Assistant Psychologist

Job summary

Flying Start is a Luton early years partnership and strategy for under 5's. It is also the foundation for the Luton Family Hubs model, following the award of funding from the Department of Education.

Flying Start have focused on early help in the earliest years of a child's life and have a strong focus on improving outcomes for all children. Historically they have developed early targeted and specialist support for parents, infants and young children, working closely with CAMHS Luton to support staff to undertake infant-parent observations and early years' interventions.

Within Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, Flying Start and Luton CAMHS are working closely to further develop integrated pathways for families so they can receive the right level of support at the right time. The post holder will be embedded within the Family Hubs and Flying start programme, while being closely supervised by a clinical psychologist and other appropriate CAMHS practitioners and part of the specialist CAMHS offer for Family Hubs. The post holder will have a degree of autonomy while receiving regular professional supervision to carry out their role effectively and safely.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for an experienced and innovative assistant psychologist to join the CAMHS early years team and work in partnership with Flying Start to form part of the exciting Family Hub initiative.

We have developed parent-infant and parent-child interventions working closely with CAMHS Luton to support staff to develop infant mental health skills in working with the early years and to undertake infant-parent observations and early years interventions. The post holder will support the continued development of an effective parent-infant relationship service working across all sectors and levels of care. Delivering support through a range of activities and programmes which encourage the development of healthy relationships and attachments and interventions which directly address parent-infant relationship difiiculties.

You will help further develop and implement the Family Hub model of parent-infant relationships and early support for families with infants and young children in Luton, using a programme logic approach to design, deliver and evaluate the complex community interventions. You will help analyse outcomes and evaluate data to measure impact and write reports to disseminate evidence thereof. You will need to advise other staff on the use of outcomes and stakeholders on their data analysis and emerging themes and report back to Luton Family Hub programme and Department of Education to show how we are making a difference to children and families in Luton.

About us

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will help to further develop and implement the Family Hub model of early support for young families in Luton, using a programme logic approach to design, deliver and evaluate the complex community interventions.

They will help analyse outcome/evaluation measure data (measuring impact) and write reports to disseminate evidence of impact.

They will need to advise other staff on the use of outcomes and stakeholders on their data analysis and emerging themes.

They will be able to conduct literature searches and summarise latest evidence, and be able to conduct evaluation and research studies as appropriate and agreed for the service.

The post holder will have a degree of independence while at the same time receiving weekly supervision and support to practice effectively and safely.

They will work in the community Family Hub and other bases outside of the CAMHS Charter House base.

They will help to develop training and will contribute to training other staff with specialised psychological approaches (eg. the Solihull Approach to parenting).

They will also be able to contribute to the offer of psychological interventions for parents and their young children as part of the early specialist child mental health offer with their CAMHS and Family Hub/Flying Start colleagues.

Person Specification

Education/ Qualification/Knowledge

Essential

A good undergraduate degree in psychology meeting British Psychological Society (BPS) with (eligibility for) graduate membership of the BPS. An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems and /or other disabilities. Ability to use computers for database analysis, such as SPSS, for windows and qualitative analysis packages. An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context. Able to design and deliver teaching/training programmes to a range of staff groups.

Desirable

Relevant specialist training or qualifications in therapeutic approaches in order to: -facilitate clinical interventions -understand challenges clinicians have in collating outcomes. An understanding of organizational issues, which may affect day-to-day work. Local knowledge and understanding of Luton.

Skills /Experience

Essential

Information resources: Experience of inputting data and using Microsoft Office; Experience with using computers for database analysis. Previous Experience: Previous experience as an Assistant Psychologist or similar roles, working with people with mental health needs. Experience of service-based evaluation and research. Communication & Relationship skills: High level of communication skills (written and verbal); Ability to communicate sensitively with clients, staff and external agencies, using accessible language; Able to provide & receive highly sensitive or contentious information in a highly emotive and sometimes hostile atmosphere, in a range of relationships and settings. Ability to work with a degree of independence in the community Family Hub and other community settings outside of the CAMHS base. Cultural awareness: Aware of the potential impact of discrimination & disadvantage on mental health.

Desirable

Previous Experience: Experience working in a multi-cultural setting; Experience working in a clinical team; Experience of developing and delivering training to staff groups; Experience of contributing to service development. Information resources: Competent use of other IT packages PowerPoint, Excel, RiO.

Personal

Essential

Physical effort: Able to sit in constrained positions for a substantial proportion of working time. Mental effort: Able to concentrate intensely for a substantial proportion of working time, during client contact, teaching/supervision sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc; Self- management skills to manage competing demands. Emotional effort: Able to manage effectively frequent exposure to highly distressing/highly emotional circumstances and exposure to traumatic circumstances. Values: Respectful approach to service users, families, carers, colleagues and other professionals. Willing to negotiate and can handle confrontation effectively and professionally. Flexibility: Able to be flexible and adapt approach according to need. Team Working Capacity to work effectively and reflectively as a member of a multi-disciplinary team. Planning and organisational skills: Able to plan, organise and prioritise own workload.

Other

Essential

Able to work to professional guidelines.

Desirable

Physical skills: Driving. Access to a car.

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