Assistant Psychologist

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

A vacancy for a Paediatric Speech and Language Therapist has arisen at NELFT NHS Foundation Trust.This is an exciting opportunity to join a well-established, supportive and experienced Speech & Language Therapy Team that can develop your skills and interests.We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated individual to be part of our friendly, diverse and innovative team and contribute to the future of our service. 

Our team is based in Barking and Dagenham and is part of the Integrated Paediatric Therapy Department including Speech and Language Therapists, Paediatricians, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Social Workers and Psychologists. You will be responsible for assessing and carrying out direct and indirect therapy with children presenting with speech, language and communication disorders. You will work with pre-school children in clinic and nursery settings and school aged children in clinic and mainstream settings. 

As a successful candidate you will have a recognised Speech and Language Therapy degree and HCPC registration. You will demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills (including observation, listening and empathy skills) to support the individual needs of clients, carers, families and professionals. You will independently organise, plan and prioritise your own workload, and that of assistant staff as well as demonstrate appropriate strategies for caseload management.

We are open to offering this position as a developing Band 5-6 post.

Salary for band 5 £29,970 to £36,483
Salary for band 6 £37,338 to £44,962

Main duties of the job

The main responsibilities of the post:

1.To contribute to the provision of speech and language therapy clinical care pathways across Barking and Dagenham

2.To deliver comprehensive formal and informal assessment, and make differential diagnosis on the basis of assessment findings

3.To develop evidence based intervention programmes, adapt and facilitate therapy according to client centred needs

4.To provide specialist knowledge, advice, training and teaching to parents, carers, students and SLT team

5.To work closely with clients, carers, families and school staff to embed inclusive speech, language and communication practice both across settings

6.To provide mentoring of colleagues and peer support

7.To contribute to both multi-disciplinary team working to ensure co-ordinated service provision

8.To attend relevant training courses, meetings and special interest groups related to your specialism in order to maintain skills and knowledge required of a Speech and Language Therapist working in the field of paediatrics

Working for our organisation

Starting with NELFT
NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focusing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period
This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

High Cost Area Supplement – London
This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary with a minimum payment of £4,551 and a maximum payment of £5,735 per annum (pro rata).

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points based system.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further details about our vacancies.

Please get in touch if you think you could bring something to the role and are interested in joining our team (even if you don't meet all of the role requirements)

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Degree in Speech and Language Therapy

Experience

Essential criteria

At least 1 experience working in paediatrics with clients who have a range of speech, language and communication needs

Desirable criteria

Previous NHS experience At least 2 years working in paediatrics with clients who have a range of speech, language and communication needs

Skills

Essential criteria

Excellent written and verbal presentation skills Administering assessments, analysing assessment results and setting appropriate goals Delivering evidence-based intervention programmes

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Knowledge of NELFT Trust Values Understanding of Language and Social Communication Pathway in either preschool or school age children

Desirable criteria

Understanding of Language and Social Communication Pathway in preschool and school age children

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff. A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity. Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors. Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.

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