Research Assistant (Mental Health Support Team Clinic)

at  Sussex Partnership NHS FoundationTrust

The Mental Health Support Team (MHST) research clinic is aligned with the West Sussex Mental Health Support Team service (Thought-full), which is a unique integrated service between SPFT and West Sussex County Council.
The clinic aims to analyse the effectiveness of this service, specifically the evidence based psychological interventions delivered to children and young people with mild to moderate mental health difficulties and the prevention work to promote positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in schools.
You will work within this team and provide operational support for the day-to-day running of the clinic in addition to specific project work.
The job is part-time and therefore the working days can be chosen by the individual in discussion with the clinic co-leads. The key working day to be included is Wednesday, as this is when the weekly clinic meeting is held.
You will be a key member of the research clinic team, working alongside the research clinic leads and clinicians to evaluate the effectiveness of our service and develop new research opportunities. Throughout the role you will liaise with colleagues in the department but also external organisations and academic researchers. The role will also require supporting PhD and PsychD students in their research and evaluation projects and supporting the generation of academic papers
The role will suit someone who is passionate about youth mental health and the improvement of access to evidence based, early interventions and the development of mental health provision in schools.
The clinic is passionate about involving the voices of young people and the research assistant will play a key part in this. We are looking for someone with an interest in clinical activity, but who is also be interested in contributing to the research and evidence base by utilising and developing their research skills.
As well as working within the immediate clinic team, you will also work within the wider Research and Development Department. You will work closely with your line manager and have regular contact and supervision with them and the other Clinical leads. You will also have group supervision with the other clinic RAs within the Department of Research and Development. This is an informal group of those who have a similar role and a good forum to share experiences and learn from each other.
You are able to flexibly work either at home or in the office (Sussex Education Centre) which is a good way to keep in touch with colleagues. Sussex Education Centre is a fully accessible building.
We encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/life balance brings about huge health-related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, home-working, part time hours, flexible start/finish times or anything else. If it works for you and works for the role, we’ll do our best to make it happen.
A key element of the role is supporting the day-to-day operations of the clinic which includes:
Being aware of all the research being undertaken through the clinic.
Contributing to the decision-making regarding viability of being able to deliver on projects and time lines
Monitoring and tracking progress of various research projects in the clinic.
Monitoring the clinic’s (and your own) capacity to inform discussions around future projects and clinic plans.
Taking minutes for the weekly meetings and setting the agenda for meetings.
Support the supervision of the undergraduate placement student (you will be their ‘buddy’ offering support and regular check-ins).

Data preparation and quantitative analysis of the routine outcome measure data produced by the Thought-full service.
Contributing to academic papers reporting on these evaluations and submission for peer review.
Supporting research projects being led by Clinical Doctorate trainees and PhD students, which could include primary data collection or quantitative/ qualitative data analysis.
Previous responsibilities have also included systematic review methodologies and PPI work alongside the department PPI team.