Find More Than 10K+
United Kingdom Jobs

Job description

Buckinghamshire Psychological Therapies is seeking an enthusiastic psychology graduate for a 12 month fixed-term Assistant Psychologist post based in Buckinghamshire.

This is an exciting new post created within our Psychological Therapies team as part of our transformation of care for people with Serious Mental Illness under the Community Mental Health Framework. You will be working as part of the new integrated primary and community mental health service linking Community Mental Health Teams and Primary Care Networks.

You will be joining our friendly and skilled team of Psychological Therapists, within an Adult Mental Health setting. The role of the Assistant Psychologist is to assist the psychological therapists in the assessment and treatment of clients.

If you have excellent interpersonal skills and can bring your own flexibility and dedication to Buckinghamshire Psychological Therapies, please apply. We look forward to reading your application soon

To support and enhance the provision of group programmes and support research and service evaluation within Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Psychological Therapies Pathway.

This will involve:

• setting up and assisting in therapy groups, alongside qualified clinicians
• assisting with clinically related administration
• conducting audits, collecting statistics, and developing audit and/or research projects
• other project work, as required

Key duties include supporting clinicians with the provision of therapy groups, being responsible for questionnaire scoring, clinical record keeping, data entry, data analysis using computer-based data entry systems, assisting in the establishment and maintenance of documentation to support clinical research, supporting the development of ethical applications for research, recruiting patients and conducting patient visits and assessments.

Where time permits the postholder may also undertake some supervised clinical work. This may include providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions under weekly supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, working independently across different care settings to a plan agreed with a qualified psychologist and within the overall framework of service policies and procedures.

On a day to day basis the post holder will manage their own time and work.

You will join our established, friendly and supportive team of psychologists and psychotherapists which is part of the wider Buckinghamshire Psychological Therapies Pathway. The Buckinghamshire Psychological Therapies Pathway has over 120 staff including clinical and counselling psychologists, CBT therapists, and psychotherapists providing a wide range of evidence-based and innovative psychological therapies.

There are good working relationships between psychological therapists and colleagues in the Adult Mental Health Team. The team benefits from weekly team meetings and monthly reflective practice. We undertake regular supervision, CPD and discussion and have good links to the Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Research.

Benefits of working for Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, with an increase to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Staff accommodation
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Clinical:
1. To undertake protocol-based psychological assessments of clients (including neuropsychological tests) using self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
2. To undertake standardised, protocol-based psychological therapy procedures.
3. The post holder is sometimes required to work in a highly emotive atmosphere and must maintain a degree of professionalism at all times.
4. To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s problems, under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, in both community and in-patient/residential settings.
5. To work with other staff to assess patients.
6. To assist in the development of a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings where care takes place.
7. To support the triaging of referrals to Psychological Therapies by attending PT Triage meetings, reviewing and summarising patient clinical notes, and producing the agenda and minutes of meetings.
8. To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.
9. To maintain the highest standard of clinical record keeping, including electronic data entry and recording, in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society and Trust’s policies and procedures.

Service Evaluation and Research:
1. To undertake data collection and analysis, and produce reports and summaries using IT and statistical programmes.
2. To assist in the design and implementation of audit and research projects.
3. To undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research to assist qualified clinical psychologists in evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

Teaching, Training and Supervision
1. To receive regular clinical supervision (normally weekly) in accordance with professional practice guidelines for professional psychologists.
2. To gain wider experience of professional psychology within the NHS over and above that provided within the principal service area where the postholder is employed.
3. To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties.
4. To contribute to the training and support of other staff in providing psychological care.

Management, recruitment and service development
1. To assist in the design and implementation of service development projects within the service as required.
2. To attend meetings in which service developments are planned and discussed.

IT responsibilities
1. To regularly use Microsoft Office Excel, Powerpoint and Word software in the course of maintaining records and writing reports
2. To be responsible for questionnaire scoring, data entry and data analysis using computer-based data entry systems.
3. To create or format databases or spreadsheets using computerised systems.

General:
1. To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the potholder’s professional and team/operational manager(s).
2. To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society and Trust policies and procedures.
3. To prepare teaching materials, test materials and visual aids as required.
4. To ensure that client confidentiality is protected at all times.
5. To undertake specific administrative duties as required.
6. To perform other duties of a similar kind appropriate to the grade, which may be required from time to time by their Psychology Manager

To be noted:

• This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities, and the postholder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with the manager.
• This job description will be reviewed regularly in the light of changing service requirements and any such changes will be discussed with the post holder.
• The post holder is expected to comply with all relevant Trust policies, procedures and guidelines, including those relating to Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety and Confidentiality of Information.

Please note:

• New starters have a 6 month probationary period. This, together with the induction process aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
• Candidates not currently employed by the Trust who attend an interview for non-qualified Band 1-5 posts are required to undertake numeracy and literacy assessments.
• Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
• Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
• We positively encourage applications from all areas of the community, regardless of gender, race, faith, disability, age or sexual orientation and we encourage applications from users of mental health services. This is part of our commitment to equality and reflecting the diversity of our population.
• Oxford Health is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.