Assistant Psychologist

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.

**Job overview**:
**Would you like to work at the cutting edge of specialist provision for children & young people? Do you have an interest in the interface between physical, mental health & neurodevelopment disorder? We would love you to join our innovative Suffolk CFYP ARFID Team**

We have established a new Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) pathway to meet the needs of children and young people in Suffolk. ARFID has been identified by the ICB as a priority area of service development and funds obtained to develop this exciting clinical offer.

The post-holder will join a specialist multi-disciplinary team that includes psychology, paediatric, psychiatry, dietetic, & OT provision. Operating in an emergent field, the ARFID service will adopt an evidence-informed approach, providing consultation, assessment, formulation, and planning/support for interventions for CYP meeting diagnostic criteria. It is our aim that the MDT will enable the wider system to best support children and young people with ARFID and their families, as they navigate severe food-related anxiety.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of this new pathway as an Assistant Psychologist. We are looking for someone motivated, enthusiastic, and interested in ARFID, service evaluation, and service development. You will ideally have experience working with young people and their families, with some knowledge of eating disorders.

**Main duties of the job**:
Take a lead role in inputting Routine Outcome Measures (ROMS) and associated data audits, in addition to supporting the team with management and inputting of ROMS.
- Supporting professional consultations with external professionals including accompanying administration and shared actions with lead clinician. There will be opportunities to lead on sharing feedback regarding consultations to support the development of team practice.
- Opportunities to co-facilitate our team’s parent carer psychoeducation groups and support with the development of website content and materials.
- Supporting clinical assessments of young people for considerations of whether they meet the diagnostic criteria for a diagnosis or ARFID including accompanying administration.
- Delivering goal-setting sessions with young people and parents.
- Supporting the team’s service evaluations. There may be opportunities to contribute to research that builds on the evidence base for ARFID.
- Co-facilitating the delivery of professional training to other teams (internal and external).
- Potentially cofacilitating peer support and /or coproduction groups.

**Working for our organisation**:
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

**Why work for us?** We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

**Why Norfolk and Suffolk?** The people here are warm and welcoming, you’ll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We’re an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

Some home-based working may also be available, in addition to patient-facing delivery. This role is Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm.

**Detailed job description and main responsibilities**:
As an Assistant Psychologist, we will expect you:

- To support the provision of a specialist psychological therapy service to individuals, carers, families, and professionals, and to support contributions to the ongoing development of the ARFID pathway.
- Under supervision of the Clinical Psychologist, and in conjunction with the wider multi-disciplinary team, to support the team’s assessment, formulation, and intervention planning for CYP with ARFID.
- To be proactive at managing your workload and work autonomously under the supervision of the Clinical Psychologist.
- To manage a range of projects at any one time, involving both direct clinical work and indirect work.
- To undertake specialist training and CPD if required and identified by your clinical supervisor to support the needs of the pathway.
- To attend and make appropriate use of regular clinical supervision with the te