Job responsibilities The Outside the Box service provides a reach out and day service to people screened into the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway in HMP Channings Wood. In particular, it aims to engage those whose behaviour is deemed problematic or who are stuck to the extent that it might prevent engagement in their sentence plan or progression through prison towards the community. The aims of the pathway are to reduce likelihood of violent/sexual reoffending, to improve well-being and to improve the skills, attitudes and knowledge of staff working with people with personality difficulties in partnership organisations such as prisons and probation. Outside the Box aims to do this by offering a range of group and one-to-one interventions, working in a psychologically informed and formulation-led way.
The Band 5 Senior Assistant Psychologist role will consist: 1. Plan, organise and deliver psychologically-informed relational support to people on caseload, alongside HMPPS members of the team (providing support, joint planning / preparation and peer supervision as needed). 2. Co-ordinate, agree and deliver the psycho-educational, MBTi and DBT skills group interventions in collaboration with other relevant staff.
3. Support the referral process, including offering consultation, case discussion and support to offender managers in relation to this process. 4. Collaboratively produce psychological formulations and personal development plans for all individuals on caseload.
5. Organise arrangements for and undertake group sessions, including developing ideas, writing sessions for new groups, anticipating and mitigating risk issues or other challenges and ensuring there are a clear rationale and benefits for all groups. 6. Individual interventions will also form part of the role, in general facilitated alongside a member of HMPPS staff within the team.
The senior assistant psychologist will be expected to take a lead in planning clinical content for these, under supervision. 7. Liaise with relevant services, including those within the OPD pathway, to support arrangements for prisoners being released from prison. 8.
Outcome measurement (collation and analysis) is central to services in the OPD pathway and the senior assistant psychologist will be expected to organise and monitor the collection, collation and reporting arrangements. 9. Ensure regular personal development plan reviews occur, including consideration of whether the goals for engagement have been completed and conditions for discharge are met, and that these are recorded for all clients. 10.
Agree plans for the management of non-attendance and eventual discharge. 11. Undertake other responsibilities e.g. quality improvement initiatives or service development / evaluation projects under supervision.
12. Liaise with a range of other services (including health, criminal justice, prison and third sector agencies) relevant to the OTB service. Duties and Responsibilities Communication and Working Relationship Skills Clients, family and carers: To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner with clients who may have specific difficulties in understanding and/or communicating and who may be hostile, antagonistic or highly emotionally disturbed. Multidisciplinary team colleagues: To work closely with multiprofessional colleagues in the service and in the wider prison/community on a day to day basis.
Health & social care staff: To communicate with a wide range of health & social care staff in prison and in hospitals/community settings in a skilled and sensitive manner, complex and sensitive information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under the services care. To provide support & guidance in the application of psychological principles and techniques, and to foster reflective practice. Senior managers & professional staff: To maintain and build good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers within HMP Channings Wood and in DPT, to foster a positive approach to the OTB service/wider OPD pathway and to enable effective negotiation. Analytical and Judgemental Skills To produce psychological formulations, including integrating complex information.
To use reflective/analytical thinking to apply psychological perspectives in work in a prison setting. Planning and Organisational Skills To plan and prioritise own workload with supervisor, balancing the demands of service user care, support and guidance of HMPPS staff and professionals, and service research and development activities. To provide psychology knowledge to the multi-professional planning, development and implementation of OTB services. Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy Assessment & intervention: To make assessments, and deliver treatment plans within a supervised context for individuals, and groups, and to demonstrate awareness of diversity issues.
Consultation & guidance: To provide advice, guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of service user care to colleagues, other service providers, service users, supporters and families. To be aware of the impact of modelling of psychological principles and psychological ways of working for teams and service users. Responsibility for Policy and Service Development Implementation To follow policy guidance in own role and to comment on proposed policy changes and service developments. Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources Careful use of equipment Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g.
Supervision, Training, HR Advice and Management Leadership & supervision: To assist the work of less experienced assistants, HMPPS staff and/or trainees as required. To provide consultation to prison, health and social care colleagues as required. Responsibility for Information Resources and Administrative Duties To maintain accurate records To be responsible for using an email account to generate, monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by which the Trust conducts much of its internal communication. Responsibility for Research and Development To undertake service-relevant research and development activity agreed within the OTB service, and to organise personal or service led R & D activities as required.
Freedom to Act The post holder is responsible for their own professional actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines, working within clearly defined occupational procedures. Any Other Specific Tasks Required To ensure all clinical care and treatment provided by psychologists is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership. To ensure that all psychologists continuously update the skills and techniques relevant to their clinical work. To be prepared to work flexibly to support the service

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