Assistant Psychologist

Job overview

The Central England Rehabilitation Unit (CERU) is a national level 1 neurorehabilitation unit providing in-patient and out-patient services to individuals with acquired brain injury. The assistant psychologist will work closely with the inter-disciplinary team which includes medical staff, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and nurses with the support and supervision of experienced clinical psychologists.  The duties of the post include conducting specialist neuropsychological assessments and interventions with patients under supervision; contributing to the assessment  and management of behaviours of concern; provision of well-being/positive behavioural support interventions, and additional duties such as audit and service evaluation as appropriate.

To be considered, applicants must hold at least a 2:1 BPS-recognized Psychology degree and have graduate basis for membership of the BPS, as well as experience of working with patients with acquired brain injuries in neurorehabilitation settings.

Main duties of the job

To support the ongoing development and provision of clinical neuropsychological services within the Central England Rehabilitation Unit (CERU)

To assist in the assessment of emotional and cognitive disorders following acquired brain injury

To assist in the planning, implementation and delivery of anxiety, fatigue and mood interventions to support patients after acquired brain injury

To carry out cognitive screens and specific neuropsychological assessments under supervision

To carry out cognitive rehabilitation programs under supervision in order to support cognitive deficits in patients following acquired brain injury

To assist in the selection and delivery of psychological measures for assessing the effectiveness of patient work/training/group work and the development of systems to capture baseline and outcome data

To support in the development of materials and delivery of training to staff within CERU

To undertake audit and research projects, collection of statistics, teaching and project work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Under the clinical supervision and management of a qualified and suitably experienced clinical psychologist, work independently on a day-to-day basis according to a plan and objectives agreed and reviewed at intervals with the qualified psychologist and stroke service and within the overall framework of relevant team/service area policies and procedures.

To support the qualified clinical psychologist in the delivery of clinical services, administering cognitive screens and specific neuro/psychological assessment and undertaking the scoring of these assessments

To carry out individual and group-based psychological interventions under clinical supervision as required.

To deliver assessments/interventions autonomously to patients following acquired brain injury during the course of their inpatient stay

To communicate to families of patients under the guidance of the clinical supervisor

To be able to work on an agile basis including from home, staff base, and on a hospital inpatient ward

To liaise and build relationships with staff within the service and promote psychological understanding of patient needs following acquired brain injury.

To support the qualified clinical psychologist in governance, audit, research and clinical administrative activities, collecting, collating and analysing data, writing and presenting reports and assisting in project development under the guidance of the psychologist as required. To be able to use IT equipment and software as required, including statistical, database, spreadsheet and presentations.

To assist the qualified clinical psychologist in the planning and organising of teaching/training programs to staff within the Neuropsychology service and undertake/contribute to teaching and training activities as required.

To participate in personal appraisal and continuing professional development activities as agreed with the psychology line manager, including general training required in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Trust.

In completing duties, to draw upon a knowledge base commensurate with a good honours degree in psychology and eligibility for graduate membership of the BPS.

To appropriately undertake the public representation of the department’s activities and to promote groups aimed at service users and Trust staff and other departmental activities.

Key Communications and Working Relationships

To liaise with or co-work with other multidisciplinary members of the CERU service including Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists and Rehabilitation Assistants

To liaise with other psychologists within the Trust including the Clinical Health Psychology and Neuropsychology Departments, members of other disciplines, referral agencies, affiliated organisations, academic/educational and research departments, service users and others as relevant to this post under guidance.

To develop an awareness and liaise with other support/signposting services.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

The post holder may be required to undertake any of the duties specified in the key result areas noted below. The relative priority and time allocated to each of the duties/key result areas will be determined by reference to service needs and may vary in the light of prevailing service priorities and requirements.

Clinical

Under the clinical supervision of a qualified psychologist, to undertake assessment of psychological care needs of inpatients within CERU. This will include administering and scoring cognitive screens/assessments and cognitive rehabilitation programs under guidance. It will also include emotional disorder assessments and interventions under guidance. To record and monitor outcomes and present this information in reports under the supervision of the qualified clinical psychologist.

To assist in the development of material, co-ordination and delivery of group based interventions for patients following acquired brain injury.

Under the clinical supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist, assist in the formulation of difficulties following acquired brain injury and in the planning and delivery of psychological support.

Under the clinical supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist, deliver therapeutic interventions developed or guided by the qualified psychologist or otherwise defined by protocol, for example, planned programs of mindfulness/CBT for mood/anxiety, fatigue management or cognitive rehabilitation for specific cognitive impairments.

Under the clinical supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist, assist in the planning, development, co-ordination and delivery of groups, including for example problem solving group approaches. Act as co-therapist with qualified clinical psychologist, other assistant psychologist or other designated clinician and as appropriate run groups in accordance with agreed protocol.

To attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary meetings as appropriate.

To assist in the development of a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of patients and staff working within CERU.

When completing clinical duties, receives, obtains and communicates highly complex and sensitive clinical and personal information, sometimes in emotionally charged or otherwise challenging circumstances.

Working Environment

The post holder will be required to work with the Neuropsychology Service at CERU to further develop, deliver and evaluate intervention programs.

The post holder will be able to respond quickly and flexibly to the demands and pressures created by the clinical work and be able to work and respond to patients’ presenting behaviours under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist.