Assistant Psychologist

Job summary

This is a great opportunity to work within our inpatient mental health psychology service and to work alongside psychologists, psychiatrists, junior doctors, OTs, nurses, social workers and physiotherapists, in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Our innovative Adult Mental Health 3-3-3 service comprises Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Admission ward, Treatment ward and Recovery ward. Within our Admission ward we also care for adults who are referred to us through the Ministry of Defence. Our inpatient pathways are based on stays of 3 days (assessment), 3 weeks (treatment) and 3 months (recovery). Working within this unique acute care system enables you to:

• Focus on developing specific skills and further develop expertise in assessment, treatment and recovery.
• Have the opportunity to experience working across the 3-3-3 system.
• Improve and enhance collaborative working across the acute care system.
• Contribute to the reputation and image of our treatment system, resulting in an increased sense of pride in our work place.

The post-holder will deliver different forms of psychological interventions to patients recovering from an episode of mental health illness in either an individual or group setting.

Main duties of the job

To support and enhance the professional psychological care of adults with a mental health diagnosis. Working across all sectors of care providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, working independently according to a plan agreed with a qualified psychologist and within the overall framework of the Team's policies and procedures.

To assist in clinically-related administration, conducting audits, collection of data and statistics, development of audit and/or research projects, teaching and project work.

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence* and have use of a vehicle. You cannot usepublic transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.

*DVLA have a number ofreciprocalarrangements with overseas countries, for further information please visit the DVLA website

About us

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health & social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health & wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting & empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services not only via inpatient and primary care setting but also with the community. These services include Children, Adult & Older Peoples mental & physical health, Forensic & Specialist mental health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care & Liaison psychiatry, Substance misuse, Social care, Research & Development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high calibre candidates that share our vision & values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people & members of our ethnic minorities & LGBTQ+ communities.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

1. To provide a direct service using psychological intervention and assessment tools, under supervision of the Clinical Psychologist.
2. To support the Clinical Psychologists in preparation of team formulation sessions, i.e. completing file reviews and dissemination of formulation.
3. To facilitate group work, including psychoeducation, CBT. DBT and ACT informed sessions. This may include co-facilitating groups alongside other members of the MDT.
4. To facilitate individual psychological work, under the supervision of the Clinical Psychologist.
5. Where indicated to carry out Brief Psychological Interventions, including Anxiety Management, Behavioural Activation and Distress Tolerance.
6. To support completion of Cognitive Screening assessments and in some circumstances more detailed neuro-psychological assessments.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential

• An upper-second class honours degree or higher in psychology.
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Desirable

• A Master's degree and/or enrolled in a Master's course recognised by the British Psychological Society.

Other

Essential

• Recognise peoples right to privacy and dignity, treating every person with respect.
• Willingness to be flexible in approach and attitude.
• Ability to travel.

Knowledge & Understanding

Essential

• Enthusiastic, self-motivated, responsible
• Able to contain and work with high levels of distress from service users.
• Capable of working effectively as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality in all aspects of the work (clinical, research).

Skills & Abilities

Essential

• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems and other disabilities.
• Ability to communicate (orally and in writing) highly complex, highly clinically sensitive and condition-related information to patients, families and other professionals.
• Experience of maintaining working relationships and a high degree of professionalism in the face of often highly emotive and distressing problems.
• An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge, underpinned by theory, to a mental health context.
• Ability to adapt style and/or intervention strategies to meet the challenges of complex and highly sensitive situations.
• Ability to maintain a high degree of ethical and professional standards.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the literature on psychosis.
• Knowledge of the literature pertaining to personality disorder.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with adults with mental health difficulties.
• Experience of delivering psychologically informed groups.
• Practical working knowledge of at least one relevant psychological approach e.g. CBT.

Desirable

• Experience of working in inpatient mental health settings.
• Experience of completing risk assessments.
• Experience of working with patients with cognitive difficulties.
• Experience of psychometric testing, scoring and report writing.
• Experience of working with challenging behaviour.

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

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Address

The Cavell Centre

Edith Cavell Healthcare Campus

Bretton Gate, Peterborough

PE3 9GZ

Employer's website

https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

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