Assistant Psychologist Approved Premises PIPE

Job summary

An exciting opportunity awaits an experienced Assistant Psychologist to join our team at Dickson House Approved Premises in Fareham. You play a pivotal role in supporting the Clinical and Operational Leads in delivering and maintaining the Psychologically Informed Planned Environment (PIPE) model as part of the NHS and HMPPS Offender Personality Disorder Strategy.

The PIPE model is an innovative approach, creating specially designed, psychologically informed environments where staff and residents thrive. At Dickson House, we provide a 19-bed service supporting men on licence after release from custody, serving both the Hampshire area and national referrals.

PIPEs emphasise:

1. Psychological understanding: Enhanced staff training to embed psychological principles in daily practice.
2. Supportive relationships: A focus on positive interactions that foster trust and development.
3. Safe environments: Creating a space where both staff and residents feel supported.

The post holder will play a vital role in maintaining and supporting a healthy psychosocial environment, working within a multi-disciplinary team to uphold the principles of the PIPE model. They will assist in the facilitation, assessment, research, design, and delivery of core PIPE components, including group work alongside the Clinical Lead.

The role will be supporting the Clinical and Operational Leads in creating a positive and enabling environment, ensuring the service meets the standards required for the Enabling Environment Award.

Main duties, tasks & skills required

The role includes maintaining compliance with PIPE policies and delivery arrangements, driving continuous improvement across the service.

Working directly with men under Probation supervision who are assessed as high / very high risk and exhibit personality disorder traits/ difficulties (diagnosis not required), the post holder will contribute to fostering a safe and supportive environment in order to help reduce reoffending. This involves conducting assessments, delivering tailored interventions, and providing support to residents as part of their rehabilitation journey.

Additionally, the post holder will contribute through research and evaluation, offering evidence-based insights to enhance service delivery. They will provide consultancy and training to staff, promoting psychological understanding and ensuring best practices within the PIPE framework.

This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact by shaping a supportive environment that empowers residents and staff alike, fostering growth, rehabilitation, and reduced offending behaviour.

Important Information

In the supporting information section of your application, please ensure you address all stated requirements. Additionally, provide a response of up to 500 words outlining what you believe are the main challenges of working in an Approved Premises (AP) PIPE.

Please note: Applications that do not include this information will not be considered.

About us

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a newly established organisation, bringing together expertise from across mental health, learning disabilities, community, and physical health services. We are dedicated to delivering compassionate, high-quality, and accessible care to the diverse communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

With over 13,000 dedicated staff working across more than 300 sites, we place patients and staff at the centre of everything we do. Our goal is to create an integrated healthcare system that improves accessibility and ensures more consistent care for patients. By working together, we aim to improve patient outcomes, drive innovation, and meet the unique needs of the populations we serve.

Our Trust unites services from Southern Health, Solent NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trusts community and mental health teams, as well as Hampshire CAMHS, originally part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. This transformation enables us to deliver more seamless care across the region, ensuring that patients receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We are deeply committed to our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence, and offer outstanding opportunities for career development, training, and collaborative working.

Job description

Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.

We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

An upper second-class honours degree or higher in psychology.

Entitlement to GBR from the British Psychological Society.

Desirable

Further post-graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice, personality disorder, and/or research design and analysis.

Experience

Essential

Experience of paid work in direct care provision, including the delivery of psychological interventions. For example, having worked as an Assistant Psychologist, Psychological Well-being Practitioner in IAPT setting, or under the direct supervision of a clinical psychologist.

Experience of working within an Adult Mental Health setting.

Experience of clinical audit and/or service-based research.

Experience of contributing to the delivery of structured group interventions for people with mental health difficulties.

Excellent communication skills (written and verbal), including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.

Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance.

An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities.

An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context.

An understanding of psychology applied to health care.

Ability to maintain appropriate professional boundaries.

An ability to interact effectively with people with mental health problems.

An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines.

Ability to work independently, reliably, and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals.

Pro-active and self-motivated.

A strong team player.

Evidence of ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.

Car driver and able to meet the travel requirements for the post.

Desirable

Experience of working within a forensic setting with forensic service users.

Experience of working with personality disorder/ trauma presentations.

Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team.

Experience of psychometric testing (delivery, scoring and interpretation).

Experience using computers for databases or data-analysis, especially SPSS.

High standard of report writing.

Knowledge and application of psychological formulation.

Research and audit skills.

Formulation skills.

An interest in working with people with personality disorder who have offending histories.

A desire to explore a career in Professional Psychology.

Additional Criteria

Essential

What our services users expect of this post holder

Commitment to working effectively with teams.

Calm under pressure.

Self-motivated.

Diplomatic and empathetic manner.

Able to maintain confidentiality.

Attention to detail.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

For help with your application, contact:

Rosie Hall

Rosie.hall@justice.gov.uk

Pay scheme

Agenda for Change

Band

Band 5

Salary

£29970.00 to £36483.00 Yearly

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-Time

Reference number

348-SS-6692

Job locations

Ravenswood House
Mayles Lane, Knowle
Fareham
Hampshire
PO17 5NA