Senior Assistant Psychologist

Devon Partnership NHS Trust; Exeter; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 37,000; Full time

Job summary

Join the Adult Eating Disorder Intensive Home Treatment Team as a Senior Assistant Psychologist. This role involves working closely with patients and their families, providing support and therapy to improve psychological health within a multidisciplinary team. You will develop personalized care plans and facilitate groups, playing a key role in mental health treatment and recovery.

Qualifications

• Eligible for Graduate Basis for Recognition by the BPS.
• Experience working under clinical supervision.
• Experience in multicultural environments in mental health.

Responsibilities

• Conduct psychological assessments and interventions under supervision.
• Support treatment ownership plans and facilitate psychoeducation groups.
• Ensure quality documentation and engage in research activities.

Skills

Communication

Organizational skills

Psychological evaluation

Team collaboration

Education

BA or BSc in Psychology

Tools

Microsoft software

Job description

Location: Exeter, EX2 5AF
Salary: £29970.00 to £36483.00
Date posted: 18th June 2025
Closing date: 23rd June 2025

This is an exciting opportunity to join our new Adult Eating Disorder Intensive Home Treatment Team (AED-IHTT) and to join the established psychological team at The Haldon Inpatient Eating Disorder Service. The postholder will work across both services with a mix of face to face and online working. The post banding is subject to banding review process.

The AED-IHTT will work with people and their families in their home and online to support both early transitions out of inpatient admissions and to work intensively to prevent inpatient admissions. With a small caseload we will be working closely with the person and their family to offer a mix of individual, group and family sessions including meal support and multidisciplinary interventions. The team consists of experienced professionals in this field and is led by an Occupational Therapist who alongside the Physiotherapist, Clinical Psychologist, and Consultant Psychiatrist will support Assistant Practitioners to offer the therapeutic programme.

The Haldon is a 10 bed unit in Exeter offering a therapeutic programme for patients diagnosed with an Eating Disorder. The psychology team work closely with the wider multidisciplinary team and offer both groups, individual therapy, family sessions and individual support for example with exposure for anxiety sessions or developing personalised emotional and sensory regulation plans.

Main duties of the job

The main duties for the Senior Assistant Psychologist are (all under weekly clinical supervision):

• Ensure outcome measures are completed before, during and after the AED-IHTT programme, analyse these and present to senior leadership. Support junior Assistant Psychologist with outcome measures for Haldon.
• Participate in pre-admission work to the AED-IHTT around developing treatment ownership plans around expectations and boundaries.
• Develop and review personalised emotional and sensory regulation plans with the person and their family.
• Facilitate face to face on the Haldon and online psychoeducation groups for the AED-IHTT with junior Assistant Psychologist/Trainee Clinical Psychologists.
• Offer individual sessions e.g. managing anxiety around specific foods, managing urges to exercise, using mindfulness etc.
• Participate in and document team formulation sessions.
• Participate in family sessions as co-facilitator with qualified psychologist.
• Offer meal support and post meal support both on the Haldon and online with the AED-IHTT.
• Develop and co-facilitate training and ongoing skills development for less experienced staff.

About us

We provide mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services, as well as a range of specialist & secure services for the wider south west region & nationally. We are passionate about promoting good mental health & wellbeing. We strive to use the expertise & resources within our organisation, and through our partnerships, to deliver high quality services that are safe & focused on people's recovery.

We are committed to developing a culture of coproduction, involving patients, families & carers in everything we do

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications & experience - we recruit individuals who possess & demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. These include such attributes as showing a commitment to quality of care, improving lives of others, giving respect, dignity & compassion. We can bring those values to life in our everyday tasks by giving a smile; making time for people; challenging ourselves & others, & being open to new ideas.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer & applications are encouraged & welcomed from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics as governed by the Equality Act 2010. Part time & flexible working applications will be considered & supported, where possible. We particularly encourage applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions, neurodiversity or learning disabilities. We are a Disability Confident Leader.

Job responsibilities

The principal purpose of this job is to support the team to improve the psychological health and wellbeing of people and their families who are being supported by the Adult Eating Disorder Intensive Home Treatment Team (IHTT) and The Haldon Inpatient Eating Disorder Service. The IHTT is a new service which aims to increase support to individuals by wrapping around the care provision provided by their Community Eating Disorder Team to promote recovery from an Eating Disorder.

Thiswill be achieved in this post through undertaking the following areas ofresponsibility, all under psychological clinical supervision(and additional other discipline supervision as appropriate e.g. OccupationTherapy):

1. Contributing to psychological assessment andformulation within the Eating Disorder IHTT and The Haldon, ensuringinterventions are formulation based, with clear goals and outcomes aremeasured.

2. Developing and delivering individual, familyor group interventions as appropriate. This includes working autonomously, undersupervision, with individuals, families or groups offering low levelpsychological interventions and supporting their nutritional intake. This involvesboth travel around rural Devon to patients homes and use of virtual platformsfor online work.

3.Working with the psychology team to develop and deliver the multidisciplinary therapeutic programme within theEating Disorder IHTT programme which will involve travel around Devon and useof virtual platforms for online sessions. Under clinical supervision, working withthe multidisciplinary team on The Haldon to develop and deliver the therapeuticprogramme.

4. Working withthe Professional Lead to undertakeservice audit and research activities to support the Haldon and Eating DisorderIHTT Senior Leadership Teams.

5. Supporting clinical staff to improve the quality andefficiency of reporting on Clinician Rated Outcome Measures, Patient RatedOutcome Measures, Patient Rated Experience Measures and Family/carers RatedExperience Measures within the The HaldonEating Disorder Service and Eating Disorder IHTT programme.

