Assistant Psychologist
Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Assistant Psychologist to join ELFT’s multi-disciplinary Bedfordshire and Luton Complex Needs Service. Our service aims to work with service users, colleagues, and carers to establish a learning culture that improves the care and treatment for people with complex emotional needs (often diagnosed as ‘personality disorder’) and their families/carers in the community.This role will include contributing to the assessment and formulation of service users’ clinical needs, strengths and any risks presented to themselves/others; working as part of the team to support with the delivery and evaluation of the clinical offer (including MBT and DBT); co-facilitation of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) group skills training; promoting the development of therapists through active participation in team consultation meetings; and supporting the facilitation of Family, Friends and Carers’ support and skills groups.
There are also opportunities to develop skills in clinical audit and service evaluation.
Main duties of the job
The main duties of the Assistant Psychologist include:
- Supporting the wider team in the comprehensive assessment and formulation of clinical needs, strengths and risks by completing clinical note audits, and offering joint assessments;
- Working as part of a DBT team to co-facilitate weekly DBT skills training sessions, enhance therapist motivation and development by actively participating in weekly DBT team consultation meetings, and offer telephone skills coaching to service users;
- Supporting the delivery of the MBT offer;
- Supporting the facilitation of monthly Family, Friends and Carers groups;
- Coordinating the routine collection of service user experience and clinical outcome measures;
- Maintaining and updating a database of clinical outcome measures;
- Conducting service evaluations and clinical audits aimed at improving and maintaining the quality of services delivered;
- Collating and developing resources, including leaflets.
Working for our organisation
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve.
Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
“This job vacancy may close earlier than the specified closing date if we have reached the maximum number of applicants”
For further information please refer to the job description and person specification attached to this vacancy.
Person specification
Educational/ Qualification
Essential criteria- A first or upper second class honours degree in Psychology
- Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS)
- Further postgraduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of working with people with physical or mental health and social care needs
- Experience of working within the NHS or a Mental Health setting
- Experience of ensuring that values including care, compassion, respect, inclusivity, courage and commitment are embodied on a daily basis in the workplace.
- Experience of raising matters of concern with a relevant Line Manager in order that these can be addressed through the relevant processes and procedures.
- Experience of working in a clinical team as an Assistant Psychologist.
- Experience of group work with people with mental health problems.
- Experience of delivering DBT skills training to people who experience difficulty regulating emotions.
- Experience of completing risk assessments under supervision
Knowledge/ Skills
Essential criteria- Ability to apply existing psychological knowledge, underpinned by theory, to a mental health context
- Understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems and other disabilities.
- Expertise in using Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint) to a professional standard; expertise in using statistical software (e.g R-studio, SPSS, Statistica) for evaluation and research.
- An understanding of current NHS/Social Care policies relating to Mental Health.
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria- Able to take initiative and work independently.
- Committed to learning in order to improve practice and service provision.
- Embraces team work and is able to work effectively in a team environment.
- Confident, friendly, approachable and assertive.
- Self-motivated, committed and open to new ideas and experiences.
- Able to organise and prioritise workloads
Additional Requirements
Essential criteria- Mobility to travel across sites to carry out work as required.
- Ability to interact and develop rapport with individuals with mental health difficulties.
- Ability to contain and work with organisational stress
- Willingness and ability to engage in reflective practice
- Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently within agreed time frames and within limits of competence, with work being agreed and managed at regular intervals.
- Professional interest in Clinical Psychology.
- Ability to drive and access to a vehicle insured for business use for travel between sites in Bedfordshire and Luton.
Making Things Better
Quality Improvement is a key part of our work to improve our services and refine how we do things. We have a global reputation for our quality improvement work and we don’t stand still! So we offer a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn, lead and contribute towards improving our services.
We launched our Five Year Strategy in April 2018, which identified four main strategic outcomes to improve: population health outcomes, experience of care, staff experience and improve value. This complements the NHS Long Term Strategy and sets out our direction of travel.
Our Community
We provide a wide range of community health and mental health inpatient services to children, young people, adults of working age, and older adults in The City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. We also provide psychological therapy services to the London Borough of Richmond, and provide Forensic services to the whole of North East London.We provide services in urban and rural settings, sometimes in our inpatient units, but mostly in the community close to where people live. Integrated care is key in making the best use of resources and providing effective care.
Aiming High
We were rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC in 2016, were proud to be rated ‘Outstanding’ again in 2018 and continue to be rate 'Outstanding' in 2021.. We were named in the HSJ’s Top 10 best places to work in healthcare and were voted Provider Trust of the Year in 2018.
Staff and Service Users United
We strive to ensure that staff feel valued by the Trust and as they are truly pivotal in delivering better outcomes for our patients and service users. Our aspiration is to help to make ELFT the best place to work. This Trust is clinician-led and provides the highest possible level of clinical expertise throughout its services.We pride ourselves on our service user involvement. A service user will be on your assessment centre and interview panel if you are invited to meet us.
We especially welcome people with lived experience of health difficulties, with insight and understanding of different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles in our population as we believe that this will equip staff to deliver a high standard of care to our service users and patients.
Diversity
ELFT Is committed to being a diverse organisation and our workforce is reflective of the population and communities we serve. We believe that having colleagues with a range of backgrounds and life experiences enriches and adds value to the outcomes we have set out to achieve.Having partnered and endorsed by organisations who are representative and experts in various areas of equality and diversity, we can ensure we are meeting the pre-set standards all the way from recruitment stage throughout the career journey of our employees by being accessible, having fair inclusive practices and a host of staff networks to support, nurture and celebrate our valued staff in the workplace.
Other reasons to apply
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s job share, part time or another flexible pattern.
As part of the relocation scheme we presently have, the Trust could support you with offering up to £10,000 for removal and associated expenses. This is subject to change and terms and conditions apply.
What Next?
If you like the sound of ELFT, don’t waste a moment. We sometimes close adverts early if there is a high response, so apply now!
As part of our recruitment process we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS.We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same..
If you do not hear from us within four weeks of the closing date, please consider that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion. You must provide professional email addresses for all referees as we will contact them as soon as an offer has been made.Please note we do not request references prior to interviews. All applications made through NHS Jobs account will be processed by TRAC System. Please note that some emails may go to your spam/junk mailbox so make sure you check this regularly.
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