Assistant Psychologist

**About The Role**:
**UNLOCK YOUR BEST WORK LIFE**

**+ MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO EVERY LIFE**

This is an opportunity you don’t want to miss. At Practice Plus Group we put people’s wellbeing first. Our Health in Justice service line is now expanding into non-Custodial healthcare, a person-centred approach delivered via a solid and consolidated infrastructure aimed to assess individuals’ mental health and neurodiversity requirements, to redirect them to the most appropriate channel. We have an exciting opportunity for an Assistant Psychologist to join our team in North Yorkshire.

As an Assistant Psychologist you will work with service users at the Crown Court and/or Magistrates Court to address underlying unmet mental health needs and improve access to psychological intervention in an attempt to reduce offending and custodial sentences.

**Location**

This role is based at York& Selby Magistrates' Court

**Hours**

37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday (with occasional Saturday mornings) during core business hours.

**Salary**

This position is full time and you will receive a salary of £28,000 to £40,000 depending on experience

**What you'll be doing**:
As an Assistant Psychologist you will:

- deliver treatment through a descriptive national MHTR pathway, under the supervision of the Lead Psychologist, focussing on provision of brief psychological interventions for difficulties such as low mood and anxiety, within a relatively complex population. This includes service-users with significant trauma histories, learning difficulties, neurodevelopmental conditions, and those who have attracted a diagnosis of personality disorder
- support criminal justice partners and colleagues aims to divert people away from short custodial sentences and reduce reoffending via improving access to psychological interventions by addressing underlying unmet needs
- conduct the initial assessments for the service, deliver individual therapeutic interventions, contribute to service evaluation projects, and work closely with probation officers, who act as the lead professional for the case

Practice Plus Group are the UK’s leading independent provider of NHS services to over 40,000 patients in secure environments, always putting their needs first, regardless of their background. We aim to deliver a truly integrated model that will guide all groups involved in the judicial pathway to provide a more meaningful experience to the individuals involved.

**What we’ll look for in you**:
Practice Plus Group’s purpose is to Unlock your best work life and we stand by our core values:

- we treat patients as they would like to be treated
- we act with integrity
- we embrace diversity
- we strive to do things better together

**Qualifications and skills required**:
- Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology (entitlement to graduate basis for chartered membership (GBC) of the British Psychological Society; or MSc in Forensic/ Health;
- Evidence of foundation training in evidence-based psychological frameworks i.e., CFT, CBT, DBT, ACT
- Knowledge of evidenced based psychological therapies relevant to managing mental health distress
- Understanding of complex mental health/neurodevelopmental and substance misuse issues and presentations and the role of trauma on offending behaviour
- Understanding Trauma Informed Practice

Our person-centred model is focused on providing meaningful pathways to anyone faced with criminal charges, as well as understanding what triggers and socio-economic circumstances might lead to people offending. We will treat individuals more holistically, focusing on the person and early intervention strategies to reduce risks and improve outcomes.