Assistant Psychologist

Job summary

Are you ready for a new and exciting challenge? We are inviting applications for the role of Psychology Assistant in our new service delivering Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTRs) within Gloucestershire. It will sit alongside our Liaison & Diversion Service to provide the best possible outcome for those individuals who are undergoing proceedings within the Criminal Justice System. This initiative is funded by NHS England Integrated Non-Custodial Servive (INCS) as part of the long term reducing reoffending strategy. CSTRs are a sentencing option for the courts and will offer therapies to address the health vulnerabilities of our client group which will include primary mental health problems as well as working in conjunction with our local drug and alcohol misuse services.

Main duties of the job

The role of the Psychology Assistant within the CSTR Service includes:

• Under the supervision of a qualified Clinical Psychologist and EMDR Consultant, deliver psychological intervention to individuals, or groups of service users who may present with depression, anxiety traumapersonality disorders and learning difficulties.
• Working alongside the Gloucestershire Liaison & Diversion Service for the provision of assessment of health needs of individuals within the offender pathway.
• Maintain a professional relationship with our local Magistrates Court, Crown Court, Probation Services and drug & alcohol services.
• Provide training to criminal justice agencies where appropriate.
• Complete audit, service evaluation or research as indicated.

The Ideal Candidate You will need at least a 2:1 degree in psychology and BPS Graduate Membership, an understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health and substance misuse problems. You will have had previous experience of working in a health or social care setting and it is vital that you will have prior experience of delivering therapeutic interventions to clients within a mental health setting. You will have good verbal and written communication skills, to enable you to complete reports for partner agencies as well as deliver assessment, formulation and psychological interventions to clients

About us

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Job description

Job responsibilities

We provide a Multi-professional preceptorship programme that is aligned to the National Preceptorship Framework for Nursing and have been awarded the Interim quality mark from NHS England. Our programme is provided to all Newly Qualified; Nurses, Nursing Associates, Internationally Educated Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals and Return to Practice Practitioners. In addition to the programme we also offer all preceptees the opportunity of enrolling and completing the level 7 (Masters) 15 credit validated module Preceptorship for Healthcare (AP7026).

Newly qualified Social Workers are offered the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment programme (ASYE) which is similar to a preceptorship programme.

Psychological services in Gloucestershire: There is a diverse and enthusiastic group of psychological practitioners (Clinical Psychologists, Arts Therapists, Nurse Behaviour Therapists) in a range of teams in Working Age Adult, Child & Adolescent, Later Life and Learning Disability services. As well as being embedded within teams, the successful candidates would have opportunity to join colleagues in specialist supervision groups, special interest groups and service development projects. Continuing professional development is supported and encouraged. We link with Bath University to take Doctoral Clinical Psychology trainees on placement; and support their teaching programme and research projects. We also offer undergraduate psychology placements.

We havein excess of 5000 staff working over 50 sites, providing a diverse range of services. We strive to support an organisational culture that is welcoming, builds and celebrates inclusivity and diversity and provides a sense of belonging and trust.

Clinical

• To undertake protocol based psychological assessments of clients applying psychological tests, including self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, and others involved in the clients care, under the supervision of a qualified psychologist.
• To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a clients problems, under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist.To assist in the planning, co ordination and running of therapeutic groups.
• Maintain appropriate records in electronic or hard copy in line with Trust policies and Professional guidelines. Includes workload data and using word processing skills to produce service user related reports.
• To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetingsLeadership / Management
• To assist in the development of a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings where care takes place.
• To be aware of, and comply to, National Regulations and local Trust Policies concerned with Data Protection.

Teaching, training and supervision

• Assist in the development of a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all service users of the service, across all settings where care takes place.
• Contribute to the training and support of other staff in psychological care.

Research and service evaluation

• To assist in the design and implementation of service development projects within the service as required.
• Undertake data collection, analysis, the production of reports and summaries, using IT and statistical programmes.
• Undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research to assist qualified clinical psychologists in evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
• To collate and report audit data in order to meet the audit requirements of the service.
• To assist with the analysis, development, evaluation and monitoring of the teams operational policies and services, through service evaluation and audit.
• To attend meetings in which service developments are planned and discussed

Other

• Prepare test materials, visual aids and undertake specific administrative duties as required.
• Perform other duties of a similar kind appropriate to the grade that may be required from time to time by their Psychology lead

The Trust is required to work in line with the Governments UK Visa and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information about sponsorship for certain roles, please visit -https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Min 2(ii) honours degree in Psychology
• Evidence of training / CPD to develop knowledge and theory relevant to work in the specialism
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS)

Desirable

• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
• experience in a clinical setting Desirable Application form Interview References Some experience of using /manipulating Psychological test equipment for use in formal testing situations

Length and/or Nature of Experience

Essential

• Willingness to work in the face of emotive and distressing problems, and possible verbal abuse / threat of physical abuse. Experience preferred
• Ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing clinically sensitive information to health and social care colleagues.

Desirable

• Additional knowledge/ experience of research methodology and of analysing and reporting data
• Prior experience with the service user group or experience in a clinical setting

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Montpellier Unit

Wotton Lawn, Horton Road

Gloucester

GL1 3WL

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/who-we-are/jobs/ (Opens in a new tab)

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