Senior Assistant Psychologist

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West London NHS Trust provides a full range of mental health, community and physical healthcare services for children, adults and older people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.

We also provide some specialist services that are commissioned regionally, such as our medium secure services; and nationally, such as the Cassel Hospital for people with complex and severe personality disorder and our high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital.

Job overview

Hounslow CAMHS Mental Health Support Team (MHST) is seeking to recruit 3 Assistant Psychologists to work within our schools-based early intervention mental health team. We support children/young people (CYP) with mild-to-moderate low mood, anxiety and behaviours that challenge within mainstream school settings. We offer a range of interventions and work in a creative way to support our mainstream schools to implement a Whole School Approach to mental health.

We are seeking 3 enthusiastic applicants who have an interest in working with CYP within educational settings, who are flexible and creative and interested in service development and improvement. You will be joining a welcoming schools based mental health team in Hounslow, West London NHS Trust who are committed to service improvement, staff well-being, and who value diversity and inclusion in our workforce.

Main duties of the job

This role involves embedding the Whole School Approach (WSA); through co-facilitating workshops for parents and staff, delivering targeted and universal groups to primary and secondary school pupils and providing evidence based interventions where possible. There is also an expectation to support with service evaluations and audits of the interventions offered within the team, and preparation of data for quarterly data submissions. There are also ample opportunities to work on service development within the team, supporting the roll out of new approaches, and monitoring its impact.

The post holder will receive regular supervision from a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist within the team who will ensure adherence to professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures.

Working for our organisation

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.

Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ 4,500 staff, of whom 56% are BME. Our turnover for 2023-24 is £426m.

The Trust is rated as 'Good' overall by the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as 'Outstanding'.

The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached.

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

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

Desirable criteria

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

Experience

Essential criteria

• Work experience with families, children or adults with mental health difficulties and/or neurodevelopmental conditions
• Experience of clinically relevant research or audit.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of paid work in direct care provision.
• Experience of working within a Health, Education or Social Care setting.
• Experience of teaching and training, or group work.
• Experience of working with families from different cultural contexts.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• An understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with mental health problems, other disabilities, and social difficulties.
• An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a mental health and social care context
• An understanding of psychology applied to health and social care
• Experience using computers for databases or data-analysis, for example Excel, SPSS for Windows

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of the issues of conducting research/evaluation in the context of multi-agency teams.
• Knowledge of using Routine Outcome Measures

Skills

Essential criteria

• High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive.
• Ability to communicate and relate well to children, young people parents and carers
• Ability to plan and organise own workload
• Ability to communicate sensitive information to patients, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance.

Desirable criteria

• High standard of report writing.
• Experience of having written research and/or evaluation reports and papers

Personal qualities

Essential criteria

• An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines.
• An ability to interact with children, young people and families who have complex needs and may be hard to engage.
• Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals
• Willingness to work flexibly when necessary
• Commitment to working collaboratively with team colleagues to support innovative ways of working.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working within a multi-cultural framework, with people with a diverse range of backgrounds.
• An interest in working with people with social and mental health/health difficulties or disabilities.
• An interest in service development and research and a passion for evidence-based practice.

Other Requirements

Essential criteria

• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.

Desirable criteria

• A desire to explore a career in Professional Psychology

As an employee of West London NHS Trust, you have a responsibility to maintain a sound understanding of, and a commitment to uphold the National Health Service values and principles set out in the NHS Constitution.

We reserve the right to close adverts prior to the closing date stated should we receive a high volume of applications.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to West London NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, you will be required to undergo a pre-employment checks which can take between 4-8 weeks . After which your information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system (ESR ).

Please ensure you include email addresses for your referees which MUST be at supervisory or managerial capacity covering the last 3 years of employment to date to avoid delay in the recruitment process.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

West London NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• JD Senior Assistant Psychologist (PDF, 912.2KB)