Assistant Psychologist

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore, we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us.

Halton Recovery Team is looking to recruit an assistant psychologist on a permanent contract to join our large and ever-growing team of psychologists, nurses, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, pharmacists and support workers and soon to be peer support workers. We provide needs led care and therapy to adults in Runcorn and Widnes with complex mental health needs. Applicants should have an appropriate psychology degree and a desire to help people who have complex mental health needs/trauma to help them to enhance their confidence in managing their mental health to live life well. You will be part of our Recovery Team and receive clinical supervision from a clinical psychologist.

Your role will involve providing brief (up to 12 weeks) individual and group psychological interventions within our Recovery Team. Interventions include Structured Psychological Support which is a client led psychological intervention for people with relational and emotional needs. Another part of the role will be to deliver skills based groups. Training will be provided to support you to deliver these therapies/interventions.

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands. We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together.

To support Qualified Psychologists by undertaking psychological assessments of clients applying psychologically based psychometric tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care. To assist in the formulation and delivery of care plans involving the psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s problems, under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, in a range of settings as appropriate. To assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups. To work with other disciplines to assess inpatients, outpatients, day patients or residents and review their care in preparation for multi-disciplinary reviews.

Qualifications: An honours degree in that satisfies the British Psychological Society criteria for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership. Post graduate training in areas relevant to psychological practice, mental health and/or research design and analysis.

Work experience in any organisation. Experience of research methodology, data collection, analysis and report writing. Knowledge of a broad range of Psychological theories and the application of these to mental health, in particular, self-harming behaviours. Experience designing and conducting large scale research, audit or service evaluations. Previous experience working with service users and families. Knowledge of Psychological Therapies. Knowledge of NICE guidelines. Knowledge of policies and legislation relevant to recovery based services.

Skills: Excellent interpersonal skills. High level communication skills – verbal and written – with professionals, children, young people and families. Ability to communicate sensitive information to children, young people and families.