Job summary
We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

Options for Care is looking to recruit an exceptional Senior Assistant Psychologist (2-year Fixed Term) passionate about working with individuals with severe and enduring mental health diagnoses. The successful candidate will work at Stanford Court.

Our two established hospitals, Montague Court and Dartmouth House, have successfully supported the needs of individuals with mental health diagnoses. Stanford Court, High dependency unit, has recently opened. We also have Orchard House, our recovery home, which provides a safe and supportive environment for individuals on their journey to mental health recovery.

Dartmouth House is a 16-bed male long-term complex care mental health inpatient unit based in Handsworth Wood, Birmingham.

Montague Court is an 18-bed male long-term complex care mental health inpatient unit based in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Stanford Court is a 23-bed male mental health inpatient unit based in Highgate, Birmingham. This consists of 19 high dependency beds and four self-contained recovery flats to enable assessment of daily living skills in preparation for discharge.

Orchard House is an 8-bed residential step-down service based in Erdington, Birmingham, which allows extension of the long-term complex care pathway.

Main duties of the job
We are seeking a Senior Assistant Psychologist who will have the opportunity to work independently, under supervision, and take on significant responsibilities. You will work closely within the multi-disciplinary team.

The primary objective is to enhance the psychological care of service users who have complex mental health and behavioural needs. As a Senior Assistant Psychologist, you will provide psychological assessment, formulation and intervention under the supervision of a qualified Clinical Psychologist. You will also carry out administrative tasks related to clinical work, such as conducting audits, collecting statistics, and producing reports.

As a Senior Assistant Psychologist, you will also support the development, delivery, and evaluation of staff training initiatives.

All work must be performed within the framework of our policies and procedures, and you must understand and implement the organisation's mission, vision, and values.

About us
Options for Care provides mental health recovery services in Birmingham. Our primary objective is to empower service users and help them realise their full potential through improvements in their quality of life and a steady progression towards recovery, culminating in successful discharge. We are proud to share our unwavering commitment to our mission, vision, and values.

Mission
Realising Potential

Vision
We offer best-practice interventions to enable personal recovery and well-being.

Values
The individual is at the heart of everything we do.

We inspire, stimulate and empower people to achieve and grow through compassionate, supportive and protective relationships.

We deliver and continuously evaluate high-quality service whilst respecting differences, promoting dignity and supporting the privacy of others.

At Options for Care, we understand the importance of delivering personalised holistic support to our service users. Our dedicated team is committed to providing relationship-centred interventions that are grounded in evidence-based practices. We strongly believe that our approach helps individuals lead fulfilling lives and attain their personal objectives. To ensure that we consistently meet our service users' needs, we use recognised assessment tools to track outcomes and make adjustments as needed. Our goal is to empower our service users to live in the least restrictive setting feasible while maintaining their dignity and independence.

Job responsibilities
As a Senior Assistant Psychologist your role will involve providing support and enhancing clinical psychology services to service users under the guidance of qualified psychologists. This will include undertaking structured assessments and therapeutic interventions, as well as clinically related administration, audit, research, teaching, and service improvement projects. You will be responsible for conducting psychological assessments of adults with complex and enduring mental health difficulties, using various clinical methodologies and working closely with the multidisciplinary team to develop care plans and provide low-intensity psychological interventions. Additionally, you will assist in managing service users' risk and problem behaviours, planning and coordinating therapeutic groups, and attending multi-disciplinary meetings. As an integral member of our team, you will work alongside psychiatrists, mental health nurses, healthcare assistants, occupational therapists and psychologists, and receive support and supervision from qualified clinical psychologists. We expect you to engage in research and service evaluation, develop and co-facilitate training and education sessions and materials.

To be considered for the role of Senior Assistant Psychologist, you must hold a Psychology degree with a minimum of 2:1 honours, which is recognised by the British Psychological Society. Additionally, you need to have at least 12 months of experience working with individuals who have mental health challenges and/or learning disabilities, as well as physical health issues or cognitive impairments.

In return, at Options for Care, we recognise the immense value of our team members. Our staff are the foundation of our success and we appreciate their dedication to our clients. We prioritise employee development and are committed to supporting our staff at every stage of their career journey. Our workplace is warm and welcoming, with necessary assistance and supervision to ensure a positive work environment. Our comprehensive staff health benefits package further demonstrates our commitment to the well-being of our staff.

At Options for Care, we pride ourselves on creating a safe and healthy work environment that promotes staff productivity and longevity. That is why we offer an incremental pay system tied to our appraisal process, our way of showing gratitude for your dedication to our service users, hard work and commitment to quality care.

What we would like to give you:

• Funded DBS
• 28 days annual leave (inclusive of bank holidays)
• Funded corporate health cash plan providing cash back for day-to-day healthcare costs such as dental, optical and health screening
• Positive working environment in a service identified by the CQC as Good
• Full and supportive multi-disciplinary team
• Birthday leave after one years service
• Annual pay reviews

We are passionate about creating a positive work environment that fosters growth, development, and well-being. Join us at Options for Care and be part of a team that is dedicated to your success!

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• To be considered for the role of Senior Assistant Psychologist, you must hold a Psychology degree with a minimum of 2:1 honours, which is recognised by the British Psychological Society.

Experience
Essential

• At least 12 months experience as an Assistant Psychologist in a related setting.
• Experience of working with hard-to reach or challenging service user populations (e.g. Inpatient, Learning Disability, Forensic services).
• Graduate level knowledge of research design and methodology including a range of types of data analysis practiced within the field of psychology.

Desirable

• Experience in working with people with severe mental illness/psychosis.
• Some knowledge of literature relating to severe mental illness and behavioural or cognitive approaches.
• Knowledge of the Mental Health Act (1983, amended 2007) and Mental Capacity Act (2005).
• Some awareness of the effects of institutionalisation upon patients and staff.
• Experience of leading on clinical research projects.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.