6. The post holder will receive regular professional and psychologicalclinical supervision in accordance with Trust policy and with ProfessionalPractice Guidelines set out by HCPC and the British Psychological Society.

7. The post holderwill support and provide guidance to other assistant psychologists, TraineeClinical Psychologists and other clinical staff as required within the team.

8. To work independently within a defined managed andoccupational context. The post holder will work within professional guidelinesand DPT procedures and protocols.

9. The post holder will be supported by qualified practitionerpsychologists, including Clinical Psychologists and by senior colleagues withinthe specialism. The post holder will be expected to make good use of theexpertise of others within the service to further develop their skills.

Duties andResponsibilities

Communicationand Working Relationships

• Multidisciplinary team colleagues: To work closely with colleagues inthe multi-professional service on a day to day basis ensuring there is highquality communication and co-ordinated interventions. To provide support& guidance in the application of psychological principles and techniques,and to foster reflective practice.
• Health& social care staff: Tocommunicate with a wide range of health and social care staff in bothhospital and community settings, communicating in a skilled and sensitivemanner to manage complex and sensitive information. To provide support &guidance in the application of psychological principles and techniques, andto foster reflective practice.
• Patients,family and carers: To communicatein a skilled and sensitive manner with patients and family/carers who may be highlydistressed and may have communication needs.
• Senior managers & professional staff: To maintain and buildgood working relationships with senior professional staff and managers inEating Disorder Servicesand inDPT, to foster a positive approach to the integrated mental health andwellbeing service and to enable effective negotiation.

Planningand Organisation

• To plan and prioritise own workload with support from linemanagement, balancing the demands of patient care, support and guidance ofcarers and professionals, and service research and development activities.
• Toprovide psychology knowledge to the multi-professional planning, developmentand marketing of mental health and wellbeing services.
• Responsibilityfor Judgement and Analysis
• Ina supervised context, to undertake audit and research activities within the HaldonEating Disorder service and Eating Disorder Intensive Home Treatment Team; toevaluate and disseminate the findings.

Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatmentand Therapy

• Assessment & intervention: Under supervision to undertakeassessments and contribute to individual, family or group psychologicalinterventions as appropriate. Under supervision to contribute to themultidisciplinary team therapeutic programme on the Haldon. Under supervisionto develop and deliver the multidisciplinary therapeutic programme for theIHTT which involves travel around Devon and use of online platforms forvirtual interventions.
• Consultation& guidance: To provide valuablefeedback to individual clinicians and leadership team concerning therapeuticoutcomes. Toprovide advice, guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of patientcare to colleagues, other service providers, patients, supporters andfamilies.

Analyticaland Judgemental Skills

• To be able to integrate complex clinical data and make clinicalevaluation and formulations decisions.

Policy,Service, Research, Innovation and Improvement

• Policyand service: To follow policyguidance in own role and to comment on proposed policy changes and servicedevelopments.

Responsibilityfor Finance, Equipment and Other Resources

• To be responsible for the safe keeping of equipment underown use.

Responsibility for Supervision, Leadership &Management

• To participate inregular clinical supervision and regular line management supervision. Toparticipate in regular reflective practice.

Responsibilityfor Information Resources and Administrative Duties

• To maintain accurate records, compliant with TrustPractice Standards.
• To be involved with management and storage of outcome data.
• To be responsible for using an email account to generate,monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by which the Trust conducts muchof its internal communication.

Responsibilityfor Research and Development

• To undertake service-relevant outcome development work
• To support project work including specific areas of audit,research or service evaluation

Freedomto Act

• The post holder is accountable fortheir own professional actions, acting within Trust policies and proceduresand Professional Practice Guidelines
• In a supervised context, towork within clinical professional guidelines and exercise responsibility forthe governance of practice.

Person Specification

Skills and abilities

• Excellent verbal, nonverbal skills for both in person and online/telephone as well as excellent written communication skills.
• IT Skills including excellent knowledge and use of Microsoft software, completion of electronic patient records and creating digital resources and presentations.
• Ability to work as a member of a multidisciplinary clinical team, using excellent communication skills, developing the teams psychological mindedness, knowledge and reflective practice skills.
• Ability to integrate complex clinical data to support making highly skilled clinical evaluations and decisions within mental health settings.
• Organisational, planning and time management skills to be able to complete complex projects, make clinical prioritisation decisions and ensure job tasks are completed in a timely manner.
• Ability to work under pressure and cope with deadlines within a clinical setting context e.g. completing clinical tasks and documentation within working hours.
• Ability to sit for long periods to conduct lengthy assessments/interventions.
• Ability to drive and access to own vehicle or means to travel around Devon to patients home including to rural areas where there are no transport links.
• An Enhanced DBS Check will be required for this role.
• Ability to work independently under clinical supervision and within defined occupational procedures, using initiative yet communicating and working with multidisciplinary team members.
• Ability to tolerate ambiguity and maintain own morale and motivation in challenging service delivery contexts, including lone working but under clinical supervision.

Knowledge

• Further post graduate training/experience in research and evaluation methods

Qualifications

• BA or BSc in Psychology recognised by the British Psychological Society meaning the applicant is eligible for Graduate Basis for Recognition by the BPS.

Experience

• Experience of Assistant Psychologist role working under clinical supervision by a practitioner psychologist e.g. Clinical Psychologist in secondary care adult mental health services.
• Experience of multidisciplinary working within a clinical mental health setting.
• Experience of conducting specialist psychological research and audit of services under clinical supervision by a practitioner psychologist.
• Experience, and/or training in diversity awareness and social inequality.
• Experience of working clinically within inpatient settings.
• Experience of clinically working with people and their families/carers who are diagnosed with an Eating Disorder.

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.

Professional Lead Clinical Psychologist Haldon