Assistant Psychologist

Job overview

The Clinical Psychology service for the Nottinghamshire Adult Mental Health Acute Care Network provides high quality psychological assessment, advice and intervention within local adult acute mental health wards.

We have a 30 hour fixed term (12 months) band 4 Assistant Psychologist post available on one of our male acute wards (Highbury Hospital).  We are seeking candidates with a keen interest and demonstrated experience in adult acute mental health to join our enthusiastic multi-disciplinary teams. We would particularly like to encourage candidates with acute inpatient experience to apply.

Please note that this post requires a Psychology Honours degree meeting the requirements for graduate basis for registration with the British Psychological Society- applications without a Psychology degree will not be considered.

You will work in inpatient services and will have good opportunities to participate in individual assessment and formulation of patients’ needs, including a wide range of clinical presentations. There will also be opportunities to plan and deliver both individual and group interventions under the supervision of qualified clinical psychologists. You will work directly with patients and indirectly to advise the multi-disciplinary team, e.g. providing advice at ward review meetings on psychological aspects of patient care.

Main duties of the job

We are seeking candidates who can work confidently under supervision, can follow direction, have the ability to work in teams, and are adaptable and responsive to the needs of the service they are working in. Our commitment to you is we will provide you with the opportunity for you to develop professionally within committed and supportive adult mental health services and play an important role in supporting increasing access to psychological therapies within our acute adult mental health wards.

Applicants should have completed a Psychology honours degree with 2:1 or higher, have clinically relevant work experience and knowledge of psychological assessments and interventions.

The service enjoys good links with local Doctoral training courses in clinical psychology.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The main duties/responsibilities of the role are:-

To support and carry out a range of psychometric and other assessments with people who have a range of acute mental health problems and might be at risk of harm to self or others. These may include observations, interviews and intellectual and executive skill assessments.

To support and carry out defined therapeutic interventions with people with acute mental health problems and their carers.

To support interventions with staff teams, such as consultancy, training, identifying resources, multi-disciplinary working, signposting staff to appropriate services and service promotion.

To support data collection and analysis, for both clinical and service evaluation, as required. This may include collecting and reviewing a variety of data such as psychometric scores, interview data, historical information, literature searches. It may also involve data analysis and report writing under supervision.

Please note that this post does not meet the pay level required for a Skilled worker visa. Successful applicants with no prior NHS experience would normally be placed at the bottom of the band in line with Agenda for Change. This salary is below the minimum salary required for sponsorship for a Skilled Worker / Health & Care visa. In these circumstances the Trust would not, therefore, be able to sponsor for a Skilled Worker / Health & Care visa. Applicants requiring a Skilled Worker Visa can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship against the relevant criteria here https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa

Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. The cost of the DBS application is £26.40 (standard) or £54.40 (enhanced), this cost will be deducted from your salary over the first 2 months of employment.

You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. An annual fee of £16 per year applies.

A full UK driving licence and vehicle for business use is required for this post; however reasonable adjustments will be made for disabled individuals in line with the Equality Act 2010.