Assistant Psychologist

Key Responsibilities: KR 1 Clinical and Client Care a. To provide psychological assessments for clients in the various services in the borough who present in crisis; including assessment of risk. b. To co-create crisis-focused management plans with service users and their personal and professional network. c. To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required. d. Liaise with professionals and individuals across a service users network whilst respecting confidentiality and information sharing policies. e. Support the linked CMHT in identifying HIUs and facilitating discussion/reflection with qualified members of the Crisis Plus team. f. To assist in the development of individual and network-wide clinical materials or training materials, and in addition to develop such materials independently as falls within own degree of competence. g. To arrange, schedule and provide training to carers or employees of partner agencies in order to support the clinical work with clients. KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning a. To contribute to the effective working of the service e.g. by registering new referrals; creating databases to track processes or progress through pathways and keeping them up to date; contributing to the training and support of other staff in developing and providing psychological care of clients. b. To act in a manner that supports a psychologically-informed framework for the service. c. To support the team or services delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities. d. To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans. e. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members. KR 3 Policy and service development a. To follow policies and procedures in own area of work, and to comment on proposed improvements or beneficial changes. b. To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects. c. To support the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services that meet the needs of local communities. KR 4 Care or management of resources a. To take care of, and use carefully, the Trusts equipment and physical resources. b. To ensure that the postholder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed. KR 5 Teaching and Training a. To demonstrate work methods to newly recruited Assistant Psychologists and to support their development of necessary skills. b. To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations or published articles. c. To arrange, schedule and provide training to employees of the Trust or employees of partner agencies in order to support service improvement. KR 6 Record-keeping and Information Governance a. To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures. b. To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry. c. To create and maintain databases, perform analyses and produce reports. KR 7 Research and development a. To assist in the design and implementation of audit and research projects to inform the service Clinical Psychologist and others in the development of Trust clinical psychology services, training provision and research activities. b. To undertake data collection, analysis, the production of reports and summaries, using IT and statistical programmes. c. To undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research to assist in the development in the Trust of evidence-based practice. d. To conduct surveys with service users and carers to gather views on service provision KR 8 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development a. To receive regular clinical and professional supervision according to HCPC and Trust guidelines. b. To gain wider experience of professional psychology within the NHS over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post-holder is employed. c. To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties. d. To undertake personal training relevant to the post in agreement with the supervising psychologist and the manager. KR 9 General a. To travel to appropriate meetings and venues across Southwark directorate and across the Trust as required. b. To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group and follow trust policies relating to its management. c. To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations (challenging behaviour, self-harm, harm to others, suicide and violence) and to support others involved in such situations. Job description Job responsibilities Key Responsibilities: KR 1 Clinical and Client Care a. To provide psychological assessments for clients in the various services in the borough who present in crisis; including assessment of risk. b. To co-create crisis-focused management plans with service users and their personal and professional network. c. To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required. d. Liaise with professionals and individuals across a service users network whilst respecting confidentiality and information sharing policies. e. Support the linked CMHT in identifying HIUs and facilitating discussion/reflection with qualified members of the Crisis Plus team. f. To assist in the development of individual and network-wide clinical materials or training materials, and in addition to develop such materials independently as falls within own degree of competence. g. To arrange, schedule and provide training to carers or employees of partner agencies in order to support the clinical work with clients. KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning a. To contribute to the effective working of the service e.g. by registering new referrals; creating databases to track processes or progress through pathways and keeping them up to date; contributing to the training and support of other staff in developing and providing psychological care of clients. b. To act in a manner that supports a psychologically-informed framework for the service. c. To support the team or services delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities. d. To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans. e. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members. KR 3 Policy and service development a. To follow policies and procedures in own area of work, and to comment on proposed improvements or beneficial changes. b. To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects. c. To support the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services that meet the needs of local communities. KR 4 Care or management of resources a. To take care of, and use carefully, the Trusts equipment and physical resources. b. To ensure that the postholder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed. KR 5 Teaching and Training a. To demonstrate work methods to newly recruited Assistant Psychologists and to support their development of necessary skills. b. To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations or published articles. c. To arrange, schedule and provide training to employees of the Trust or employees of partner agencies in order to support service improvement. KR 6 Record-keeping and Information Governance a. To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures. b. To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry. c. To create and maintain databases, perform analyses and produce reports. KR 7 Research and development a. To assist in the design and implementation of audit and research projects to inform the service Clinical Psychologist and others in the development of Trust clinical psychology services, training provision and research activities. b. To undertake data collection, analysis, the production of reports and summaries, using IT and statistical programmes. c. To undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research to assist in the development in the Trust of evidence-based practice. d. To conduct surveys with service users and carers to gather views on service provision KR 8 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development a. To receive regular clinical and professional supervision according to HCPC and Trust guidelines. b. To gain wider experience of professional psychology within the NHS over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post-holder is employed. c. To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties. d. To undertake personal training relevant to the post in agreement with the supervising psychologist and the manager. KR 9 General a. To travel to appropriate meetings and venues across Southwark directorate and across the Trust as required. b. To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group and follow trust policies relating to its management. c. To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations (challenging behaviour, self-harm, harm to others, suicide and violence) and to support others involved in such situations.