Band 5 Higher Assistant Psychologist in Peterborough

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 5 Higher Assistant Psychologist to work within the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Offender Personality Disorder Pathway Service. This small but established team arises from a joint initiative between Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Foundation Trust and National Probation Service. There current post will be based in the community at the Approved Premises in Peterborough. The Approved Premise is a Psychologically Informed Planned Environment. The post-holder will be working to develop the PIPE, its residents and staff. Our PIPE offers the opportunity to participate in planning and pre arrival work with the residents. The co-delivery of brief psycho-education groups and skills-based training to residents. As well as developing the residents' engagement, motivation and implementing individualised risk management plans., The role offer further opportunities to gain insight into multi-agency risk management processes (e.g. MAPPA), as well as gaining a wider perspective of services for this client group; through attendance at commissioning meetings and regional/ national events. The role will give opportunities to expand experience with; consultation work, conduction of audits, collection and analysis of statistics, development of audit and/or research projects, clinically related administration, as well as other associated project work., Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities

• To support the running of the PIPE, its staff and residents through groups, training and consultation.
• To assist in the development of formulations/ case summaries and support PIPE staff in the planning and working with residents. The OPD Pathway is not an intervention service, but a small number of cases may require co-delivery of psychologically-informed work, conducted under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist.
• To work within risk assessments undertaken within the service in line with Trust and inter-agency policies/procedures.
• To work with other staff to assess and review the needs/ care of offenders across the PIPE and Peterborough and Cambridgeshire region.
• To assist in the development of a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings where care takes place (note: Could include prison environments).
• To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings, including; team meetings, team supervisions, probation based meetings and commissioning meetings (where appropriate).
• To manage data collection, audits and analysis to support the develop of the service and monitor quality.

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines.

The team is looking for an enthusiastic, robust, committed individual who has a keen interest in working with complex forensic clients with identified personality difficulties. Previous experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team, with clients with personality difficulties (diagnosed or undiagnosed) and/ or complex presentations/ challenging behaviours is essential. Furthermore, previous experience of working with clients within forensic settings is desirable.

• Experience of people with personality disorder difficulties and/ or complex presentations/ challenging behaviours.
• Experience of working within a multidisciplinary team, Previous experience of an assistant psychologist post or equivalent
• Experience of working with forensic clients
• Lived experience of mental health, Able to demonstrate commitment to high quality care and service provision
• High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive and distressing and to be balanced with robust risk management.
• Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance.
• Competent in the use of software programmes such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Experience of developing and maintaining databases for the purposes of data-analysis e.g. use of Excel or SPSS for Windows
• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with enduring mental health problems and personality disorders.
• An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to the context of people with personality disorders.
• A clear understanding of the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach to risk management within forensic services., High standard of report writing.
• Experience of formulation development with clients
• Experience of supporting the design of group training packages.
• Experience of participation in group facilitation with clients
• Experience of participation in training to staff/ others
• An understanding of psychology applied to forensic clients and PIPE.
• Awareness of the Schema Therapy Model/ Mode Model
• Awareness of/ experience with DBT skills-based approaches, Ability to travel independently and in a timely manner across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to meet strict deadlines. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead fulfilling lives.

Our clinical teams deliver a wide range of NHS services across inpatient, primary care and community settings, including children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, and research and development.

Essential

• An upper second class honours degree or higher in psychology
• Entitlement to graduate membership of the British Psychological Society

Desirable

• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology, mental health practice and/or research design and analysis.