Assistant Psychologist

at  Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is the health provider for the delivery of an innovative prison-based assessment and treatment service for residents with personality related needs.
This service is based within HMP Garth which is a category B men’s adult prison based in Leyland, Lancashire. The service is part of the National Offender Personality Disorder Strategy and is delivered as a partnership between HMP Garth and Mersey Care NHS Trust.
We believe that this post provides a unique opportunity to be part of a psychologically led service with formulation and integrated team working at its core. The service provides 1:1 and group based interventions based on Professor John Livesley’s framework and model of interventions for individuals with personality related needs.
These structured interventions are provided as part of a therapeutic milieu which involves a focus on attachment, trauma and systemic approaches, alongside comprehensive risk assessment and management. Core aims of the service are consistent with those of the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway in improving psychological wellbeing, reducing risk, improving staff skills and competencies and pathway focussed intervention.
We are now recruiting an Assistant Psychologist to join our team.
The post holder will be joining a dedicated team of clinical and prison officer staff from a range of backgrounds and experience. Team members have high levels of skill, passion and enthusiasm (and humour!) and are committed to ensuring the on-going successful development of the service and the opportunities it provides for our population.
The Beacon is a psychologically led, non diagnosis focussed service. The post holder will contribute to the provision both 1:1 and group based therapeutic interventions. This will cover the array of clinical work that would promote occupational, psychological, recreational and supportive activity to meet the holistic needs of the individual prisoner. The service user will also have roles in conducting service audits, evaluations and research when opportunities arise. The post holder will attend regular reflective practice sessions within the service.
At the Beacon service, we prioritise the development of our staff team and have proven that we value and nurture diverse clinical interests. We are committed to creating an empowered staff team. We strive to be reflective and support of each other which is vital given the challenges this work can entail.
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. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
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. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
At the Beacon service, we prioritise the development of our staff team and have proven that we value and nurture diverse clinical interests. We are committed to creating an empowered staff team. We strive to be reflective and support of each other which is vital given the challenges this work can entail.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
To support and enhance the professional psychological care of service users within the service, across all relevant sectors; providing psychological assessment and psychological interventions under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist, working independently according to a plan agreed with the supervising qualified psychologist and within the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.
To assist in clinically-related administration, conduct of audits, collection of statistics, development of audit and/or research projects, teaching and project work.

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A QUALIFIED CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST:

To work with potentially distressing material in relation to service users’ personal histories and possible offending behaviour, risks to self and others, and additional security requirements as integral to a secure environment.
To undertake psychological assessments of service users which may include a range of psychometric assessments, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, carers 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.
To assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups.
To work with other disciplines to assess residents and review their care in preparation for multi-disciplinary reviews.
To assist in the development of a psychological framework of understanding and care to all service users of the service, across all care settings.
To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings as directed by the qualified psychologists.
To use a degree of initiative and work independently with service users on planned pieces of work and to exercise judgment based on good practice and operating procedures.
To receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional practice guidelines and directorate policy.
Please refer to attached Job Description for full list of duties and responsibilities

Please refer the Job description for details