Senior Assistant Psychologist

Job summary

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is looking to recruit a passionate, knowledgeable and dynamic Senior Assistant Psychologistto join our Family Eating Disorders Service (SFEDS).

You will be joining a service of highly skilled and experienced Family and Systemic Psychotherapists, Consultant Psychiatrist, Clinical Psychologists and Assistant Psychologists, Nurses, Dietitian, Support Workers and Occupational Therapists. Our team is responsible for covering all of Sussex.

You will be based at Aldrington House in Hove but may occasionally be required to travel to our clinics in Horsham and Hailsham.

We offer and support hybrid and flexible working; we require staff to be on site for 60% of their working week.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will support and enhance the professional psychological care to young people (aged 10-18) with eating disorders as well as liaise with families/carers, other professionals and organisations to promote communication and good practice.

Ideally you will have prior experience of working with eating disorders and experience of using therapeutic models associated with this client group.

You will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team providing psychological assessments and interventions within the scope appropriate to level of experience and training.

About us

Sussex Partnership Trust provides mental health and learning disability care for children, young people and adults across Sussex and for children and young people in Hampshire.

Working in Sussex:

• Travel easily between coast and countryside, with a blend of picturesque villages and seaside towns there's always new experiences to be enjoyed
• Embrace the city life with great access to visit Brighton and London
• With easy access to Gatwick and Heathrow and excellent railway links across the UK there is plenty of opportunity for adventure

We'd love you to join our organisation that is rated 'good' overall and 'outstanding' for caring by the Care Quality Commission. Our staff agree, with 82% of people in our recent staff survey telling us that they recognise that care for patients is our top priority.

Other key staff survey results include:

• 70% highlighting flexible working opportunities as a key point for satisfaction at work
• 79% reporting feeling able to make suggestions to improve the work within their team
• 77% identifying the opportunities to show initiative in their roles

Job responsibilities

REQUIREMENTS:

To be a successful Senior Assistant Psychologist in our team you will be/have:

• Honours degree at 2:1 or above in Psychology or equivalent.
• You will have at least 6 months experience working as an Assistant Psychologist
• Have experience of working with young people with complex needs.
• You must be able to demonstrate a caring, compassionate and non-judgmental attitude, and show a commitment to making a difference when supporting young people and their families on their recovery journeys

See attached Generic Job Description and Person Specification for full details.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Honours Degree at 2:1 or above in Psychology or equivalent

Desirable

• Further post graduate training in relevant area of professional psychology, health and social care practice, and / or research design and analysis

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• You will have at least 6 months experience working as an Assistant Psychologist
• Experience of working with people with complex needs
• Experience of working with people with disabilities, in a health or Mental Health setting and or work with people with complex needs
• Relevant clinical and research skills
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team
• Basic knowledge of databases, research skills and methodology
• Experience of group work and individual therapeutic contact
• An understanding of psychology applied to health care

Desirable

• Experience of the use of psychometric tests
• Experience of in-patient settings
• Lived experience of mental health issues

Skills

Essential

• To be able to communicate effectively under pressure and maintain a high degree of professionalism at all times
• To be able to provide and receive complex sensitive or contentious information in a potentially highly emotive atmosphere. To be able to work with resistance to ideas
• High standard of report writing
• To assimilate complex information and use reflective/analytic thinking, to apply psychological perspectives in work with clients
• Ability to be flexible and cope with multiple demands
• Capable of using initiative and organise work to agreed goals. Ability to work independently and know when to ask for and use supervision, identifying when there is need for advice and using supervision at agreed intervals
• Information technology skills. To have highly developed IT skills and good working knowledge of statistical packages
• Team working
• Ability to travel across sites
• Punctual and flexible across hours of work when required