Job summary
- Main area
- Assistant Psychologist
- Grade
- Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 350-SC7119573
- Employer
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Chesterton LSU
- Town
- Winwick
- Salary
- £26,530 - £29,114 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 18/05/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Assistant Psychologist
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
We have an exciting opportunity for an assistant psychologist to join our psychology team.
The successful applicant will support the team clinical psychologists with assessments, formulations and interventions as well as teaching and training sessions.
There is also opportunity for audit/service data collection and analysis. You will also gain experience of working within a vibrant multi-disciplinary team and working alongside other team members including Occupational Therapists, Nurses, Medics and Social Workers both from within the team as well as external partner agencies.
You will have the opportunity to develop your psychological knowledge, skills and experience while undertaking creative psychological work in a complex client group. We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated individual to join this multi-disciplinary team. As an assistant psychologist your work will be supervised by a qualified clinical psychologist. There will be opportunities to develop your knowledge and skills in assessment, formulation and intervention and to attend relevant CPD events.
Main duties of the job
The Assistant Psychologist will support and enhance the psychological care of clients within the service, providing psychological assessment, formulation and interventions under the close supervision of a qualified Clinical Psychologist. They will also work independently according to a plan agreed with the multi-disciplinary team.
Chesterton Low Secure Unit provides a specialist service to women with complex mental health needs who present a risk of offending or have a history of offending. Chesterton LSU works alongside partner agencies to support people to achieve their recovery goals by providing personalised, trauma-informed care and support. .The psychology team at the LSU provide specialist assessment, formulation and interventions, intensive support when needed, specialist training, and advice and consultation.
We are looking for people who share our core values of continuous improvement, accountability, respect, enthusiasm and support.
The role may involve working across both of Mersey Cares Low Secure Units - at Rathbone Hospital in Liverpool and at Hollins Park - therefore a degree of travel and flexibility will be required.
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.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. To undertake psychological assessments of clients - applying psychological tests, including neuropsychological, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
2. To review a variety of data sources, including; medical records, case files, and depositions to inform standardised risk assessments for qualified members of LSU staff.
3. To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s problems, under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist.
4. To contribute to the development of outcome measures for clinical interventions, and to assist the design and implementation of service development projects within the LSU as required.
5. To communicate and liaise with staff and other disciplines with regard to assessing clients and reviewing their care in preparation for multidisciplinary review meetings.
6. Under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist, to prepare reports on clinical assessments with individuals, the results of psychometric assessments, case note reviews and research/audit projects.
7. To assist in clinically related administration, conduct of audits, collection of statistics, development of audit and/or research projects, training and project work.
8. To contribute to the training and support of other staff in psychological care, including contributing to the organisation of training seminars and conferences for others.
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 and Experience
Essential criteria
- A minimum of 12 months previous experience of work with people with mental health needs 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
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Discrete
- Positive attitudes towards people who have mental health difficulties and offenders
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
- Alisa Udachina
- Job title
- Principal Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01925 664108
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