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Job summary

Main area
Psychology MH Inpatient
Grade
Band 4
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
371-MHS453
Employer
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Prospect Park Hospital
Town
Reading
Salary
£25,147 - £27,596 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
29/07/2024 23:59

Employer heading

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust logo

Assistant Psychologist

Band 4

Job overview

INTERNAL ONLY - This post is open to Berkshire Healthcare NHS Employees Only

 

We are looking to recruit an Assistant Psychologist to work full-time at Prospect Park Hospital on an adult acute mental health ward. 

Main duties of the job

  •          You will be based on one of the adult acute mental health wards at Prospect Park Hospital. Under supervision of a Counselling or Clinical Psychologist you will take on a clinical caseload that will include both individual and group work with adults with complex mental health presentations.  
  •          You will offer assessments and interventions (both individual and group) to patients and carers.
  •          You will support the running of team formulation sessions, teaching and staff support sessions.
  •          You will develop resources, write reports and gather background information on patients who have recently been admitted.
  •          You will input into your allocated ward’s multi-disciplinary team meeting.
  •          You will be support the quality improvement work on your ward and in the Psychology team.
  •          You will be part of the Inpatients Psychology team and receive peer support from the six other Assistant Psychologists in the team. At times you may work on the other wards at Prospect Park Hospital, as needed. Occasionally you might also support your ward or others wards at Prospect Park Hospital with non-Psychology tasks if there is a need for this.

Working for our organisation

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, we’re committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire. 

We value diversity and are proud to be a Stonewall Top 100 Employer. We work hard to create an inclusive environment where you’ll be supported by friendly and professional colleagues to flourish.

Our values at Berkshire Healthcare:

  • Caring for and about you is our top priority
  • Committed to providing good quality, safe services
  • Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions

We welcome people who share these values to come and work for us.

Benefits of working for us include:

  • Flexible working options to support work-life balance
  • 27 days’ annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
  • Generous NHS pension scheme
  • Excellent learning and career development opportunities
  • ‘Cycle to Work’ and car leasing scheme including electric vehicles
  • Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
  • Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
  • Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities, the environment and armed forces community to support equality
  • Generous maternity, paternity, adoption and special leave
  • Free parking across Trust sites

If you share our values and would like to come and work for us, please submit your application as soon as possible as we'll occasionally close roles early that have a high number of applications.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The “must haves” for this role:

1.    An upper second class honours degree or higher in psychology.

2.    Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society

3.    Demonstrable understanding of an acute mental health environment

4.    Experience of working with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities

5.    High level of communication and team-working skills

 

For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification. We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted. For further application tips – see the help with your application document attached once you click apply.

If you’re someone who shares our passion for excellence and care, you belong at Berkshire Healthcare!

We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to call: Keren Nowak on 0118 904 3916 or email: [email protected] who’ll be delighted to help.

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • An upper second class honours degree or higher in psychology.
  • Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society
Desirable criteria
  • Further post graduate training in relevant areas of clinical psychology, mental health practice, and/or research design and analysis

Training/CPD

Essential criteria
  • Desire to undertake further training and self-improvement to support patient experience

Previous Experience

Essential criteria
  • Demonstrable understanding of an acute mental health environment
  • Work with people with mental health problems and/or other disabilities
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of working in an inpatient psychiatric ward.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Essential criteria
  • Ability to communicate sensitively with staff members, service-users, carers, and other parties, in a work setting in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive and hostile.
  • An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems or other disabilities. Some knowledge of common mental health problems.
  • An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health context
  • An understanding of psychology applied to health care.
  • Knowledge and skills in mental health assessments
  • Good knowledge of IT (Word, Excel, Access and SPSS) and a high standard of report writing.
  • Sound research skills, including a working knowledge of statistics, and ability to analyse data and produce good quality reports.
  • Able to work effectively with colleagues
  • Able to work under pressure
  • Ability to work in a stressful environment

Additional Requirements

Essential criteria
  • An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines
  • Honest, trustworthy, reliable
  • Understand the limits of your abilities

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoDisability confident employerCarer confident logo, the employers for carers confident schemeCare quality commission - OutstandingStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Armed Forces Covenant

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Keren Nowak
Job title
Clinical / Counselling Psychologist
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01189043916
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