Assistant Psychologist

Assistant Psychologist in Learning Disabilities (Band 4)

Milton Keynes Community Team for Adults with Learning Disabilities

This is a rare opportunity for an enthusiastic and passionate Assistant Psychologist to join the Milton Keynes Community Team for Adults with Learning Disabilities (MK CTALD) working alongside the Consultant Psychologist.

Our highly specialised MDT is seeking to recruit an enthusiastic, motivated, and collaborative individual to support the team to deliver the best care for our service users. This may involve engaging in clinical work under the guidance and supervision of the Consultant Psychologist, assisting in administrative tasks, audits, statistics, and research as necessary. There may also be teaching and training opportunities both within the service and to our partner services and families.

The primary focus will be to work in conjunction with MDT members to support services users by using evidenced based psychological and behavioural interventions as well as developing and running groups that will support service users, conducting assessments, as well as delivering training and education packages to individual service users, families, and carers.

This work will be completed under the supervision of the team consultant psychologist, the post holder will work independently according to an agreed plan and within the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures. The post holder will also assist in clinically related administration, conduct of audits, collection of outcome measures and statistics, development of audit and/or research projects, and project work.

Milton Keynes Community Team for Adults with Learning Disabilities (MK CTALD) is an integrated health and social care provision delivered as a partnership between Milton Keynes City Council (MKCC) and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL). The team provides secondary health services to people in MK that have an intellectual disability and are over the age of eighteen. The clinical MDT includes Psychology, Psychiatry, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Dietetics and Community Nursing.

CNWL NHS Foundation Trust is committed to supervision and the ongoing professional development of all its employees and is keen to enable to post holder to innovate and evolve with the service. The Trust has various Psychology and Assistant Psychologist forums which the post holder would be encouraged to attend.

The post holder will receive clinical supervision from the Consultant Psychologist within the CTALD.

This role will involve some travel.

For further details please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for the post.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

1. To undertake psychological assessments of clients including, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.

2. To conduct where necessary more detailed behavioural assessments with regards to an individual’s learning disabilities, adaptive and social skills functioning, clinical risks and challenging behaviour.

3. To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s problems, under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist.

4. To assist in the development, coordination and running of therapeutic groups.

5. To assist in the development of a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings where care takes place.

6. To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.

**Teaching, training, and supervision**:
1. In common with all professional psychologists, to receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines.

2. To gain wider experience of professional psychology within the Trust over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post holder is employed.

3. To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties.

4. To contribute to the training and support of other staff in psychological care.

**Service development and evaluation**:
1. To assist in the design and implementation of service development/evaluation projects within the service as required.
2. To attend meetings in which service developments/evaluation are planned and discussed.
3. To undertake data collection and, under the direct supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, the analysis and production of reports and summaries, using IT and statistical programme