Assistant Psychologist Cuh

Paid Clinical Experience Opportunities for Disadvantaged Aspiring Clinical Psychologists

We are delighted to have been awarded funding from Health Education England to support aspiring Clinical Psychologists from under-represented backgrounds through a cohort of Assistant Psychologist posts. These posts will be available at both Cambridge University Hospital (CUH) and the Perinatal Mental Health Team based in Peterborough.

These posts are intended to give opportunities to recent psychology graduates who are eager to develop initial clinical experience as aspiring Clinical Psychologists, who would otherwise be excluded from entering the profession through unpaid work experience (financial exclusion). This scheme is specifically designed to provide valuable experience, insight, and preparation for the next step, such as a substantive Assistant Psychologist post.

The working activities of Assistant Psychologists will correspond with this generic job description. However, exact tasks will vary depending on the specific role and context.

In addition to the support and supervision provided in the local service / team, post-holders will be supported in their career development through a series of webinars, peer-reflective practice groups, and opportunities to link with other Assistant Psychologists and Trainee Psychologists employed by the Trust.

**The key elements of the job role are**:
To support and enhance the professional psychological care of service users within the service, across all sectors of care.

Undertake clinically supervised work with service users on a one-to-one basis delivering psychological /therapeutic interventions, both individual and group based.

Under supervision, the post-holder will plan, organise, and teach on a variety of psycho-educational courses.

Work independently according to a plan agreed with HCPC registered Clinical Psychologists and within the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.

Undertake Research and Development (R&D) activities under the supervision of responsible Clinical Psychologist or others, for example: to assist in clinically related administration, conduct of audits, collection of statistics, and development of audit and/or research projects, and teaching and project work.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high-quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities

1. To support the psychology team and wider team in psychological assessment, care provision, planning, and delivery of evidence-based interventions, under the supervision of a Practitioner Psychologist.

2. To provide psychological interventions and maintain a clinical caseload under supervision.

3. To assist the psychology team in the development of individual or group clinical materials or training materials, such as the development of treatment manuals and group interventions.

4. As required, to support the team in delivering, managing, and evaluating other psychological interventions, such as psychology groups.

5. To act in a manner that supports a psychologically informed framework for the service.

6. To assess and manage risk within an appropriate psychological framework.

7. To work with other staff to assess and review service users’ care in preparation for multi-disciplinary treatment reviews.

8. To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary and psychology meetings.

9. To participate in the service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.

10. To ensure that service users are appropriately consulted about relevant aspects of their care and are empowered to express their views in a responsive environment.

11. To communicate highly complex and highly sensitive information with service users, families, and colleagues in a manner that is skilful, tactful, and sensitive.

12. To work with the appropriate degree of autonomy and report appropriately to the designated line manager according to Trust occupational guidelines.