Clinical Associate Psychologist (Qualified)

Job overview

We are delighted to be recruiting a Clinical Associate Psychologist (CAP) to work in the Psychological Skills Service (PSS). CAPs are a key member of the PSS Team and provide trauma informed and evidence-based psychological assessments and formulation and deliver both individual and group interventions under the supervision of a registered practitioner psychologist. CAPs work semi-autonomously within their scope of practice, supporting individuals with complex and enduring mental health needs.

The Psychological Skills Service was developed as part of the Exemplar project in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS trust (CPFT). CPFT were chosen by NHS England as one of the national exemplar pilot sites for the redesign and transformation of primary and community mental health care.

The goal of this transformation project was to develop and deliver a new service paradigm that seeks to provide a more seamless pathway of mental health care and eliminate current gaps between services. The PSS is a trauma informed service, acknowledging that most clients referred to the service, have experienced some form of trauma in their lives.

Main duties of the job

As a Clinical Associate in Psychology (CAP), you will be a core member of staff offering specialised psychological assessment and formulation for clients presenting with complex mental health. You will also provide evidence based psychological interventions (individual and group) appropriate to your skills and training, to target the many representations of complex trauma.

You will work alongside a Team Manager, Psychologist, Psychological Therapist, CAPs, Assistant Psychologist, Support Workers, and an Occupational Therapist. You will also work closely with the countywide consultant and principle psychologists and maintain close links with the other two PSS teams covering the county.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

On a day-to-day basis, the role will involve the following tasks:

• Building relationships with the client with a view to build a therapeutic relationship.
• Deliver therapeutic interventions – individual and group.
• Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a range of tasks. Including, but not limited to;

• Effectively communicate the content of their clinical work to supervisors and make use of direct feedback and direction to ensure safety and maximise the effectiveness of their work.
• To consult with relevant external agencies such as primary care, social services, independent and voluntary sector, to facilitate and enable intervention at multiple levels.
• To ensure that risk is assessed and managed following Trust policies and procedures.
• To make independent day to day clinical decisions; judgement and based on detailed psychological assessments, within the scope of practice for Clinical Associate Psychologists. Highly complex decisions and issues of clinical risk should be discussed with HCPC registered Clinical supervisor.
• Provide written reports and assessments for clients and other agencies, including discharge letters of interventions carried out.
• Work alongside the Clinical leadership team to analyse complex data sets to audit and evaluate the service and ensure safe and effective treatments are provided across the Cambridge Mental Health network.  Your data analysis will be a key part of how we decide if the project is effective and deciding whether we need to make changes.

• Triage meetings
• Interface meeting
• Clinical meetings
• Peer Supervision – Individual and group