Assistant Psychologist

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Criminal Justice & Liaison & Diversion (CJLD) service. The role will be working across CJLD with a focus on the Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) pathway along with colleagues in the Probation and Courts Service.

CJLD is intended to improve the health and justice outcomes for adults who come into contact with the criminal justice systems where a range of complex needs are identified as factors in their offending behaviour. CJLD is developed to be integrated with the whole range of justice and health, social and voluntary support agencies and take awareness of a range of inter-related projects and programmes and developing initiatives.

MHTR is one of three treatment options available to the court when considering sentencing options. MHTR is designed to help people who experience mental health difficulties and is an opportunity for someone to engage with treatment while still receiving a sentence: a form of diversion within, rather than away from, the criminal justice system but outside custody. This treatment will be delivered by the MHTR pathway, under the direction of the Clinical Psychologist. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of and develop an inclusive, psychologically led service providing psychosocial interventions as part of court-ordered community sentences.

This vacancy may close early if a high volume of applications is received.

Job description

For MHTR, this will mean working with agreed case formulations and plans of care, ensuring models of psychological intervention delivered are evidence-based and relevant. Liaison and development and maintenance of robust relationships with partner agencies and involvement in overall CSTR process evaluation and development is key; therefore, the ability to work collaboratively is essential.

As this part of the service is in development, there will be a great opportunity under the guidance and supervision of the clinical psychologist to be part of developing this pathway in directing and enabling new ways of working, which cut across traditional professional and cultural boundaries and developing relationships with key internal and external partners.

Due to the UKVI immigration changes we are no longer able to offer sponsorship for this role. Please provide details of the visa type and expiry date in your application. Failure to provide the required information will result in your application being rejected.

Please see the job description and person specification for more detail.

When completing your application, please demonstrate how you meet the role criteria.

We can also offer you many staff benefits to help support you which include:

Early access to Psychological Therapies and Physiotherapy

Competitive annual leave allowance

Car leasing scheme

NHS pension scheme

Free eye tests

Money saving options through our salary sacrifice scheme

Discounts on major high street retailers and restaurants

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Honours Degree (minimum 2:1) in Psychology accredited by the British Psychological Society
• Entitlement to register with BPS

Desirable

• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working as an Assistant Psychologist/Research assistant
• Experience of applying psychology in direct work with others

Experience of working as part of a team

Experience of using supervision

Experience of working with people that may at times have the potential to respond to staff with hostility and aggression and being able to respond to hostility and aggression in a professional manner

Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively

Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance

Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in reports, letters and other health correspondence to clients and their referrers

Ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context

Ability to communicate with staff and service users at all ability levels

Desirable

• Experience of working with service users who are involved in the Criminal Justice System, including people who may have committed violent and / or sexual offences

Skills

Essential

• 1.Good written and verbal communication skills
• 2.Ability to work with clients on a one-to-one basis or within a group

3.Ability to work independently as well as part of a team

4.Ability to work with a large group of people, including other professionals and communicate information appropriately

5.Ability to develop good working relationships with clients and colleagues

6.Ability to communicate highly sensitive information to clients, carers and colleagues in a constructive and understandable way

7.Ability to adapt communication style if barriers to understanding and/or expression are present

8.Ability to be empathic and offer reassurance

9.Ability to deal sensitively with highly emotive/hostile situations

10.Ability to take minutes

11.A good level of analytical and judgemental skills are required in order to interpret information and to make accurate observations during assessments

12.Ability to conduct general administration duties

13.Ability to manage certain departmental resources, including tests and test materials

Excellent organisational skills are required to manage, prioritise and plan clinical caseload and diary as well as being responsible for various other tasks that require organisational ability

Keyboard skills involving the use of the organisational email system, the use and maintaining of service database and word processing skills

About the employer

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health services and a number of learning disability, autism and social care services in the county of Lincolnshire. Employing around 2,900 staff, and serving a population of over 768,400, our people lie at the heart of everything we do.

You could be part of a Trust rated by staff as one of the best mental health and learning disability trusts in England. We firmly believe the key to high quality care is a contented workforce. This is reflected in our Care Quality Commission rating of 'outstanding' for well-led and 'good' overall. In the most recent National NHS Staff Survey, our staff rated us as the number one trust nationally for staff morale and one of the top scoring NHS Trusts in the Midlands for being compassionate and inclusive. We're really proud of this!

We offer options for flexible working and provide a wide range of training and promotion opportunities in all professions. We support and celebrate diversity, have active staff networks groups and are always looking at what more we can do to support our staff.

Whether you're taking the first exciting steps in your career, itching for a new challenge or searching for a better place to raise a family, Lincolnshire has arange of rewarding health and social care careers in a county that's friendly, fascinating, affordable and brimming with everything you need to live a happy life.Visitbeinlincolnshire.comto find out more.