Assistant Psychologist

Job overview

We are recruiting to an Assistant Psychology post to join the psychology & psychotherapy forensic mental health team at River House, Medium Secure Unit, Bethlem Royal Hospital. We have one vacancy for a permanent Band 4 post, based on Norbury Ward.

Norbury is the acute male admissions ward in the forensic inpatient service. It has a dual function as both a Clinical Decisions Unit (CDU) that provides comprehensive forensic assessment of those going through criminal proceedings and/or presenting a risk of violence, and as the intensive care environment for the wider River House population. The team specialises in offering a 12-week assessment of clinical and risk-related need to inform clinical pathways across South London.

The post is an excellent opportunity to develop assessment and engagement skills with a complex forensic client group. There will be opportunity to conduct a range of clinical and risk-related assessments and interventions across the service, and participate in wider activities including service evaluation and research. The postholder will join a growing team of senior psychologists and psychotherapists, Assistants and Trainee psychologists, under the leadership of an MSU inpatient lead psychologist and a Consultant Psychologist.

Main duties of the job

The role plays a key part in supporting the psychology provision across the medium secure forensic services, and specifically within Norbury Ward. Responsibilities include:

• To assist practitioner psychologists in the delivery of a specialist applied psychology service across medium secure settings, including clinical assessments, risk assessment, and the delivery of group and individual interventions in an intensive care setting.
• To provide clinical work as required by the service, under the direct guidance, close clinical and professional supervision of a practitioner psychologist. Clinical work may include engagement, clinical and risk assessment/formulation, direct intervention with service users, and consultative interventions within teams
• The delivery of group programmes focussed on psychoeducation, offending behaviour, substance misuse, and mental distress.
• To audit and manage the dataset of risk assessments integral to the care of patients detained in River House.
• To assist in clinically related administration, conduct of audits, collection of statistics, development of audit and/or research projects, teaching and project work.
• To work following clinical guidelines and the policies and procedures of the service, while closely supervised and regularly seeking help from clinical/professional supervisor or manager.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

See attached JD/PS.

We have a strong track record of supporting Assistants onto doctoral training in both clinical and forensic fields. This post is well-suited to applicants with previous experience in Assistant roles especially in inpatient, forensic, or complex needs settings, though a strong understanding of the role and an ability to communicate the relevance of broader experiences will be considered in all applications. We are happy to discuss the post further with applicants shortlisted for interview.

Flexible working: The post is offered full time 1.0 wte (5 days). As one of the few Trusts in London we are proud to offer flexible working as part of our new ways of working. We are happy to discuss flexible working at the interview stage. Applicants should however note this specific role is patient-facing and ward-based, which necessitates presence on site most of the time to perform duties of the role.