Assistant Psychologist - Norwich, United Kingdom - Help for Psychology Services

Description

JOB DESCRIPTION TITLE:
Assistant Psychologist


ACCOUNTABLE TO:
Clinical Psychologist


BAND:
4


RESPONSIBLE FOR:

BASE:

Norwich JOB SUMMARY To deliver a service to children and young people referred to the service, providing specialised psychological assessment and therapy.

To work autonomously whilst under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist in accordance with The British Psychological Society Code of Conduct, Ethical Principles and Guidelines 2004 and the overall framework of the teams policies and procedures.

To contribute to the development of team policies and procedures to facilitate improvements in service quality. To utilise specialised research skills for audit, policy and service development, and research.

WORKING ENVIRONMENT Most of the working day will be spent in dedicated clinic rooms on the outskirts of Norwich.

Provision of a clinical service within mental health involves working with clients, as individuals, families, or groups, who have multiple and complex needs and may be difficult to engage.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES CLINICAL To provide specialised psychological assessments using a wide variety of methods, including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care, under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist.

To analyse test results and contribute findings to an assessment report.

To engage the young people attending the service in informal and formal assessment. To be part of a multi-disciplinary team. POLICY AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT To contribute to the development of local team policies and procedures.

To suggest changes to the teams working practices in order to improve service quality and comment on the content of draft policies.

TEACHING, TRAINING AND SUPERVISION To receive regular clinical supervision and undertake appropriate Continuing Professional Development RESEARCH AND SERVICE EVALUATION To plan and carry out audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service, to help further develop service provision.

To maintain specialised skills in the critical appraisal of relevant research literature, for the purposes of adhering to, and developing, evidence-based practice.

FINANCIAL AND PHYSICAL RESOURCES To exercise a personal duty of care in respect of equipment and resources.

INFORMATION RESOURCES To make appropriate notes of clinical sessions and accurately record and analyse observational data, psychological test results and research findings.

To comply with all relevant policies, procedures and guidelines. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Competence At no time should the post holder work outside their defined level of competence. If there are concerns regarding this, the post holder should immediately discuss them with their manager/supervisor. Employees have a responsibility to inform their supervisor/manager if they doubt their own competence to perform a duty.

Risk Management It is a standard element of the role and responsibility of all employees of Help for Psychology that they fulfil a proactive role towards the management of risk in all their actions.

This entails the risk assessment of all situations, the taking of appropriate actions and reporting of all incidents, near misses and hazards.

Records Management As an employee of Help for Psychology, the post holder is legally responsible for all records that they gather, create, or use as part of their work within the service (including patient health, financial, personal and administrative information), whether paper based or on computer.

All such records are considered public records, and the post holder has a legal duty of confidence to service users (even after an employee no longer works for Help for Psychology).

The Post holder should consult their manager if they have any doubt as to the correct management of records with which they work.

Health and Safety Requirements All employees of Help for Psychology have a statutory duty of care for their own personal safety and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions.

Flexibility Statement The duties of the post are outlined in this job description and person specification and may be changed by mutual agreement from time to time.

Confidentiality The Post holder must always be aware of the importance of maintaining confidentiality and security of information gained during the course of their duties.

This will in many cases include access to personal information relating to service users.

The post holder must treat all information whether corporate, staff or patient information in a discreet and confidential manner in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and organisational policy.