Assistant Psychologist
Job description
We have an exciting opportunity for an Assistant Psychologist to join the National Deaf CAMHS team for Central England, which covers the West Midlands, East Midlands and South Central regions (see map in link below). This post is for the Midlands region covering West Midlands, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Leicestershire.
As this post covers a large geographical region you could live anywhere in the above regions, but you will need to be able to travel regularly to Birmingham for supervision and across the region. Post holders would be based at home and all travel would be in work time and paid from home.
We are well resourced for remote working. We have use of a psychology office in Selly Oak, Birmingham; as well as an admin office in Dudley. We arrange venues across the full region to see clients.We particularly welcome and encourage applications from deaf psychology graduates. We have a guaranteed interview scheme and we strongly encourage deaf applicants to declare so that they can be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria. We encourage applications from psychology graduates with a good level of British Sign Language (BSL). Both supervisors for this post are skilled in BSL
You will be joining other psychological therapists in providing an excellent therapeutic service to young people and families, as well as joining at a time when we are strengthening the teams’ psychologically-informed culture.
National Deaf CAMHS is an innovative community and inpatient mental health service delivering a pathway of care for 0-18 year olds across England. We are also piloting provision for 18-25 year olds in some regions. The national service is delivered by four NHS Trusts, and our teams link closely together. You will be working closely with our key partners where together we have an ambition to deliver an outstanding model of mental health care for the deaf children, young people and parents of England.NDCAMHS is a unique and truly individual service! We are continuously learning and evolving, as we work together to meet the mental health needs of children, young people and parents who are deaf.Working for our organisation
We are a fully integrated multi-disciplinary team comprising Psychologists; Psychiatrists; Systemic Family Therapists; Nurses; Occupational Therapists and Family Support Workers. A key aspect of the role is working closely with clinicians/practitioners as part of a bi-lingual, bi-cultural multi-disciplinary team with deaf and hearing practitioners and BSL/English Interpreters. We welcome deaf applicants, and applicants who already have a high level of British Sign Language, however specialist training and development will be provided to develop knowledge and skills for working with deaf children and young people. This would include access to training to develop British Sign Language knowledge and skills.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities:
*Assistant Psychologist will support Applied Psychologists in the delivery of specialist psychological assessments and interventions to clients with complex mental health conditions, under the supervision of a qualified Clinical Psychologist, working independently according to a plan agreed with a qualified Clinical Psychologist and within the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.* You would be work flexibly across pathways of care in a variety of community settings and work closely with clinicians/practitioners in multi-disciplinary teams including deaf and hearing staff and BSL/English Interpreters. Our clients use a wide range of communication modalities including British Sign Language, Sign Supported English, various spoken languages and minimal language.* You would work with a varied caseload, under supervision, which will include carrying out specialist assessment and therapeutic interventions, working flexibly across pathways of care in a variety of community settings, and to work closely with clinicians/practitioners in multi-disciplinary teams. *We work both directly with families, as well as offering joint care with local CAMHS services, multi-agency working and consultation. *Excellent problem-solving, communication and interpersonal skills and a positive attitude towards working with deaf children, and their families, with complex mental health needs are essential. *You will have opportunities to work within our neurodevelopmental pathway, trauma and attachment care-pathways and Systemic Family Therapy offer, as well as working with a wide range of referred needs.
The service also offers a unique opportunity for an Assistant Psychologist to input into the development of specialist services for deaf children and young people, including audit, research and service development. The main office base for the outreach team is in Dudley, however clinicians are based from their homes across the whole of the Central England (West Midlands, East Midlands, South Central) region and you will be required to travel to a range of settings throughout the Central England region. You may be required to attend occasional national meetings with our colleagues in other areas of our NDCAMHS services across England. We have access to a lease car scheme and paid for accommodation if needing to be further from home. Clinical and office spaces can be booked across the region as needed. Travel is counted as part of your working hours. Due to COVID-19, we have developed the ability to offer a remote service using video calls, and now restrictions are easing we will continue with an integrated approach for clinical work using video conferencing as well as face-to-face work to manage our travel where appropriate. We also hold most of our meetings by video conferencing, but will aim for an integrated model when this is safe to do so balancing the need for team connection with reducing travel. Post holders would be provided with facilities to enable remote working such as desks and IT equipment.We regularly have Trainee Clinical Psychologists working with us from the Birmingham and Coventry and Warwick courses, and Honorary Assistant Psychology placements from the MRes in Clinical Psychology, and Year in Industry placements from Aston University. We would be keen to develop more links with courses across our geographical region, and host more placements for aspiring psychologists who are deaf themselves. As well as the links with the BCHF Trust Psychologists, we also have a Psychology Best Practice Group across NDCAMHS, and a wider network of Applied Psychologists working with Deaf People Special Interest Group (APDSIG). There are active assistant groups across each of these. We are also developing therapy-specific Special Interest Groups across NDCAMHS and wider networks working with deaf children and adults.
Person specification:
Skills, experience & qualifications:
Essential criteria:
At least 2:1 degree in psychology
Desirable criteria:
BSL
Job Type: Fixed term contract
Contract length: 50 weeks
Salary: £23,949.00-£26,282.00 per year
Benefits:
- Additional leave
- Childcare
- Company car
- Company events
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
- Free flu jabs
- Free or subsidised travel
- Free parking
- Gym membership
- On-site parking
- Referral programme
- Sick pay
- Store discount
- Wellness programme
Schedule:
- Day shift
Ability to commute/relocate:
- West Midlands: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Education:
- Bachelor's (required)
Licence/Certification:
- Psychology degree (required)
- BSL (preferred)
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: One location
Reference ID: 285-1066-CYPF
