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.

At any one time, around 23,000 people in Norfolk and Suffolk are receiving care and attention from the Trust. We believe in whole life care - seeing people in the context of their whole lives, understanding the importance of good physical health, friends, family, spirituality, culture, home, work, education and a sense of purpose and achievement to experience good mental health.

Nearly 3,800 full and part-time practitioners care for our service users in hospitals, in the community and in their own homes, whilst an additional 1,400+ staff provide non-clinical support, including cleaning, catering, delivering supplies, ward administration, information technology, human resources and financial services.

We are committed to delivering quality driven mental health services. Every individual makes a valuable contribution. We are proud of our staff who have been commended for the care they provide. Do you value working positively, respectfully and together? If so, we’d love you to join us

JOB DESCRIPTION/PERSON SPECIFICATION

YOUR APPLICATION

**Job overview**:
To support and enhance the professional psychological care of patients admitted on to the acute mental health wards at Hellesdon Hospital. Providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist, working independently
according to a plan agreed with a qualified clinical psychologist and within the overall framework of the teams’ policies and procedures. Providing intervention via both one to one and group work. To assist in clinically related administration, teaching and project work. To take part in research; to collect, input and analyse routine data and to report this to clinical
teams, managers and others; to liaise with clinical teams across the directorate.

**Main duties of the job**:
To carry out protocol based psychological assessments of patients, including neuropsychological tests, self
- report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi
- structured interviews with patients and others involved in their care, under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist.

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

Where required and appropriate, to assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups, under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist.

Where required and appropriate, to prepare psychology reports, under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist.

Where required and appropriate, to attend and contribute to appropriate multi
- disciplinary meetings.

**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.

**Detailed job description and main responsibilities**:
**Person specification**:
**Qualifications**:
**Essential criteria**:

- BPS accredited degree in Psychology

**Desirable criteria**:

- Relevant postgraduate qualifications

**Experience**:
**Essential criteria**:

- Experience of working with individuals with mental health difficulties

**Desirable criteria**:

- Experience of working in an inpatient setting
- Experience of working as an assistant psychologist
- Experience of working as an assistant practitioner or support worker
- Experience of working within a community mental health team

**Research**:
**Essential criteria**:

- Able to demonstrate research knowledge and experience

**Desirable criteria**:

- Postgraduate research qualification
- Experience of working as a research assistant
- Experience of research within the NHS
- EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES _Apart from its legal duties in rel