Assistant Psychologist

Job summary

Assistant Psychologist

National Deaf Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (NDCAMHS)

Full time hours Band 4.

We have an exciting opportunity for an Assistant Psychologist to join the National Deaf CAMHS team for Central England, which covers the West Midlands, East Midlands and South Central regions (see map in link below). This post is mainly to support the neurodevelopmental assessment/follow-up work in the Central England service, as well as supporting group work and additional clinical work in the CAMHS team. Whilst this post is mainly supporting the work of our South Central team you need to be prepared to travel anywhere in the above regions (travel time is in work time and is paid for by work). You will need to be able to travel regularly to Wootton Bassett for supervision and access to assessments.

Group work may involve some early evening sessions working remotely to enable parents to attend.

We particularly welcome and encourage applications from deaf psychology graduates. We have a guaranteed interview scheme and we strongly encourage deaf applicants to declare so that they can be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria.

We encourage applications from psychology graduates with a good level of British Sign Language (BSL).

Main duties of the job

You will be joining other psychologists and psychological therapists in providing an excellent therapeutic service to young people and families, as well as joining at a time when we are strengthening the teams' psychologically-informed culture.

National Deaf CAMHS

National Deaf CAMHS is an innovative community and inpatient mental health service delivering a pathway of care for 0-18 year olds across England. The national service is delivered by four NHS Trusts, and our teams link closely together. You will be working closely with our key partners where together we have an ambition to deliver an outstanding model of mental health care for the deaf children, young people and parents of England.

NDCAMHS is a unique and truly individual service We are continuously learning and evolving, as we work together to meet the mental health needs of children, young people and parents who are deaf.

About us

We are a fully integrated multi-disciplinary team comprising Psychologists; Psychiatrists; Systemic Family Therapists; Nurses; Occupational Therapists and Family Support Workers. A key aspect of the role is working closely with clinicians/practitioners as part of a bi-lingual, bi-cultural multi-disciplinary team with deaf and hearing practitioners and BSL/English Interpreters. We welcome deaf applicants, and applicants who already have a high level of British Sign Language, however specialist training and development will be provided to develop knowledge and skills for working with deaf children and young people. This would include access to training to develop British Sign Language knowledge and skills.

Post holders would be based at home and all travel would be in work time and paid from home. We are well resourced for remote working. We have use of offices across the region including in Wootton Basset and Selly Oak, Birmingham; as well as an admin office in Dudley. We arrange venues across the full region to see clients.

Job responsibilities

Assistant Psychologist

Your main role will be supporting the neurodevelopmental work of our service, including supporting assessments and follow up work. You will also be supporting the planning and delivery of group work which is mainly run remotely.

You would also support Clinical Psychologists in the delivery of specialist psychological assessments and interventions to clients with complex mental health conditions, 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. You would be work flexibly across pathways of care in a variety of community settings and work closely with clinicians/practitioners in multi-disciplinary teams including deaf and hearing staff and BSL/English Interpreters.

Our clients use a wide range of communication modalities including British Sign Language, Sign Supported English, various spoken languages and minimal language. You would work with a varied caseload, under supervision, which will include carrying out specialist assessment and therapeutic interventions, working flexibly across pathways of care in a variety of community settings, and to work closely with clinicians/practitioners in multi-disciplinary teams. We work both directly with families, as well as offering joint care with local CAMHS services, multi-agency working and consultation. Excellent problem-solving, communication and interpersonal skills and a positive attitude towards working with deaf children, and their families, with complex mental health needs are essential.

You will have opportunities to work within our neurodevelopmental pathway, trauma and attachment care-pathways and Systemic Family Therapy offer, as well as working with a wide range of referred needs.

The service also offers a unique opportunity for an Assistant Psychologist to input into the development of specialist services for deaf children and young people, including audit, research and service development.

The main admin office base for the outreach team is in Dudley, however clinicians are based from their homes across the whole of the Central England (West Midlands, East Midlands, South Central) region and you will be required to travel to a range of settings throughout the Central England region. You may be required to attend occasional national meetings with our colleagues in other areas of our NDCAMHS services across England. We have access to a lease car scheme and paid for accommodation if needing to be further from home. Clinical and office spaces can be booked across the region as needed. Travel is counted as part of your working hours. Due to COVID-19, we have developed the ability to offer a remote service using video calls, and now restrictions are easing we will continue with an integrated approach for clinical work using video conferencing as well as face-to-face work to manage our travel where appropriate. We hold many of our meetings by video conferencing, but integrated with some face to face meetings so balancing the need for team connection with reducing travel. Post holders would be provided with facilities to enable remote working such as desks and IT equipment.

We regularly have Trainee Clinical Psychologists working with us from the Birmingham and Coventry and Warwick courses, and Honorary Assistant Psychology placements from the MRes in Clinical Psychology, and Year in Industry placements from Aston University. We would be keen to develop more links with courses across our geographical region, and host more placements for aspiring psychologists who are deaf themselves. As well as the links with the BCHF Trust Psychologists, we also have a Psychology Best Practice Group across NDCAMHS, and a wider network of Applied Psychologists working with Deaf People Special Interest Group (APDSIG). There are active assistant groups across each of these. We are also developing therapy-specific Special Interest Groups across NDCAMHS and wider networks working with deaf children and adults.

For further supporting information to apply for this role please see documents attached under Additional documents.

Attached map

This is an externally provided map but gives an idea of the geographical areas we cover.

skills, experience & qualifications

Essential

Desirable