Assistant Psychologist

Job overview

Assistant Psychologist Band 4

12 months fixed term contract

Acute & Urgent Care Directorate, Harplands Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a 1 WTE (37.5 hours per week) Assistant Psychologist to work in our Acute & Urgent Care (A&UC) Directorate. This is 12 months fixed term contract based at Harplands Hospital in Stoke-on Trent working across one Acute Adult Female only ward.

Please be aware that this advert may close early if a high number of applications are received.

The successful applicant will work within the multidisciplinary team, which includes a clinical psychologist, trainee clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, occupational therapists & support workers. Your role will include working together with the Clinical Psychologist to support the wider multidisciplinary team through conducting assessments under supervision including cognitive assessments, facilitating psychological groups, supporting psychological interventions & working with individual clients to promote engagement in therapy. It is desirable that the post holder have experience of working within inpatient/hospital settings.

Main duties of the job

This role would suit an aspiring Psychologist who seeks to develop their assessment, formulation & intervention skills, under supervision. This role offers opportunities for direct individual & group clinical work as well as contributing to service development projects. There will be opportunity to connect with other Assistant Psychologists working within the Directorate & in the Trust. There is a monthly Aspiring Psychologist Group supporting career development.

The principle duties of this role will be to assist the Psychologists to provide & enhance provision of Psychological Service inclusive of individual & group work. Both direct & indirect work will be provided. The post holder will assist in clinically related administration, conduct of audits, collection of statistics, & development of audit &/or research projects, teaching & project work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will be based at Harplands Hospital, Stoke on Trent. The post holder may be required to undertake any of the duties specified in the key result areas note below. The relative priority & time allocated to each of the duties/key result areas will be determined by reference to service needs & may vary in the light of prevailing service priorities & requirements.

• Under supervision, to assist Psychologists & senior members of the clinical team in implementing psychological interventions. This will include using a variety of assessment procedures to collect relevant data (rating scales, self-report measures etc), analysis of data & undertaking clinical interventions with qualified clinicians;
• To assist in the group delivery programme.
• To assist Psychologists & other senior clinicians in undertaking teaching & training. This will include the production of relevant literature & contributing to training initiatives under supervision;
• To assist in the design & implementation of audit & research projects. This will include undertaking literature searches relevant to particular projects & the preparation & presentation of summaries & reports.
• To undertake data collection, analysis & the production of reports & summaries to aid service development;

To be noted:

This is not an exhaustive list of duties & responsibilities, & the post holder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with the manager.

The job description will be reviewed regularly in the light of changing service requirements & any such changes will be discussed with the post holder.

The post holder is expected to comply with all relevant Trust policies, procedures & guidelines, including those relating to Equal Opportunities, Health & Safety & Confidentiality of Information.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• A completed upper second class honours degree or higher in psychology which confers eligibility for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC)

Desirable criteria

• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice &/or research design & analysis

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of work with people with mental health problems or disabilities, or other relevant problems or disabilities (e.g. learning disabilities, organic impairment).

Desirable criteria

• Paid work in a setting providing direct care.

Knowledge & skills

Essential criteria

• High level of interpersonal & communication skills (written & verbal) including an ability to work & effectively communicate complex or sensitive information in highly emotive & emotionally charged settings involving conflict & significant personal distress.

The successful applicant will be well supported professionally, clinically & managerially receiving regular clinical supervision from the Psychology Team. The post sits within the wider A&UC psychology team. Thus, the successful applicant will benefit from the opportunity to connect with a range of qualified & pre-qualified psychology peers during both day-to-day activities & cross-service psychology meetings.

Please note that the post holder will be employed by the Acute & Urgent Care Directorate & as such may have the opportunity to work in other teams over the course of their contract.

There is also the possibility of the contract being extended & the successful candidate may be considered if this opportunity arises. However, there is no guarantee as this is dependent on service needs

For further information please contact Sandra Wright (Senior Directorate Business Administrator) on [email protected]. The interview will be conducted via Ms Teams.