Assistant 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.
At any one time, around 23,000 people in Norfolk and Suffolk are receiving care and attention from the Trust. We believe in whole life care - seeing people in the context of their whole lives, understanding the importance of good physical health, friends, family, spirituality, culture, home, work, education and a sense of purpose and achievement to experience good mental health.
Nearly 3,800 full and part-time practitioners care for our service users in hospitals, in the community and in their own homes, whilst an additional 1,400+ staff provide non-clinical support, including cleaning, catering, delivering supplies, ward administration, information technology, human resources and financial services.
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.
We are committed to delivering quality driven mental health services. Every individual makes a valuable contribution. We are proud of our staff who have been commended for the care they provide. Do you value working positively, respectfully and together?If so, we’d love you to join us!
We will consider flexible working arrangements for our roles, please indicate in your application if this is something you require
JOB DESCRIPTION/PERSON SPECIFICATION
Please read the job description/person specification carefully and ensure your application reflects the knowledge, skills and experience needed.
YOUR APPLICATIONIt is important that you complete a formal application form as CV’s alone will not be accepted.
We can provide all our job application materials in alternative formats so that these are accessible to everyone. Should you require any documents within this job pack in an alternative format, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
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Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Assistant Psychologists to join the multidisciplinary team providing services under supervision to our inpatient medium-secure services for men, based in Norwich. The current post-holder is moving on to complete their forensic training.
Our inpatient secure services form part of a wide and growing body of clinical services operating in a variety of settings linked to criminal justice services. NSFT Secure Services offer low and medium secure mental health services for men, an innovative integrated secure mental health service for women, mental health and personality disorder services in the local prisons, community forensic services, criminal justice liaison and diversion services and Offender Personality Disorder services in partnership with probation services.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be allocated to Catton ward, the 18-bedded newly refurbished admission, assessment and rehabilitation ward. Catton ward is a Medium Security services for men, located at Northside House. The post-holder will work alongside the qualified psychologist for the ward, and under the umbrella of the wider, well-established NSFT Secure Services Psychology Team.
Within this role, you will have the opportunity to help deliver risk assessments, mental health assessments and brief psychological interventions to service users, as well as co-facilitating therapeutic group work.
As part of the MDT, you will be working with the ward team to help create and implement positive behaviour support plans, and to support the ward team with psychological formulations and psychologically informed practice.
The posts involve working with a range of mental health difficulties, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, personality disorder and neurodevelopmental disorders. There will also be the opportunity to learn about offence specific assessments, formulations and interventions which are delivered by the team.
Working for our organisation
As a part of the wider NSFT Secure Services Psychology Team, the post-holder will receive regular clinical and management supervision, and also professional and governance support from within the team. Within NSFT Secure Services we employ a diverse and supportive team of psychologists, including clinical, counselling and forensic psychologists, and we are able offer our team members the opportunity to continue to develop their expertise via training and development opportunities in different parts of our service.We have an exceptional track record for supporting our Assistant Psychologists into further professional training, and have excellent links with the University of East Anglia.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Benefits
Benefits included with this role are:-- NHS pension
- a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
- career progression
- starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
- staff physio service
- NHS discounts and many more.
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing their experiences and learning from each other.
NSFT is committed to lifelong learning and continuous professional development (CPD) for its entire staff. There are a variety of definitions of CPD across the professions but it is usually taken to mean learning activities which update existing skills.
CPD is determined through appraisal with a personal development plan agreed between an individual and their manager, with the commitment of the necessary time and resources.
Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification 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!
Interviews are to be confirmed, candidates may only be given a minimum of 3 days’ notice, please note this date is provisional and may be subject to change. You will be contacted via email and invited to book a time. These emails may go to your SPAM, so please keep checking all your emails if applying.
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Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- • A BPS accredited degree in Psychology, conferring eligibility for GBC.
- • Further post-graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
Experience
Essential criteria- • Experience of work with people with mental health needs.
- • Experience of working in forensic/secure services.
Skills
Essential criteria- • High level of interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal)
- • Skills in administering psychometric tests and using psychological equipment
Knowledge
Essential criteria- • An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities.
- • Knowledge of the criminal justice system and its interactions with health services.
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 £13 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.