological needs, assessment of suitabilityfor psychological intervention, and risk assessments, all of which will becarried out either jointly or individually, when appropriate, supervised by aRegistered Psychologist.

MAIN DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

5.1 Clinical

To work sensitively and respectfully with clients with mental healthdifficulties who may sometimes be in distress and high emotional states, toengage with them in order to deliver psychological interventions.

To carry out a range clinical assessments with adults with severe andenduring mental health conditions using interview skills, standardized testsand informant based measures, including screening assessments, cognitiveassessments, suitability for psychological therapy, and assessments of variousemotional and/or behavioural issues.

To work within organizational guidelines to provide input intoassessments of complex psychological problems including: the long-term effectsof childhood trauma; and other complex bio-psychosocial presentations.

To be able to provide psychological interventions in 1:1 and groupsettings, and with families and professional carers, and to organize own caseload which will include clients withvarying severe and enduring mental health presentations living in thecommunity, including people attracting a diagnosis of personality disorder;chronic depression and anxiety; bipolar presentations; and psychosis andschizophrenia.

To undertake joint work with other members of the multi-disciplinaryteam, as appropriate.

To utilize psychological theory and apply it to clinical situations inorder to integrate assessment data and begin to develop psychologicalformulations

To be able to communicate, by talking and writing, psychologicalformulations and intervention plans to the client, family members, carers andprofessional colleagues as appropriate.

The post holder will be in part a community-based member of staff andwill be expected to travel around the catchment area in the course of theirduties.

To maintain appropriate client records as required by the employer.

To maintain clinical resources and databases as required by the team.

Policy andService Development

To comment on policy and service development documents.

The post holder will be expected to identify and support areas ofservice development.

HumanResources

To receive regular clinical supervision from a HCPC Registered PractitionerPsychologist.

Required to demonstrate own duties to new staff; train other health carestaff in specific tasks/assessments.

To provide teaching input on a variety of training courses, includingstaff CPD sessions.

Researchand Development

To assist with research, evaluation studies and clinical audit that isrelevant to the acute mental health pathway.

To conduct statistical analyses using SPSS and Excel and prepare datatables, graphs, etc.

To assist with the dissemination of the results to service users,carers, service managers, other professionals and academic audiences.

Person Specification

Experience

• Previous experience in an assistant psychologist role
• Experience of working with people with complex mental health difficulties
• Experience of working in acute or in-patient mental health services
• Experience of working as part of a team
• Experience of using clinical supervision / reflective practice in the workplace
• Experience of applying psychological models practically with people in a health or social care setting
• Experience of psychological assessments including the use of psychometric tests
• Experience of providing psychological intervention
• Experience of using DBT or DBT informed approaches in practice
• Experience of providing teaching, training or supervision

Qualifications

• Honours degree at 2:1 or above in psychology and the qualification renders the applicant eligible for graduate membership of the BPS
• Further post graduate training in relevant area of professional psychology, health and social care practice

Knowledge and skills

• Knowledge and understanding of complex mental health difficulties and the role of acute mental health services
• Basic knowledge of research skills and methodology
• Excellent verbal, nonverbal and written communication skills, including being able to provide and receive complex, sensitive or contentious information in a potentially highly emotive atmosphere.
• Ability to integrate complex data; make evaluations; produce psychological formulations and contribute to decisions.
• Organisation and time management skills, including the ability to be flexible and cope with multiple demands, being capable of using initiative and organising work to agreed goals.
• Ability to use supervision, knowing when to ask for and use supervision, identifying when there is need for advice and using supervision at agreed intervals.
• Good IT skills, including the ability to use common software for routine communication and effectively conveying information.
• Ability to work as a member of a clinical team and to work collaboratively, flexibly and supportively.
• Ability to tolerate ambiguity and maintain own morale and motivation in challenging service delivery contexts.
• Ability to listen to and tolerate material that maybe considered upsetting and difficult.
• Ability to travel across the the Livewell footprint. Reasonable adjustments will be considered as per the Equality Act.
• Knowledge of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
• Working knowledge of software for analysing quantitative and qualitative data.

Full-time,Part-time,Job share,Flexible working