Job summary
- Main area
- Assistant Psychologist
- Grade
- Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday-Friday 07.45 - 16.15 (1 hour lunch))
- Job ref
- 350-SC7384127
- Employer
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- The Beacon at HMP Garth
- Town
- Leyland
- Salary
- £27,485 - £30,162 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 18/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Assistant Psychologist - HMP
Band 4
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Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
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Job overview
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is the health provider for the delivery of an innovative prison-based assessment and treatment service for residents with personality related needs.
This service is based within HMP Garth which is a category B men's adult prison based in Leyland, Lancashire. The service is part of the National Offender Personality Disorder Strategy and is delivered as a partnership between HMP Garth and Mersey Care NHS Trust.
We believe that this post provides a unique opportunity to be part of a psychologically led service with formulation and integrated team working at its core. The service provides 1:1 and group based interventions based on Professor John Livesley's framework and model of interventions for individuals with personality related needs.
These structured interventions are provided as part of a therapeutic milieu which involves a focus on attachment, trauma and systemic approaches, alongside comprehensive risk assessment and management. Core aims of the service are consistent with those of the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway in improving psychological wellbeing, reducing risk, improving staff skills and competencies and pathway focussed intervention.
Main duties of the job
We are now recruiting an Assistant Psychologist to join our team.
The post holder will be joining a dedicated team of clinical and prison officer staff from a range of backgrounds and experience. Team members have high levels of skill, passion and enthusiasm (and humour!) and are committed to ensuring the on-going successful development of the service and the opportunities it provides for our population.
The Beacon is a psychologically led, non diagnosis focussed service. The post holder will contribute to the provision both 1:1 and group based therapeutic interventions. This will cover the array of clinical work that would promote occupational, psychological, recreational and supportive activity to meet the holistic needs of the individual prisoner. The service user will also have roles in conducting service audits, evaluations and research when opportunities arise. The post holder will attend regular reflective practice sessions within the service.
At the Beacon service, we prioritise the development of our staff team and have proven that we value and nurture diverse clinical interests. We are committed to creating an empowered staff team. We strive to be reflective and support of each other which is vital given the challenges this work can entail.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
At the Beacon service, we prioritise the development of our staff team and have proven that we value and nurture diverse clinical interests. We are committed to creating an empowered staff team. We strive to be reflective and support of each other which is vital given the challenges this work can entail.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To support and enhance the professional psychological care of service users within the service, across all relevant sectors; providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, working independently according to a plan agreed with the supervising qualified psychologist and within the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.
To assist in clinically-related administration, conduct of audits, collection of statistics, development of audit and/or research projects, teaching and project work.
Under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist:
To work with potentially distressing material in relation to service users’ personal histories and possible offending behaviour, risks to self and others, and additional security requirements as integral to a secure environment.
To undertake psychological assessments of service users which may include a range of psychometric assessments, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, carers and others involved in the client’s care.
To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s problems.
To assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups.
To work with other disciplines to assess residents and review their care in preparation for multi-disciplinary reviews.
To assist in the development of a psychological framework of understanding and care to all service users of the service, across all care settings.
To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings as directed by the qualified psychologists.
To use a degree of initiative and work independently with service users on planned pieces of work and to exercise judgment based on good practice and operating procedures.
To receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines and directorate policy.
Please refer to attached Job Description for full list of duties and responsibilities.
Person specification
QUALIFICATIONS:
Essential criteria
- An upper second class honours degree in psychology (or psychology as a main subject) or lower second with the addition of a higher degree in psychology.
- Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society.
Desirable criteria
- Further post-graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis.
KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE:
Essential criteria
- A minimum of 12 months experience of work with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities
- Demonstrated high level ability to communicate sensitively and succinctly to service users, carers and colleagues in a way that facilitates engagement
- To have a significant degree of flexibility and adaptability within the therapeutic context
- The ability to work with an appropriate level of autonomy within agreed boundaries directed by supervising psychologist
- The ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively
- An empathic approach to working with people with mental health needs
- Experience using computers for databases or data analysis
Desirable criteria
- Experience of paid work in direct care provision.
- Previous experience as an assistant in an NHS or forensic setting.
- Experience of interacting effectively within an MDT context.
- Experience of research evaluation and audit of the application of psychological principles.
- Experience of teaching and training in the application of psychological principles to mental health needs
- An interest in working with people with mental health needs.
- A desire to explore a career in clinical psychology.
VALUES
Essential criteria
- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High professional standards
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Discreet
- Change oriented
SKILLS
Essential criteria
- An ability to interact and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.
- High-level communication skills (written and verbal) including report-writing.
- An understanding of the needs of people with mental health difficulties including those associated with personality disorder and/or other psychological/physical disabilities.
- An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context
Desirable criteria
- Skills in word processing and SPSS for Windows.
- Undertaking further relevant post-graduate study leading to recognised qualification.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Hannah Unsworth
- Job title
- Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01772 443429
- Additional information
Kate Cassidy - Clinical Team Manager - [email protected] - 01772 443394
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