Assistant Clinical Psychologist
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience
YOUR APPLICATION
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Job overview
This is an amazing opportunity to join a pioneering team that is embedding help with sleep within youth mental health services across Norfolk and Waveney. Our aim is to ensure young people can access effective help with sleep as early as possible.
We offer training and supervision in an adapted form of CBT for insomnia (The Better Sleep Programme) to mental health practitioners across the wider mental health system. We also run online workshops raising awareness of the role of sleep in youth mental health alongside work with more specialist services to help them adapt sleep interventions to the clinical population they work with.We have strong links with UEA sleep researchers and the DClinPsy course and are actively pursuing and supporting research studies in sleep and youth mental health.
The post offers a rare opportunity to develop clinical skills in a specialist area alongside developing practical research and service evaluation skills working as part of a wider service implementation programme.
This is an amazing opportunity to join a pioneering team that is embedding help with sleep within youth mental health services across Norfolk and Waveney. Our aim is to ensure young people can access effective help with sleep as early as possible.
Main duties of the job
The post-holder will support the psychologists/psychotherapists in the programme team in delivering training days, workshops and supervision groups (mostly online). They will provide peer support to trained practitioners starting to use the intervention and will be liaising with service user groups to promote service user involvement in the programme.
They will be providing support to specific adaptation projects in more specialist clinical populations such as young people in crisis or those with neurodevelopmental or learning difficulties by carrying out literature reviews, developing modified resources and supporting the evaluation of any adapted sleep interventions.
They will support the overall evaluation of the programme through skilled database management. They will have the opportunity to be involved in specific service evaluation and research studies.
The ideal candidate would have previous experience of working in mental health services; an interest in sleep (specialist training provided); confidence using spreadsheets and online platforms; a compassionate, respectful and inclusive stance toward service users and professional colleagues, and an interest in clinical research.
The post requires excellent organisational and time management skills alongside a good ability to communicate positively with others.
The post is hybrid in that it is mostly remotely-based but with some regular in-person meetings and events.
Working for our organisation
We offer training and supervision in an adapted form of CBT for insomnia (The Better Sleep Programme) to mental health practitioners across the wider mental health system. We also run online workshops raising awareness of the role of sleep in youth mental health alongside work with more specialist services to help them adapt sleep interventions to the clinical population they work with.We have strong links with UEA sleep researchers and the DClinPsy course and are actively pursuing and supporting research studies in sleep and youth mental health.
We are a small, friendly and psychologically-minded team. We aim to combine the flexibility of working remotely with a strong team ethos and really value our regular in-person meetings. We are committed to developing and sharing our expertise in sleep and empowering others to take these ideas forward to improve their service offer.
The rest of the team comprises a Principal Clinical Psychologist (project lead), Senior CBT therapist, a Consultant Psychiatrist and another assistant psychologist. The post therefore forms a core element of the team staff.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We pride ourselves on using evidence-based practice in our work and on collecting outcome data to generate our own practice-based evidence to promote learning, development and wider dissemination. We are part of the Children, Families and Young People’s service line in NSFT and will be working with services working with young people (aged 14 to 25 years) both within NSFT and across the wider, integrated care system.We value learning in practice and are keen to include service-user perspectives more as we develop the project. We also have strong links with sleep research colleagues at UEA and are keen to support further learning and research on sleep and youth mental health.
The post offers a rare opportunity to develop clinical skills in a specialist area alongside developing practical research and service evaluation skills working as part of a wider service implementation programme. The role will involve liaising with clinicians from multiple teams across the wider youth mental health system, offering the post-holder a detailed understanding of the wider context of mental health provision.We have strong links with UEA and often host both service-related projects and doctoral theses which the post-holder would be able to support. Regular clinical supervision will be provided.
volve liaising with clinicians from multiple teams across the wider youth mental health system, offering the post-holder a detailed understanding of the wider context of mental health provision. We have strong links with UEA and often host both service-related projects and doctoral theses which the post-holder would be able to support.Regular clinical supervision will be provided.
Please find attached our Job Description for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- A BPS accredited degree in Psychology
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of quantitative research
- Experience of research in the NHS
Skills
Essential criteria- Skills using microcomputers for databases or date analysis, especially SPSS for Windows
- Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients and colleagues
Knowledge
Essential criteria- Knowledge of quantitative research
- An understanding of psychology applied to health care
- Knowledge of mental health
- An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities
- An ability to apply existing knowledge to a mental health context
Other
Essential criteria- An ability to interact with clients with mental health problems
- Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals
- Ability to travel independently
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief.
As a part of the Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview Scheme we interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job vacancy (outlined in the Person Specification).. We encourage you to indicate your eligibility through TRAC jobs when applying.
DISCLOSURE AND BARRING SERVICE CHECK (formerly CRB)
FOR POSTS WITH DIRECT SERVICE USER CONTACT - Please be advised that due to recent changes in the DBS Service, organisations no longer receive copies of DBS Disclosures – these are sent directly to candidates only. Therefore, it will be your responsibility, if successful, to ensure that this is taken to the appointing officer as soon as you receive it.
Alternatively, if you have subscribed to the update service, we will be able to check your status once we have your authority to do so.
The Trust has now introduced a DBS Update Service which is a contractual requirement. You need to subscribe when you have applied for your DBS clearance and there is a time limit to subscribe of 19 days after receipt of your DBS disclosure. Please ensure that this is completed within the set time scale.
This update service is an annual subscription at a cost of £16 to you. This will enable the Trust to have instant online access to your DBS record, with your consent, and so will remove the need for you to have to apply for this repeat check again.