Assistant Psychologist

Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust; Portsmouth; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job description

Job Overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and compassionate Assistant Psychologist to work within our Primary Care Mental Health Treatment Requirement (PC-MHTR) Teams across Hampshire.

If you are seeking a new challenge and have a keen interest in the criminal justice services, we encourage you to apply and join our supportive and welcoming team!

The Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) Team is part of MPFT’s Health and Justice Service. The PC-MHTR team provides psychological assessments and interventions to people with mental health difficulties who have come into contact with criminal justice services and whose offences may attract a community or suspended sentence order.

The team aims to prevent short-term custodial sentences and reduce reoffending by improving access to psychological interventions and addressing underlying mental health problems, thereby improving health and social outcomes for the individual and their family.

MPFT delivers services across England. We are experienced in working across a wide geographical area and there is no necessity to travel to headquarters; training and IT support is virtual.

Main duties of the job

You will be required to work from the appropriate bases across Portsmouth and Isle of Wight.

You Will

1. Be responsible for supporting a Practitioner Psychologist in the development and evaluation of new service delivery models for people with severe and enduring mental health difficulties.
2. Undertake protocol-based psychological assessments of service users including self-report measures, rating scales, and semi-structured interviews.
3. Assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment of a service user’s problems, including simple procedures and techniques related to psychological therapies.
4. Communicate and liaise with other disciplines involved in the service user’s care.
5. Assist in the development of a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all service users.
6. Attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.
7. Provide advice, guidance, and support to service users to enhance awareness of their psychological needs.
8. Prepare assessment/service evaluation reports.
9. Undertake literature reviews and audits.

Working for our organisation

By joining Team MPFT, you will be helping your communities and in return for this, we will support you by;

• Supporting your career development and progression
• Excellent NHS Pension scheme
• Generous maternity, paternity, and adoption leave
• Options for flexible working
• Up to 27 days annual leave (increasing with service up to 33 days) and the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Extensive Health and Wellbeing support and resources
• If you work in our community teams, we pay for your time travelling between patients
• Lease car if you complete more than 500 business miles per annum, fully insured and maintained (including tyres), mileage paid at lease car rate
• Salary sacrifice car - fully insured and maintained (including tyres), your gross pay is reduced by the cost of the vehicle before tax, NI and pension deductions are calculated, mileage paid at business rates
• Salary sacrifice bikes up to £2k
• Free car parking at all trust sites
• Free flu vaccinations every year
• Citizens Advice support linked with a Hardship Fund for one-off additional support up to £250 (if the criteria is met)

Please note, we may be required to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

For further information on the Job Description, main responsibilities, and Person Specification to ensure you have the relevant skills for the post, please see the attached documents.

As a member of the team, you will be responsible for undertaking assessments, formulating service users’ needs, and delivering psychological interventions under the supervision of a qualified Practitioner Psychologist.

An understanding of the needs of people with a diagnosis of personality disorder, mental illness, and/or learning disabilities is needed in this role, with the ability to communicate sensitive information to the patient, carer, and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance.

We are seeking somebody who will confidently develop and support the involvement of service users and carers in all aspects of the Health and Justice Service, from individual care planning to the design and evaluation of the overall service.

We look forward to receiving your application. If you have any questions regarding the role, do not hesitate to contact us in advance of submitting your application.

Person specification

Qualifications & Training

Essential criteria

• A First or Upper Second honours degree in psychology OR a lower Second degree with a post-graduate qualification, e.g. Masters degree
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society.

Desirable criteria

• Undergraduate degree included study of Psychopathology/Clinical issues.
• Postgraduate degree in a relevant area of study.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Has significant experience of face-to-face work with people with psychological difficulties.
• Has worked closely with clinical psychologists and has an awareness of professional standards/issues.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working as an Assistant Psychologist.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

Essential criteria

• High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive, service users may show hostile or severely challenging behaviour and may be verbally abusive or physically violent.

Desirable criteria

• Experience using computers for databases or data-analysis (e.g. Excel, SPSS for Windows).